The last couple of weeks there has been rumblings about problems behind the scene of Ed Norton's The Incredible Hulk.  I haven't really posted anything about it because I don't want to believe it because I think this movie looks really great and I love the casting and I love how Ed Norton is so passionate about it.  However its apparent the studio and producers are all that happy with Norton's passion.

Entertainment weekly has put up an article saying that Ed Norton is so pissed off that he is refusing to do any promotion for this film that he work so hard at, writing and acting in.

For a couple of months, Norton and director Louis Leterrier have been fighting with Marvel because they wanted to release a "longer, more detailed film."  Which I say makes more sense.  Film makers should make their movies as rich has possible in story.  However, Marvel is going all Hollywood and they want a shorter, faster, and more commercial action and now everyone is pissed off because Marvel apparently won that argument.

In addition to all of that, Edward Norton sent a statment about these issues.  Take a look:

"Like so many people I've loved the story of The Hulk since I was a kid, so it was thrilling when Marvel asked me to write and help produce an altogether new screen incarnation, as well as play Bruce Banner. I grew up reading Marvel Comics and always loved the mythic dimension and contemporary themes in the stories, and I’m proud of the script I wrote. In every phase of production, including the editing, working with Louis Leterrier has been wonderful...I've never had a better partner, and the collaboration with all the rest of the creative team has been terrific. Every good movie gets forged through collaboration, and different ideas among people who are all committed and respect the validity of each other's opinions is the heart of filmmaking. Regrettably, our healthy process, which is and should be a private matter, was misrepresented publicly as a 'dispute,' seized on by people looking for a good story, and has been distorted to such a degree that it risks distracting from the film itself, which Marvel, Universal and I refuse to let happen. It has always been my firm conviction that films should speak for themselves and that knowing too much about how they are made diminishes the magic of watching them. All of us believe The Incredible Hulk will excite old fans and create new ones and be a huge hit...our focus has always been to deliver the Hulk that people have been waiting for and keep the worldwide love affair with the big green guy going strong.''

Norton is being very professional about it.  Honestly though, I'm behind Norton 100%.  Some people might think that a movie should be under 2 hours, but seriously.... if that is going to hurt the story as a whole it should be done.  Norton should be allowed to put out the full movie the way that he thinks it should be done.  Both Norton and Leterrier are in agreement with that.  They are the film makers, they should call the shots.  Its a fact that most of the time when the studio involves themselves too much, movies usually turn out to be shitter then it really is.

I still think The Incredible Hulk is going to be a good movie and better then Ang Lee's Hulk, but I don't like the things that I'm hearing about this stuff.

I really hope that all of this news doesn't hurt the way the box office turns out.  A majority of movie goers don't ever hear any of this, its mainly us fans that read on the internet that know these issues.

Lets see what happens, but I'm going to support it.  When I see it I'll of course tell the truth if its either good or bad, but I think and hope its going to be good.  Until then...

-Phil