Edward Norton will never conform to anyone’s expectations of who he is or who he should be. His Hollywood career is as varied as it gets with roles in films including Primal Fear, Fight Club, The Illusionist, The Italian Job, The Incredible Hulk, and most recently The Bourne Legacy. He’s worked with directors ranging from Woody Allen (Everyone Says I Love You) to Spike Lee (The 25th Hour) to Ridley Scott (Kingdom of Heaven), and he was the uncredited screenwriter on his then-girlfriend Salma Hayek’s Oscar-nominated Frida.
Lately, however, he’s fallen under the spell of director Wes Anderson (Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums) whose critically-acclaimed 2012 film Moonrise Kingdom saw Norton play an earnest scoutmaster. Now he’s back with his own project, as he writes, directs, produces, and stars in the 1950s-set crime drama, Motherless Brooklyn.
The story takes the shape of a private detective living with Tourette’s Syndrome. He is driven to solve the murder of his best friends, in a mystery that transports him from the gin-soaked jazz clubs of Harlem to the slums of Brooklyn, to the gilded halls of New York’s power brokers.
The movie also stars Alec Baldwin, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Willem Dafoe in a stellar cast that repaints Norton’s reputation as one of his generation’s most accomplished, measured and intelligent visionaries.
Norton, 50, is married to Canadian film producer Shauna Robertson. The couple has a son, Atlas, and lives in New York. Away from film he dedicates time and influence to several eco enterprises, including working as President of the American branch of the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust, which supports sustainable tourism and wildlife preservation in Kenya. He is also CEO of Baswood Inc., a green wastewater treatment alternative he and his partners are currently selling and building around the U.S. In addition, he is a U.N. Goodwill Ambassador for Biodiversity.
STRIPLV: What can you tell us about your new film, Motherless Brooklyn? NORTON: Well, about 20 years ago, I read a book by an author called Jonathan Lethem called Motherless Brooklyn, and right away, I knew that this was something I felt could be adapted for the big screen. I knew who would play a few of the characters, but as time went by, over the last two decades, I thought I would change the era in which the story is set. You see, Jonathan’s book takes place in 1999, while I have altered the decade to the 1950s in order to face up to the reality of the world that we currently live in. In the 50s, there is a certain sense of mystique about New York, a history that you could see in somewhat shrouded where there is institutional racism, not to mention the dilapidation of the old parts of the city right up to Penn Station. That was caused by an autocratic, almost tyrannical power who seemed to be against almost the entire face and foundation of what a lot of us see as the principles of American democracy. You could say that this is the backlash caused by the administration that we see and feel in place today, and it is reminding us that things have been bad previously and how did we find our way out of those moments. STRIPLV: You chose Bruce Willis to star alongside you, and I believe that you have had him in mind for some time. NORTON: Yeah, we were in Wes Anderson’s movie Moonrise Kingdom, and I really enjoyed working with him on that, and this is our first time on a film set together since then. But I’ve always known that Bruce could be the person to play Frank Minna when he wrote me a letter saying that he saw me in a play in New York. He told me that he would love to do a piece of work like this, and if I had something in mind for him, he would be happy to do it. So, I gave him a call, and thankfully, he said yes, and here we are. When I say that I knew Bruce was always going to be the guy to play Minna, you will see for yourself when you see him coming around the corner at the beginning of the movie, and you will identify him with being the perceptive private eye. STRIPLV: You also have Gugu Mbatha-Raw, who it seems is playing the femme fatale which every film noir needs. How would you describe her character? NORTON: We called her “The Woman in Blue,” and she is a temptress who my character Essrog knows has something to do with what’s going on, but he just can’t figure out why. But he uses her connection to everything and how deep in she has got to drag himself through it all. STRIPLV: What did you learn from working with Wes Anderson? NORTON: It’s interesting to work with a director who has a very precise idea of what he wants to do and whose screenplays are extremely well-written and don’t need any fixing or last-minute rewrites. He also creates characters who are fervently serious in what they’re doing and feeling. There’s no irony to his characters, and the humor comes from how audiences respond to their heightened sense of sincerity. It doesn’t actually affect how you play a character in his films, but you have to maintain that level of earnest naivété. That’s why we love his films - there’s this heartfelt and romantic and maybe nostalgic kind of earnestness to his characters and how they go about their lives. There’s a simple beauty to that. STRIPLV: What is it that sets apart a Wes Anderson film set from others you’ve worked on? NORTON: It’s a very familial environment. It’s a much smaller crew than on most films. You generally do your own hair and makeup, you get into costume at your hotel, and then you show up, and Wes plans the day for you together with the other actors. On Moonrise Kingdom, where I was playing a scoutmaster, he was more like a camp counselor himself. STRIPLV: How did the link-up come about?
