Do young people remember “Sausage Party”? The movie about the hot dog that really wanted to find his place in a bun? While it may not feel that old to viewers of a certain age, the comedy about sentient food discovering the truth about what happens when they leave the grocery store is already eight years old, a lifetime in pop culture. And there are elements of it that feel even older, a product of a pre-COVID time when comedies aimed more directly at adults were more common.

Continue reading ‘Sausage Party: Foodtopia’ Review: Bursts of Comedy Flavor Keep Prime Video Animated Series From Going Bad at The Playlist.

With Benedict Cumberbatch leaving Searchlight Picture‘s “A Complete Unknown” due to scheduling conflicts, James Mangold needed a new actor to play musician Pete Seeger. It sounds like he found one, as Deadline reports Edward Norton will replace Cumberbatch as the folk singer one production starts in NYC this summer. Norton joins an ensemble cast with Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan, Elle Fanning as Sylvie Russo, Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez, and more.

Continue reading ‘A Complete Unknown’: Edward Norton Replaces Benedict Cumberbatch As Pete Seeger In James Mangold’s Upcoming Bob Dylan Biopic at The Playlist.

Despite being listed towards the bottom of many MCU diehards’ list of favorite films, “The Incredible Hulk” really isn’t all that bad. Hindsight being what it is, we can nitpick various things, including the casting of Edward Norton, but honestly, given what we’re seeing with Marvel films as of late, Louis Leterrier’s ‘Incredible Hulk’ is pretty fun. Regardless of its quality, there are many who still see it as the first big MCU misfire, and a film that ultimately went off the rails.

Continue reading ‘Incredible Hulk’: Edward Norton Wanted Radiohead On The Soundtrack & Director Said Film Only Went Off The Rails At The End at The Playlist.

Wes Anderson is a genre; one of decorative embellishment, ornamental whimsy, baroque fantasy, and symmetrical precision. It wasn’t always this way, and it’s also not just superficial embroidery. “Rushmore” had a moving bittersweetness anchoring its fanciful formal wit, and “The Royal Tenenbaums” refined Anderson’s patented wistful stories about romantics, failed dreams, and faded glories within imaginative color-coded costumes and increasingly meticulous aesthetics.

READ MORE: 2023 Cannes Film Festival: 21 Must-See Movies To Watch

Somewhere in the middle, the American filmmaker became a little unsure of his identity amidst sudden reproach (‘Life Aquatic,’ ‘Darjeeling Limited’); however, he quickly realized his inimitable cinematic handwriting made him unique.

Continue reading ‘Asteroid City’ Review: Wes Anderson Explores The Loneliness Of The Cosmos & Our Place In It Through Creation & Grief [Cannes] at The Playlist.

With the rise of post-apocalyptic cinema at the turn of the century, humanity has gotten very good at depicting our own demise. We continue to be much worse at depicting the transitional period before complete collapse — and finding hope in the possibility that destruction is not a foregone conclusion. But if anyone understands that opportunity as a storyteller, it’s Scott Z. Burns, the screenwriter behind “Contagion” — a film that put humanity to the brink and walked us back — and the mind behind “Extrapolations,” an eight-episode Apple TV+ limited series that envisions a future on earth forever impacted by climate change.

Continue reading ‘Extrapolations’ Trailer: Scott Z. Burns’ Climate Change Series Features Meryl Streep, Marion Cotillard, Ed Norton & More at The Playlist.

You’ve probably heard many of the legends around David Fincher’s “Fight Club,” which include casting. It’s been reported in the past that Fincher considered Winona Ryder Janeane Garofalo, and the studio really wanted Reese Witherspoon. ’90s rocker Courtney Love, from the grunge band Hole, was also apparently considered too. However, in a new interview on the Marc Maron podcast, Love, who rarely grants interviews these days, claimed she was actually cast in the Marla Singer lead role— that eventually went to Helen Bonham Carter— but was fired because she pissed off Brad Pitt.

Continue reading ‘Fight Club’: Courtney Love Says Brad Pitt Fired Her When She Rejected His Kurt Cobain Film Idea at The Playlist.

Sure, he has the plumb lead “villain” role in “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”—available on Netflix now— but where has Edward Norton been in the ensuing years? That’s the central question that Dax Shepard has on the new Armchair Expert podcast interview with his old buddy Norton.

READ MORE: Edward Norton: The Essential Performances

Shepard has a point. Norton’s last major live-action roles before ‘Glass Onion’ were “Birdman” (2014), a supporting role in “Collateral Beauty” (2016), and “Motherless Brooklyn” in 2019, which he wrote, directed, produced, and starred in (in between there is a small cameo on “The French Dispatch,” and “Alita: Battle Angel” and a lot of voice work in things like “Isle Of Dogs” and “Sausage Party”).

Continue reading Edward Norton Wants Denzel Washington To Star In His Prison Drama & Has Written A Lewis & Clark Miniseries at The Playlist.

