USA: PREMIERE OF "AMERICAN HISTORY X"

Record ID: 545609

  • Title: USA: PREMIERE OF "AMERICAN HISTORY X"
  • Date: 26th October 1998
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 26, 1998) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF PREMIERE THEATRE "AMERICAN HISTORY X" MOVIE POSTER DREW BARRYMORE SPEAKING WITH THE MEDIA EDWARD FURLONG AND OTHERS ON THE MEDIA ARRIVAL LINE EDWARD FURLONG SAYING "WELL, I DON'T KNOW. RACISM IS KIND OF LIKE YOU KNOW, AN ISSUE THAT'S BEEN AROUND. IT'S LIKE AN AGE-OLD ISSUE SO, I MEAN, YOU KNOW, I DON'T KNOW IF IT WAS REALLY THAT. I THINK IT WAS MORE LIKE, THE COMPLEXITY OF THE SCRIPT AND YOU KNOW, THE CHARACTERS. I THINK IT'S MORE ABOUT JUST LIKE, HOW ONE, YOU KNOW, SOMEONE IS HOT ENOUGH INSIDE, HOW THAT ONE PERSON CAN AFFECT THEMSELVES AND, YOU KNOW, EVERYONE AROUND THEM THAT LOVES THEM (ENGLISH) EDWARD NORTON SPEAKING WITH THE MEDIA NORTON POSING FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS NORTON SAYING "THIS KIND OF A CHARACTER IS A RICH CHALLENGE FOR ANY ACTOR BECAUSE IT'S ALWAYS A CHALLENGE TO TAKE A, CREATE A CHARACTER WHO, ON INITIAL INTRODUCTION IS, YOU KNOW, ALMOST NIGHTMARISHLY TERRIBLE BUT THEN TRY TO TAKE HIM BY THE END OF TWO HOURS TO A PLACE WHERE HE'S BEEN COMPLETELY HUMANIZED AND TO WHERE THE CIRCUMSTANCES AND THE EMOTIONAL DYNAMICS OF HIS LIFE ARE ALMOST SYMPATHETIC. OR WHERE THE AUDIENCE MIGHT HAVE SOME SYMPATHY FOR HIM (ENGLISH) MOVIE POSTER EDWARD NORTON SAYING OF HIS PHYSICAL TRANSFORMATION FOR THE ROLE, NO, I'VE LOST 30 OR 40 POUNDS SINCE I DID THAT. I'M BACK TO MY SKINNY OLD SELF. WELL, I RAN INTO ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER AT A PARTY AND HE SAID DID YOU TAKE A CYCLE OF THE JUICE? AND I SAID, NO, THERE WERE NO STEROIDS INVOLVED, IT WAS JUST EAT LIKE A HORSE AND LIFT WEIGHTS UNTIL YOU'RE BORED (ENGLISH) MOVIE THEATRE MARQUEE
  • Embargoed: 10th November 1998 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES AND FILM LOCATIONS
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVA4T4GVG6EY134TZM6CM1TP6PAF
  • Story Text: In the midst of a heated battle between director Tony Kaye, New Line Cinema and leading man Edward Norton, the stars of the controversial new drama about racist skin heads, "American History X", attended the film's Los Angeles premiere.
    The film is generating controversy both for its subject matter and for the very public battle being carried on between its director, its star and the studio.
    In the movie, Edward Norton plays an articulate and highly dangerous neo-Nazi skinhead white supremicist, who is sent down for the killing of three black men who attempt to steal his car.
    Edward Furlong plays his younger brother, a straight-A high school student who is just starting to go down the same hate-filled road as his older sibling.
    The film shows what happens when Norton's character is released from prison and re-enters his family's life.He's a changed man, and he sees it as his responsibility to stop his little brother from making the same mistakes he made.
    The script is filled with psychologically-graphic violence and crude racial slurs, which have caused some to question whether the movie addresses racial tensions or inflames them.
    But the real fireworks have come in the editing room, where first-time feature film director Tony Kaye battled with Edward Norton and executives at New Line Cinema, the studio releasing the film.
    The arguments resulted in Kaye quitting from the movie, demanding that his name be removed from the credits because he wasn't happy with the final cut.
    However, the Director's Guild of America has a rule that a director can only remove his name from a film if he agrees not to badmouth the finished product in the press.In this case, Kaye was extremely vocal about his displeasure, taking out a series of advertisments in Hollywood trade magazines.These actions ended his chances of disassociating himself with the movie.
    The disagreement stems from Kaye's first edit of the film.
    Unhappy with it, he went back into the studio and re-cut it down to a very short 87 minute version.The studio executives liked the longer version better and wanted to release it but Kaye refused and insisted on more time to re-cut it again.
    Kaye agreed to let Norton join him in the editing room, and that is where disagreements between the star and the director escalated into yet another war of words.In the end, the studio sided with the star, who pushed for releasing the longer edit, and Kaye walked off the project.
    While all this arguing was going on, Norton was returning to his old self physically.For the sake of the role, the 29-year old actor gained more than 25 pounds of muscle through an intense regime of dieting and weight-lifting.Since the production, though, he has returned to his previous size and shape.
    "American History X" opens in select cities around the United States on Friday, October 30.
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