It's ginned up by the corporate plutocracy as a way of distracting the working-class people that it's screwing. We hamstring our own natural progressivism in this country, and that's really stupid. Edward Norton More Quotes by Edward Norton More Quotes From Edward Norton As an actor, I don't have any politics. As an actor, I'm driven more by an authentic - I would say an obsessive-compulsive-disorder level-fixation on mimicry, tonality of voice, to literally imitate something until I can just disappear into it. Edward Norton obsessive-compulsive voice actors Every little thing that people know about you as a person impedes your ability to achieve that kind of terrific suspension of disbelief that happens when an audience goes with an actor and character he's playing. Edward Norton actors character people I'm an actor, and, beyond that, the thing I do most compulsively is writing. So I come at it very much from this sense of character. I get interested in people. And I feel confident in my capacity to absorb and manifest the characteristics of people. I have a real auditory hang-up for dialogue; re-creating the way people talk really is an addiction in my brain. Edward Norton real writing character Everyone thinks that Fight Club is a very important and successful film, but it was a massive box-office failure. Massive. It was a big flop by any commercial-release standard. And it's been a huge hit on DVD. Everything that movie has become has been on DVD. So you can't stake your sense of creative success on this whole box-office-performance matrix, because if you do, you're going to be disappointed most of the time. Edward Norton fighting successful thinking I grow tired of intelligence having such a limited manifestation in movies - "intelligence" usually meaning coastal, with a certain level of formal education. Edward Norton coastal tired levels When I'm looking for Zen and I'm not saying this facetiously at all - I would really rather surf, scuba dive, or fly my plane. And, when I feel tension about the grind of work, it's not getting the money to make films versus making films that constitutes the grind, it's all this stuff. Edward Norton surf scuba stuff But at the same time, the film industry just got torched. The risk tolerance for the types of movies we're talking about is lower, and the reason for that is that the captains of the industry were asleep at the switch when their core business was being disrupted. And they're never getting it back. In a way, it makes it all the more exciting when the good ones get through. Edward Norton tolerance risk talking To me, achieving tone, achieving consistency, is exactly the job of a director. It is to be the fusing, the nexus of a whole bunch of people contributing to the complex life of a movie. There are actors, there's a cinematographer, there're costume people, set people, there are all these things, and you somehow have to be the person in the middle of it who is making it all synchronize into the same magic bubble. Edward Norton consistency jobs people What has always been most interesting about acting to me personally is that it affords you the chance to shift gears, both in terms of the experiences you get to have through doing it, but also the different kinds of things you get to represent. Edward Norton different acting interesting I studied French forever, and when do I ever speak French? I clearly should have studied Spanish. I wish I had stuck with music, because that would still be great. I really wish I had learned to surf earlier in my life. Edward Norton speaks-french should-have forever I've always liked the idea of taking old dramatic ideas and devices and making them feel relevant or contemporary or whatever. Edward Norton dramatic relevant ideas The deeper you go with the character, the more you see the layers start to peel away. It's more challenging to me, but it's also just interesting. Those are the things I like to watch. I like to watch the evolutions of something. Edward Norton challenges character interesting People say you can't make movies about your politics or the environment. And, generally speaking, I completely divide those sides of my brain. Edward Norton sides brain people If you feel like someone just knows what this is about to their core, they're going to have that special confidence in it.You stop looking at the seams and they start inhabiting the same space and start interacting with each . Edward Norton space special feels People think because I went to Yale that that implies privilege, and it is a privilege in the sense that it's an incredible opportunity. Edward Norton yale opportunity thinking The elegance of staying with a moment, without needing to stop and change all the lighting, made [the alternative] seem lazy and indulgent. Edward Norton lazy alternatives moments I do find myself drawn more to pieces that I feel are wrestling with the way that we're living now, what we're all going through. Edward Norton pieces wrestling way Sometimes their oppression of emotion and the weird way it comes out is more interesting than painting it in bold primary colors. Edward Norton color way interesting On the downside, to paraphrase Thom Yorke talking about the music business, we're still having to deal with the stench of the last fart of the dying corpse of this regressive vision that America is a white, middle-aged, male, conservative country. Edward Norton white talking country My greatest hope is that we transcend the most fearful thing, which is that we are rapidly degrading the ecological systems on this planet that support everything we are doing and all life on it. Edward Norton degrading planets support
