MovieChat Forums > Primal Fear (1996) Discussion > Edward Norton is the greatest actor of a...

Edward Norton is the greatest actor of all time

posted 10 years ago by EricaRene-Price
15 replies | jump to latest

When he told Martin, "It's like we were dancing!" with that incredibly sinister smile, I got chills. He changed his face from completely innocent to a terrifying psychopath in a second. The stutter and accent were very well done.The slow clap during the final conversation was perfectly timed.The way he cracked up and taunted Martin with this aura of "i'm so damn smart for playing you all for suckers" at the end was brilliant and he managed to say that with his facial expressions alone. This is a man playing a man pretending to be two people to save his own skin and amuse himself in the process. What actor has the talent to do that? I'll tell you who: EDWARD HARRISON NORTON. This guy is an all time great who should have multiple oscars/Emmys/Jennys, whateverys because hes that good.

[–] 10 years ago

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[–] 10 years ago

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[–] EricaRene-Price 10 years ago

Hes leveled off now because of his one flaw, he's hard to work with and directors would rather take their chances with someone else. That doesn't take away from his talent and hes been great in everything ive watched him in.

[–] 10 years ago

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[–] KorbenDLS 10 years ago

I agree Dog. To play three different characters in a movie takes some real acting chops. I think he was just as good in this as he was (if not better) in American History X.

[–] plumlogan 10 years ago

Who had the talent to do that?

Tropic Thunder (2008)

Kirk Lazarus: I know who I am. I'm the dude playin' the dude, disguised as another dude!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0942385/quotes?item=qt0477772

Robert Downey Jr

[–] bpladybug 10 years ago

he is truly great - phenomenal in Primal Fear

[–] PopperTheKungFu-Dragon 9 years ago

One of my all-time favorite performances. Norton is phenomenal, but sadly did not reach the heights I expected him to reach. It was nice to see him get back a bit with Birdman though.

Poorly Lived and Poorly Died, Poorly Buried and No One Cried

[–] hnt_dnl 9 years ago

Slow the road. He's a great actor, but of ALL time? Don't think so.

[–] Jennie_Portrait 9 years ago

He is a fabulous actor. Really.

I remember seeing Primal Fear in the movie theater when it premiered 20 years ago. I had no idea what it was even about, I just loved Richard Gere. By the time the film had ended, I just say, "Who the hell was the guy who played Aaron?"

If every there were a film with a star-making performance, this movie was it. Whenever has there been a situation of an unknown supporting actor blowing the star off the screen?

Edward Norton rocks!

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Never say never...

[–] midnight_muse 8 years ago

Whenever has there been a situation of an unknown supporting actor blowing the star off the screen?

Inglourious Basterds
Christoph Waltz, winner, Best Actor at Cannes, Best Supporting Actor Oscar, Golden Globe, BAFTA, SAG etc.

But I agree, Norton stole this film completely.

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I don't come from hell. I came from the forest.

[–] Jennie_Portrait 8 years ago

Yes-- totally right! In fact Quentin Tarantino said that he couldn't have made the movie at all unless they had found Christoph Waltz. Being fluent in three languages AND being a brilliant actor made him a star.

I feel (to a lesser extent) that way about Renee Zellweger in Jerry Maguire. I had never seen her before and here she was the second lead with a major star like Tom Cruise. That was also a star-making role.

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Never say never...

[–] midnight_muse 8 years ago

Four, I think, not three. German, English, French, Italian.

His evil/genial slaughtering of the fake Italians is perfect.

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I don't come from hell. I came from the forest.

[–] Jennie_Portrait 8 years ago

He's not fluent in Italian-- just pretty convincing to the rest of us.

Waltz's native language is German and he is fluent in English and French.[28] He speaks all three of these in Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained, and although his character in Inglourious Basterds also spoke Italian, Waltz stated on the Adam Carolla Podcast that he does not speak it fluently.[citation needed] He is his own voice actor for both the French and German dubs of each film.

From Wikipedia

___________________________________
Never say never...

[–] midnight_muse 8 years ago

I would have no idea if he was fluent in either French or Italian. But I suppose the point is that he and/or his character certainly knows enough Italian to know the Basterds are faking it. That's the source of all the tension in that scene.

Not that it would take much to know they were faking it... Gorlomi.

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I don't come from hell. I came from the forest.