The murder mystery is a subgenre that has experienced a significant renaissance in the last few years. And much of that is due to writer/director Rian Johnson who seemingly singlehandedly revitalized the genre with his commercial and critical smash hit “Knives Out” in 2019. The whodunnit allows filmmakers to gather a large cast with exuberant sets and a mystery to be solved at its core. This year alone, studios released “See How They Run” and “Death on the Nile” and proved to audiences how popular the genre had become again after seemingly losing steam in the 1980s.

Continue reading ‘Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery’ Trailer: Rian Johnson Returns With A New Benoit Blanc Whodunnit at The Playlist.

After “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” premiered to rave reviews at TIFF last month, there was much speculation if Netflix would wait until December 23 to debut the film. Director Rian Johnson even pressed the streamer to give the film a limited theatrical release before its premiere date. Now it appears Johnson got his wish: Netflix will give “Glass Onion” a one-week theatrical release the week of Thanksgiving before it debuts on streaming one month later.

Continue reading ‘Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery’: Netflix Gives Rian Johnson’s Sequel A One-Week Theatrical Sneak Preview Starting November 23 at The Playlist.

Rian Johnson’s “Glass Onion” kicks off with a giddily entertaining opening: It’s May 2020, the early days of covid, and several old friends receive, one after the other, a box. It comes from their friend Miles Braun, the eccentric tech billionaire, and it’s an elaborate puzzle box; they get each other on the phone (in a series of playful introductions and dizzily frame-slicing split-screens) and figure out how to solve the puzzle of each level, before landing on the box’s ultimate contents: an invitation to a long weekend on his private island off Greece.

Continue reading ‘Glass Onion’ Review: Rian Johnson’s ‘Knives Out’ Sequel Is Another Twisty Delight [TIFF] at The Playlist.

Filmmaker Rian Johnson looked all ready and poised to join the “Star Wars” universe for a few years following the success of “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.” But on the way to making it, Johnson decided to do a relatively smaller, detective mystery comedy as a palette cleanser first. That film, “Knives Out” became a huge hit for Lionsgate, grossing $311.4 million off a $30 million budget.

Continue reading ‘Glass Onion: Knives Out 2’ Trailer: Rian Johnson Takes Detective Benoit Blanc To Greece In New Mystery Sequel at The Playlist.

The upcoming climate-change anthology series on Apple TV+, “Extrapolations,” is already filled to the brim with massive acting talent. But hey, why not add a few more A-listers to really turn Scott Z. Burns’ new series into a true embarrassment of riches?

READ MORE: ‘Extrapolations’: Forest Whitaker, Marion Cotillard, Tobey Maguire & Eiza Gonzalez Join The Already Stacked Cast Of Apple TV+ Series

According to THR, Scott Z.

Continue reading ‘Extrapolations’: Edward Norton, Keri Russell & More Join Scott Z. Burns’ All-Star Cast For The Apple TV+ Anthology at The Playlist.

Brian Cox has been acting for more than 50 years. Over that time, he’s won a ton of awards and appeared in a number of iconic roles. And with that experience, you understand that Cox has earned the right to be a bit, well, cranky. So, you can’t really get upset when the actor writes a memoir and decides to take that time to let out some rather harsh criticisms against some of the biggest names in Hollywood.

Continue reading Brian Cox Takes Aim At “Overblown” Johnny Depp, “Meretricious” Quentin Tarantino & More In New Book at The Playlist.

Obviously, judging by the insanely star-studded cast of the original “Knives Out,” you had to assume writer-director Rian Johnson was going to make sure to somehow at least find a way to equal the star power for his upcoming sequel. That began with the recent news that Dave Bautista has joined Daniel Craig in the cast. And now, it’s beginning to look like Johnson is going to surpass the star power with the addition of Edward Norton.

Continue reading Edward Norton Joins The Cast Of The ‘Knives Out’ Sequel From Writer-Director Rian Johnson at The Playlist.

Have you noticed that we never obsessive over casting decisions for bad movies? We don’t spend a lot of time going back and looking at, say, Colin Trevorrow‘s “The Book of Henry” and discussing the actors who auditioned for various roles. Revisiting casting decisions is only fun when the movies themselves stand up on their own, and their choices did not damage the actors’ careers. And since both the actor and the director are beloved by all, we can learn more about Edward Norton‘s decision to pass on Terrence Malick‘s “The Thin Red Line” without tarnishing either person’s legacy.

Continue reading Edward Norton Shares How Close He Came To Starring In ‘The Thin Red Line’ at The Playlist.

Edward Norton has something of a bad rep for his reportedly prickly professional persona. Just ask “American History X” director Tony Kaye, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige or “Rounders” director John Dahl. The Golden Globe-winning actor apparently has a predilection for demanding creative control of his characters, their script and their scenes, occasionally to the detriment of his working relationships.

Continue reading ‘Motherless Brooklyn’ Director Edward Norton Talks Discovering His Character In New Featurette at The Playlist.