NORTON: I wrote him a letter after I saw Rushmore and then several years later while I was doing a play in New York with Catherine Keener. He happened to see it and wrote me a very lovely letter. Our relationship blossomed from there, although it wasn’t until Moonrise Kingdom that he asked me whether I would be interested in working with him. I’m a huge fan of his films, and I’m very happy to have had these opportunities to work with him. He also knows that I would work with him at any time. STRIPLV: You seem to enjoy playing a wide variety of characters from one film to another rather than trying to play typical leading man roles? NORTON: One of my gifts as an actor is to be able to interpret roles that are very different from each other and create completely distinct characters. The things that I enjoy most about the process of acting is the education you derive from each experience, the way of working with the other actors and the director. You’re involved in a creative process that is very, very challenging and interesting and enjoyable. I don’t care particularly if I get to play the lead or not as long as the script is well-written, and my character allows me the possibility of being inventive and engaged in the process. I want to feel that I’m able to bring something interesting to the table. STRIPLV: You’re notoriously tight-lipped about your private life. Why is that? NORTON: Every single thing that an audience knows about you personally creates an obstacle between your ability to reach them with your acting and their ability to dissociate that creation from your own identity. As an actor, I want to sustain that suspension of disbelief that comes when an audience watches you perform. I don’t want anything to interfere or otherwise muddy the ability of people to react to my work. I would rather nobody know anything about me. STRIPLV: You attended Yale and come from a distinguished family background. How did this impact your decision to become an actor and your aspirations in the film industry? NORTON: University was a fascinating experience for me. There were a lot of talented people at Yale, and I think that makes you want to achieve even more than you think you’re capable of. I was interested in many different things, but acting gave me the most pleasure. My grandfather always taught me to be fluid in life, to follow paths that interest me rather than careers that offer financial security. As it turns out, acting has also brought me a measure of financial freedom, so my granddad’s advice proved very useful. STRIPLV: Given your academic and family background, do you ever question the validity of your life as an actor? NORTON: As long as I am finding some artistic value to my work, I will continue doing it. I never want to feel that I am going through the motions or repeating myself. I’ve gone through periods where I’ve asked myself, “What am I doing?” And that’s very troubling. I also like to strike a balance between the intellectual aspect of being an artist and the kind of impulsive creativity that is part of the kind of joy you feel in being inspired and spontaneous when you’re playing a scene. You need to rely on both elements of the process, but ultimately you want to have fun. You do these things, and you realize that films mean so many different things to so many different people. It’s wild. I mean, after making the Hulk, I started getting letters from kids. Like, real kids. Having my friend take their kids to it and having those kids be excited about a film that’s kind of made for them, that’s fun.
