Have you been watching a lot of Court TV lately because of a certain high-profile murder trial? Many of us have the livestreams up for as long as court is in session every day.
If you’re in need of some after-hours drama, we’ve got a recommendation for you that happens to coincide with Edward Norton’s birthday today.
Primal Fear is a psychological/legal thriller starring Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Alfre Woodard, and Frances McDormand. Released in 1996, it was also Norton’s feature film debut.
Gere plays Martin Vail, a defense attorney in Chicago. A Catholic priest is found murdered, and an altar boy, Aaron Stampler (Norton), is accused of the crime. Vail takes him on as a client.
If you haven’t watched this twisty thriller, stop now. Otherwise, let’s dive into how Norton landed this juicy role and what it can teach filmmakers.
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Edward Norton’s First Feature
Norton turns 57 today and is a four-time Oscar nominee, a director, and a producer. Before his star turns in American History X and A Complete Unknown and becoming a familiar face in Wes Anderson films, he was an off-Broadway actor with no credits yet.
As Primal Fear was being cast, Norton heard about the project. Leonardo DiCaprio passed on the role (and Titanic came out the next year).
In 2020 at the Artios Awards, Norton reflected on how he contacted the film’s casting director, Deborah Aquila.
“I sent a fax to her at Paramount. Dating myself,” he said (via Variety). “Trying to desperately say I was, [that] you saw me for this animated short in front of an independent at Sundance, or something like that, and I’d love to get in [for an audition]. [Aquila] responded to it. I got that audition. She was seeing thousands and thousands of people for that part.”
Obviously, he got that part, and even went on to win a Golden Globe for his performance. He also snagged one of his Oscar nominations for it.
He Auditioned in Character
Once he got in the room, Norton committed fully to the character, he said.
“When I went in to audition for Primal Fear, I asked if I could come into the room,” Norton said (via Variety). “Then, Deb came into the room, and I was sitting on the floor by the couch in the scene in the prison cell. Deb took a look at me and grasped that I didn’t want to chat, that I just wanted to get into it. She came over, pushed the table aside, and sat down on the floor with me. I looked at her and realized, ‘There is no assistant; She doesn’t have a script in her hand. She’s sitting down to do the scene with me. So, let’s go.’ And she did.”
His character, Aaron, inhabits a particular kind of timidity for a young man. Norton added a stutter, which wasn’t in the original novel or the sides. And he had all that ready for the read. (Norton, with his theater background, prefers the Stanislavski system to create his characters.)
In a 2019 interview with Yahoo Entertainment, Norton said that the tape from this audition circulated widely and helped launch his career.
“People made a big deal of that. It was sort of like the Nirvana demo tape, my screen tests on it. It went around, and I was like, ‘Why is everybody seeing this? Why am I hearing about people seeing it at, y’know, parties in Hollywood and s*** like that?’ … It got hyped up. I did things I always did for auditions. I didn’t like chitchat before auditions. I thought it was un-strategic. I thought, why would you say, ‘Hi, I’m Edward! I did this! And blah blah. Okay, now let me do the drug addict for this part on Law & Order, or whatever.’ I thought, let’s talk after, do you know what I mean? Or not at all.”
Actors can be, let’s say, temperamental or out-of-the-box. Casting directors may or may not have patience for these kinds of antics, so try to read the room if you’re auditioning, especially as a newbie.
‘Primal Fear’ Credit: Paramount Pictures
How His Performance Helped the Film
As mentioned, DiCaprio had already said no to the same role, and one reason may have been a script that wasn’t in great shape.
We’ve covered how Norton felt about the story. He said (per Yahoo):
“The role was not very fully formed. It wasn’t what it became in the film. It was not so clearly defined as a complete con. Leonardo DiCaprio, who’s a really good pal of mine, he had passed on it. Weirdly that did a weird thing to me, because of course, it’s like, a once-in-a-lifetime career shot. … I was like, ‘This is a mess.’ It was a mess. [Director Greg Hoblit] thought it was a mess, Richard [Gere] kind of thought it was a mess. But then when I came into it, everybody really realized, ‘We really need to fix this.'”
Gere has confirmed this in his own interviews. When he appeared on The Movie Podcast recently, Gere said, “I was ready to walk because I said, ‘We can’t do it without an actor who can play that part. It won’t work.’ At the last second, there was an open call.”
Norton emerged from that open casting call. Gere and the team heard about his audition and flew him to LA.
“We did a test, and he was fabulous. We all went, ‘Wow. What has he done? Nothing.'”
Gere credits Norton, at least in part, for helping save the film.
What a First-Time Actor Can Take Away
You only have one debut, so you’d better make it count. Norton later said of the role, “The potency of the revelation about who my character really was in that film was, in part, reliant on the fact that people had absolutely no prior knowledge of me. They had no reason to expect a different voice or anything different from what they were initially presented with” (via Biography).
Norton has continued to keep his life fairly private so he can show up on sets and inhabit whoever he needs to be, without gossip or public perception to color how the audience sees him.
It’s a unique approach. What do you think?
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