14 DAY TRIAL // He can do just as well a good guy part and a villain. Edward Norton is now in negotiations for the baddie part in the upcoming reboot of the “Bourne” series, starring Jeremy Renner as the male lead – and no Matt Damon.
The Huffington Post reports that, while the deal is not definite yet, things appear to be heading in the right direction and, for the sake of argument, Norton would make a delicious villain.
“Norton is in negotiations to play the villain in the upcoming semi-reboot of the Jason Bourne series, the Jeremy Renner-starring ‘The Bourne Legacy’,” the publication says.
“Not much is known about the role, but given Norton’s filmography, you can perhaps expect something dark and edgy,” says the same media outlet.
It then goes on to wish producers “happy and easy casting,” given that they took several months to find the perfect man for the role of the male lead.
At one point, several names were thrown in the mix, with producers believed to be talking with all of them for the part, including Renner, Garrett Hedlund of “TRON: Legacy,” Taylor Kitsch of “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” Jake Gyllenhaal of “Prince of Persia” and even Tobey Maguire of “Spiderman.”
Eventually, Renner was made an offer and he accepted, though, as we reported a short while ago, he was no one’s first choice for a lead for a variety of reasons.
Nevertheless, choosing Norton for the villain should be producers’ first choice, the Post notes.
“Norton has made his name playing darker roles; his film debut, ‘Primal Fear,’ saw him cast as a troubled youth and accused priest murderer and won him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor,” writes the e-zine.
“He played a tormented, developing nihilist in ‘Fight Club,’ a detective in Hannibal Lecter film, ‘Red Dragon,’ and a white supremacist – albeit later reformed – in ‘American History X’,” the same media outlet notes.
If anything, he would make a wonderful addition to the upcoming “Bourne” film, which already started off on the wrong footing when it was announced it would not be with Matt Damon, the star of previous installments.
Keep an eye on this space for more details on this.