Did ‘Spider-Man’ hand Edward Norton his most underrated role?
The first film that springs to mind when you think of Edward Norton very much depends on the type of person you are. If you were a Marvel early adopter, chances are you remember him as Bruce Banner in The Incredible Hulk, prior to Mark Ruffalo taking over the role. Fans of symmetry will recognise him from countless collaborations with Wes Anderson, while he’s also cropped up in Fight Club, American History X, Birdman, A Complete Unknown, and many, many more.
People are less likely to recall that Norton starred in the 2002 New York-based drama 25th Hour. Directed by Spike Lee, the movie follows Monty Brogan (Norton), a recently convicted crook, as he prepares for life behind bars. Alongside co-stars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rosario Dawson, and Brian Cox, Norton travels around the city, which is still in the throes of the September 11th attacks, hanging out with his buddies, making out with his girlfriend, and doing all the other stuff you can’t do when in the slammer.
The film is based on the 2001 novel of the same name by David Benioff, who TV fans will know as one of the showrunners on Game of Thrones. The author, who also handled screenplay duties, was interviewed about the making of 25th Hour for the book Spike Lee: That’s My Story and I’m Sticking to It by Kaleem Aftab. As per the title, he revealed that Norton wasn’t the first choice to lead the project.
“Tobey Maguire read it and thought that he wanted to play Monty, so he optioned the book,” Benioff said. “I was hired to write the screenplay, and then Maguire got the ‘Spider-Man’ role, so he dropped 25th Hour. The script was just lying around, and my agent, Todd Feldman, who also represents Spike, sent it to him. Then Spike called me up and said, ‘Why don’t you come to New York? I’d like to talk to you about it.’ It was pretty nerve-racking the first time I walked into that room with him, because I grew up in New York and he’s a New York icon.”
Maguire would have still been a relative unknown at the time. He’d had bit parts in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and The Cider Rules, but it wasn’t until his first outing as Sam Raimi’s chosen webslinger that he became a household name. Despite stepping away from acting duties, he remained one of the film’s producers, so he would have been entitled to some of the movie’s profit. That can’t have felt too bad.
In retrospect, it’s impossible to imagine anyone else in this movie but Norton, let alone Maguire. There’s a six-year age gap between the two stars, which would have drastically changed how the character was perceived. While Maguire is a very capable performer, Norton is better suited to these serious, more grounded characters. Monty Brogan feels like a very real person, which is where Norton really comes into his own.
The critics certainly thought so. 25th Hour has been labelled one of the greatest films of the 21st century, one of the greatest films about 9/11, and one of the greatest films full stop by numerous sources. Fans of Norton rank this amongst his best ever performances, which is mad when you think that it almost went to somebody else.