Welcome to the latest episode of The Fourth Wall – an interview podcast where I attempt to break down the fourth wall of the film industry, getting a behind the scenes look through my conversations with filmmakers, actors/actresses, and other industry professionals. “Motherless Brooklyn” marks a twenty-year journey for writer, director, producer, and star Edward Norton and Norton joins me to discuss the film.

Norton is truly one of the great talents of our generation, with a diverse body of work spanning films such as “Primal Fear” and “American History X,” “Fight Club,” “The Incredible Hulk,” and “Birdman” just to name several.

Continue reading Edward Norton Talks ‘Motherless Brooklyn’ & His Love Of Film Noir [The Fourth Wall] at The Playlist.

Few actors landed on the American film scene with the same force of impact as Edward Norton. As a young man, he evoked the same blend of hardness and sensitivity previously associated with great thespians of decades past (Robert Deniro and Dustin Hoffman both come to mind). In films like “American History X” and “Fight Club,” it seemed like Norton was daring to redefine screen acting as we knew it – and it didn’t hurt that he was willing to work with risky, button-pushing directors like David Fincher and Spike Lee, both of whom coaxed him towards giving two of his finest performances to date.

Continue reading Edward Norton: The Essential Performances at The Playlist.

Depending on who you speak with, the current situation facing the film industry is either incredibly dire, with theaters losing money and studios struggling to find a way to distribute films on the big screen, or the situation is glorious, with a ton of avenues to release your work and companies forking over big sums of cash to help you bring your ideas to life. Well, in the case of actor-turned-filmmaker Edward Norton, who is out there promoting “Motherless Brooklyn,” he is firmly in the latter camp.

Continue reading Edward Norton Thinks Cinemas Themselves Are To Blame For The Death Of The Theatrical Experience at The Playlist.

As part of the Mill Valley Festival Film Festival‘s “Closing Night,” Edward Norton‘s “Motherless Brooklyn” screened. Paired with James Mangold‘s “Ford v Ferrari” for the night’s double feature, it was the awards contender’s Western United States premiere, marking Norton’s first time at the popular Northern California festival since “Birdman.” Based on Jonathan Lethem‘s eponymous novel, “Motherless Brooklyn” is finally seeing the light of day two decades after Norton signed on to adapt it in 1999.

Continue reading Edward Norton Discusses ‘Motherless Brooklyn’ & Departing From the Acclaimed Source Material [Interview] at The Playlist.

The most astonishing part of the entire Marvel Studios slate of films and the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe is just how the studio has been able to release almost two-dozen films without having a multitude of recasting situations. However, when the studio has recast actors, as in the cases of Terrence Howard and Edward Norton, the departures haven’t been the most amicable. That being said, in the latter case, Norton says that the decision over not continuing as Bruce Banner, aka the Hulk, was more creative than monetary.

Continue reading Edward Norton Says His ‘Incredible Hulk’ Sequel Idea Was “Long, Dark, And Serious” Like Nolan’s ‘Dark Knight’ at The Playlist.

One of the finest actors of his generation, Edward Norton is also one of the best thespians we have, period. Known for his refined taste, and good choices, the three-time Academy Award nominee, Golden Globe and SAG Award winner is also recognized for his sharp filmmaking sensibilities, offering substantial, though usually uncredited, rewrites on several films he has starred in over the years, (“The Incredible Hulk,” “Frida”)— in one case, having his cut favored by the studio over the director’s for the final theatrical release (“American History X”).

Continue reading ‘Motherless Brooklyn’: Edward Norton Pulls The Thread On A Knotty ‘Chinatown’-Esque Detective Noir Mystery [Telluride Review] at The Playlist.

After reportedly stewing on the back-burner for nearly two decades, Edward Norton’s “Motherless Brooklyn” has finally become a reality. Based on Jonathan Lethem’s novel of the same name, Norton (“Keeping the Faith,” “American History X,” “Fight Club”) wrote and directed this noir mystery set in 1950s New York City, and we now have our first trailer courtesy of Warner Bros.

Continue reading ‘Motherless Brooklyn’ Trailer: Edward Norton Finally Brings His Jonathan Lethem Adaptation To The Screen at The Playlist.

Not only is Edward Norton’s upcoming film “Motherless Brooklyn” exciting for the actual content of the film, including the actor’s work as the star, writer, and director, but the 1950s period crime thriller also features a killer soundtrack. And how do we know that the soundtrack is going to be so good? Well, just based on the names attached, as well as the first couple of tracks, lead us to believe that “Motherless Brooklyn” is going to be worth a watch just for the music, alone.

Continue reading Listen To 2 Versions Of Thom Yorke’s ‘Motherless Brooklyn’ Ballad That Drove Edward Norton To Tears at The Playlist.

One of the most anticipated films of this fall festival season is Edward Norton’s “Motherless Brooklyn.” The film is set to play at many of the big fall events and perhaps even contend for some awards at the end of the year. And thanks to a new interview with Vanity Fair, we have a first look at the film and why Norton decided to make some big changes from the film’s source material.

Continue reading ‘Motherless Brooklyn’ First Look: Edward Norton Returns To Directing With New Mystery Film Set In 1950s New York at The Playlist.