Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards January 15, 1997
Photos and speech transcripts from Cinemania coverage of LAFCA awards- http://cinemania.msn.com/Default/Entry?theurl=http%3A//cinemania.msn.com/cinemania/Features/LAFCAhome.htm [broken link] LAFCA main menu
Edward's speech- http://cinemania.msn.com/Default/Entry?theurl=http%3A//cinemania.msn.com/cinemania/Features/speech8.htm [broken link]
Thanks. One of the most unexpectedly exhilarating moments at the movies last year was the very opening scene of Woody Allen's Everyone Says I Love You, when without any setup or introduction the young hero crooned "Just You, Just Me" to his lady love. First of all, the moment was pleasing because it blithely revived the convention of the old studio films where characters simply burst into song and dance without the slightest provocation. Secondly, the actor doing the singing, Edward Norton, while not necessarily having a voice that was going to give Howard Keel serious competition, did know how to put across a song with an effortless ease that left us smiling in helpless delight and pleasure. And, perhaps, most important, it was startling to realize that this was the same actor who had been so mesmerizing as the sociopathic killer in Primal Fear.
To see a young actor who could take control and command the screen as powerfully as Norton had done in Primal Fear was impressive and unexpected enough. But to see that he could also play a debonair song and dance man with the same flair and conviction, showed us that we were in the presence of a truly astonishing new talent. Shortly after that, we saw Edward Norton again as the inexperienced young attorney defending Larry Flynt in The People vs. Larry Flynt. His summation before the Supreme Court at the climax of that movie was one of the most convincingly natural legal scenes that I've ever seen captured on film. Unlike most movies about lawyers, this was one where you actually accepted and believed that this was what the character did for a living.
So each of those performances, I think, was dazzling in and of itself. But the range that he showed only added to the achievement. In fact, looking back at the history of movies, I don't know if there has ever been another example of an actor in his very first year in films giving three performances as distinctive and diverse as Edward Norton's. You might even say he turned in four striking performances if you consider the split personalities that he depicted with such force in Primal Fear. In recognition of all those achievements it seemed that the very least that we as a group could do was to name Edward Norton the best supporting actor of 1996, and that is what the LA Film Critics have decided to do.
Thank you. I was interested to hear Barbara Hershey's story about her only note from Woody Allen. My first and, not only, but the note from Woody Allen that stood out to me was the first shot that we did on the film. He came up afterwards and went, "You know, we had some traffic noise in that shot and so we lost it, but it doesn't matter because in every other way that was a total disaster." So, I think you got off easy. I'm very flattered by this award and I'm particularly happy that you all saw fit to say the three different films because for me the real reward of the last year or two has been the extraordinary collection of people that I got to work with on these films -- many, many of them some of my all-time idols.
I think, about this time last year, in fact, almost exactly this time last year, I was at my parents' home in suburban Maryland, which Hollywood visits rarely, and I went in with my little sister and hit the answering machine and there was a message from Milos Forman, and he said, "Edward, this is Milos. Larry Flynt is sending his private jet to New York and I am flying to the Cayman Islands with Courtney Love and Woody Harrelson. I think you should come." My little sister looked at me and said, "Your life has taken a surreal turn." But that has been the real joy of this...these opportunities for me, these extraordinary people I've gotten to work with, and there's really too many to thank. Thank you very much.
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