STRIPLV: What got you into acting in the first place? NORTON: It’s mainly because I loved theater and film. I’ve always enjoyed the aspect of storytelling and being part of the process of exploring characters and how they make their way in the world. Every time you make a film, you’re investigating some new world and a new constellation of relationships between people. It’s an endless source of fascination for me. STRIPLV: You’ve worked with so many outstanding actors in the course of your career. Does anyone stand out in particular? NORTON: Marlon Brando left a great impression on me. I don’t know if I got to know him that well, but there was a beauty and aura to the man. He had accomplished so much in his life as an actor early on so that the whole game wasn’t important to him anymore. Brando had figured out how he wanted to live his life—without any bullshit. That’s a tough act to pull off. STRIPLV: Some of the characters that you have played have been the most complex in film history. What attracts you to those roles that you choose, how do you get into the mindset to play them, and what would you say is the hardest character that you have ever played? NORTON: Well, just to say that in the beginning, no actor is picking anything. You are just happy to be getting work, and the idea that you would be constructing any kind of thematic thread would be hubris. Although it was funny, one time that I went to the Shanghai Film Festival, and there was a series, and I was looking – and I can’t read Chinese at all – but I could tell that there was definitely a certain praise that was with my name on these posters there. So, I said to one of the organizers there: “What does that say there?” He told me that it was the theme of the film series, which was: “The search for the spiritual center in the new youth generation.” I was surprised by what it said, but I took it, don’t get me wrong. (Laughs) But from the point at which you have the freedom to make your choices, I think personally I have always been drawn to the duality in characters. If you go back to the old theatrical mask of dual faces, it has always been a very compelling theme to me. How people represent themselves and what else is going on underneath. Maybe not intentionally, but I can certainly see that through the number of films that I have done that people have gravitated towards, there is a component of that being expressed in a lot of them. Sometimes overtly, like in Primal Fear or Fight Club or something like that. Sometimes even a film like American History X is very much a film about someone who has been defined one way and now is changed, and that was found in the yin and the yang.
STRIPLV: You’re a passionate social activist and environmentalist. Why are you so committed? NORTON: The environment is an issue I have some grounding in, and I think it’s become generationally, not just in the United States, but globally, one of the most urgent themes of the 21st century. There’s a pervasive awareness of environmental degradation and the threats that come with that, the potential catastrophes. It’s not a geopolitical question; it’s a very binding, common challenge for everyone on this planet. STRIPLV: You’re active in promoting sustainable tourism with the Maasai in Kenya and other parts of the world. What is it about Kenya that draws you to that country? NORTON: I’ve been going there for many years. My sister once worked for an American travel company that organized climbs up Mt. Kilimanjaro, and on one such expedition, I decided to accompany her. That’s when I met Luca Belpietro, who is the founder of the Maasai Wildnerness Conservation Trust and was also running Campi Ya Kanzi, a tourist resort in Kenya. In the course of many conversations, I understood that he was trying to create a much different kind of tourist experience. Now I have both friends and family who live there, and I go every year for fun as well as for environmental-related meetings, and I always stay at Campi Ya Kanzi. I look forward to every visit there, and it’s my favorite place in Africa. STRIPLV: You grew up in a family that was very serious about the environment and social justice. That must have influenced you as an artist and an actor? NORTON: Yeah, I was very fortunate to have the influences that I have had, as well as being brought up in a family of doers, activists and entrepreneurs. They have all had a very, very heavy commitment to social impact—which it wasn’t even really called way back when. My grandfather was very well-known, and he was a commercial real estate developer called Jim Rouse. The Rouse Company was one of the first developers of enclosed retail shopping malls—and according to some people, my grandfather coined the term “shopping malls.” Even in the 1960s, when he built Columbia, Maryland, which was the first planned community. He had an incredibly progressive sense of how developers and urban planning needed to have progressive values. My father, who was a former U.S. Attorney for Maryland, went over to become the litigator and head of public policy for The Wilderness Society. He founded the Grand Canyon Trust amongst others and now is one of the Senior Advisers for the Environment at TPG, which is an American investment company. So, I have spent a lot of my life around people who care about society and the environment; my mother was a teacher. They were using their smarts to think about how to work on social problems, but they were also very entrepreneurial.