Creative 'Hulk' Differences Make Norton Smash! Norton Crash! Norton Bash!
Few came away from Ang Lee's vision of Hulk—about two freakishly massive, green cowboys who smash boulders and each others' hearts on the open Wyoming plain—feeling the director had really done the Marvel source material justice. So it was with a measure of relief that Ed Norton announced he would be sweeping in to reclaim the franchise, with a bold re-envisioning of the beloved tale of Dr. Banner and his rageoholic, gamma-bomb-enhanced Mr. Hyde. Now, reports Deadline Hollywood Daily, the legendarily exacting Norton has been locking horns with the Marvel Studios brass over final cut:
Insiders say Norton was "promised tremendous involvement and access" after Marvel invited him into the core team to rewrite Zak Penn's script. Says one insider, "There's a lot of posturing going on between Edward's camp and Marvel over how you edit the final version."
Sources also tell me that, starting last night and continuing at least throughout today, the actor will be holed up with Marvel Studios chairman David Maisel, Marvel Studios president of production Kevin Feige, and director Louis Leterrier to try to "reach an amicable resolution" to this $150+ million film feud.
We're confident that whatever discrepancies of vision have arisen between Norton and representatives from the Guild of Nervous Comic Book Rights Holders Hoping Their Valuable Franchise Isn't Mucked Again Up by Some Artsy-Fartsy Cinematic Visionary will soon be resolved, and that fanboys hungry for some Hulk redemption will soon be emerging from theaters, heartily agreeing that, "Well, he's no Ferrigno, but at least he was better than that Eric Bana-on-CGI-steroids crap."