Saturday, November 15, 2008

Not the Leaves of Grass You're Thinking Of

When someone says "Leaves of Grass" does your body sing electric, lost in memories of glorious fragments from the pen of the great Walt Whitman? Mine does. So, when I first heard that Edward Norton was starring in Leaves of Grass (2009) I thought we had a queer civil war era biopic on our hands. We don't get many of those.

Ed Norton and Ed Norton in Leaves of Grass (2009)

But unless Walt Whitman actually had a pot-smoking identical twin brother, this is not the Leaves of Grass I'm thinking of. Presumably Hollywood didn't have poetry on its mind when it co-opted the famous title. Writer/Director/Actor Tim Blake Nelson directs Norton in this comedic crime thriller about twins: one a college professor, the other a criminal. Should Edward call Lindsay Lohan (Parent Trap) for tips? It's not like his new co-stars Richard Dreyfuss, Keri Russell and Susan Sarandon have ever played twins.
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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

The real question is whether this will be the turnaround his career needs (I.E. "Adaptation") or whether it will be another disappointing movie which makes me lament the career of my former favourite actor.

Sally Belle said...

Just fyi, and I swear I'm not being snotty. Edward Norton never goes by Ed. In fact he HATES being called Ed Norton.

And you know what happens when he's angry.

Anonymous said...

I just LOVE Edward Norton. He is my favorite actor and I hope this movie rocks!!!

NATHANIEL R said...

sally noted! Wouldn't want him angry. Please email me!

owen i'm kinda not sold on Tim Blake Nelson in general... grey zone, "o" but we'll see.

kamila favorite?

Anonymous said...

He's also one of my favourite...I deeply loved him in PRIMAL FEAR, LARRY FLYNT, FIGHT CLUB, AMERICAN HISTORY X, ROUNDERS, THE 25TH HOUR, THE PAINTED VEIL and, I'm not kidding, KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.
Actually I appreciated PRIDE & GLORY more than the others and I wasn't disturbed by HULK.
Frankly I'm not holding my breath for LEAVES OF GRASS, 'cause normally Norton is a tad overtune in this kind of roles (do you remember him in THE SCORE?)...but we'll see.
But what happened to MOTHERLESS BROOKLYN? It was announced he had to star and direct the adaptation of Jonathan Lethem's novel...but the movie has been in production for years...
Anyway I agree that a Whitman biopic would be great...maybe if MILK's boxoffice is very good...

mirko