Ed Norton is The Hulk.

[ROC]

Norton to star in 'Hulk'

Marvel movie to be released in 2008

By MICHAEL FLEMING

Edward Norton has been set by Marvel Studios to play Bruce Banner in "The Incredible Hulk."

The Louis Leterrier-directed drama will be distributed by Universal Pictures, with an opening set for June 13, 2008.

It is a decided return to the mainstream for Norton, who recently has starred in such indies as "Down in the Valley," "The Painted Veil," and "The Illusionist." Pic will shoot this summer in Toronto.

Norton takes over a role played in the Ang Lee-directed "Hulk" by Eric Bana. Though that film opened strongly, it didn’t fare as well as other Marvel efforts, including "Spider-Man," "X-Men," "Fantastic Four" and, most recently, "Ghost Rider."

Marvel Studios, which has a $525 million credit facility obtained through Merrill Lynch, made "The Incredible Hulk" its second film under that arrangement, and seeks to make a sequel that is less self-serious and more in line with the comic series and TV show. Leterrier directed the action-filled "Transporter 2," and "Unleashed."

The new pic begins with Banner on the run, trying to avoid capture long enough to cure the condition that turns him into a misunderstood green menace.

"Edward Norton is a rare talent and one of the most versatile actors in the business," Marvel Studios production president Kevin Feige said in a statement. "His ability to transform into a particular role makes him the ideal choice to take on the character of Bruce Banner and the Hulk. Edward is perfectly suited to bring one of the most popular and important Marvel icons to the bigscreen in a new and exciting way."

The script for "The Incredible Hulk" was written by Zak Penn, who had a hand in crafting two "X-Men" films, "Fantastic Four" and "Elektra" for Marvel.

"The Incredible Hulk" is being produced by Avi Arad, Gale Anne Hurd and Marvel’s Feige. Jim Van Wyck, David Maisel, Ari Arad and Stan Lee are exec producing.

Norton, who will next be seen starring with Colin Farrell in the Gavin O’Connor-directed New Line drama "Pride and Glory," is repped by Endeavor.

[LL!]

This will be all sorts of funny. I promise you.

[Rashid]

This a sequel to 2003 (or whenever it was) Hulk? Cause that movie was many levels of awful.

If so, I am not looking forward to this.

[Farmer Reil]

Ed Norton is brilliant, but... the Hulk?

What the fuck was he thinking?

[ROC]

Ed Norton is brilliant, but... the Hulk?

What the fuck was he thinking?

[Hellfire]

Hopefully it won't suck as much as the last Hulk movie. Honestly, that was one of the only times I have fallen asleep at the movie theater.

['That Guy']

A Hulk curb-stomp "American History X" style, except with no racist intent involved would be amazing.

[Kane's Mullet Slacker]

The script for "The Incredible Hulk" was written by Zak Penn, who had a hand in crafting two "X-Men" films, "Fantastic Four" and "Elektra" for Marvel.

[Pepsi]

It is supposed to be more action oriented and less melodrama then Ang Lee's.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Ghost Rider was successful?!?!?!

Just shows there's no accounting for taste in the movies anymore. :pinch:

[livid]

Yeah, it had a fairly good opening for some reason. I don't know, I guess just because it's a Marvel comic that made it so popular.

That being said, Ed Norton is all sorts of badass and him as the Hulk will be interesting. Still not as bad as Topher Grace being cast to play Venom though, that's just weird IMO.

[gunnar hendershow]

Ed Norton isn't gaunt enough to be Hulk. But whatever. I've lost faith in Marvel to do well with their movies for the most part.

[Benji]

Bleh, I love Norton, I hated the Hulk movie, and I can swear now this will suck, Banner/Hulk is something very few people could pull off, and Norton, as amazingly talented as he is, is not one of them. Norton would've been in the running for the lead in the Namor movie for me, although he'd be towards the back of the pack and thus well behind Hugo Weaving.

[Mick]

[Pepsi]

Geez, at least wait for a trailer or for them to actually shoot something before you start saying it will suck.

[Benji]

Geez, at least wait for a trailer or for them to actually shoot something before you start saying it will suck.

It's the guy who made Elektra, it's a guy who I can't see fitting the role (and I'm pretty generous with casting decisions) and it's my duty as a moviegoer to say things will suck and then turn tail and pretend I thought it would be fantastic all along. God bless living in the free world.

[Chris the Human]

Well, Norton's a better option than Bana. Australian patriotism aside, I thought that Bana was just a little too wooden (direction or no) and Ang Lee just a little too arty and pretentious for a comic book movie. The Hulk bored me shitless, so I'm looking forward to something more senseless this time around

[livid]

Zak Penn's also written a few decent to good movies as well, not just Elektra. He did X2 which was a good movie and granted The Last Stand wasn't that great, but it was a lot better than Elektra (I couldn't even watch all of Elektra, whereas I went to see The Last Stand in theaters) and the movie Suspect Zero (which IMO was a pretty good movie) so it's not like he continually spews out stuff like Elektra. Granted there are plenty of more talented writers out there, but there are also a ton of writers worse than him as well.

Not to mention the guy directing has done the Transporter movies and Unleashed/Danny The Dog, so it's possible he could make up for the potentially bad script and whoever else might be on cast for the movie as well as Norton. Personally, I'm excited for this movie (and for the record, Ang Lee's Hulk was a decent movie but they advertised it completely wrong, billing it as an action film, but you watch the movie and it's 2 and a half hours of character development mostly).