Edward Norton interview about DTS
http://movies.about.com/library/weekly/aa032502a.htm
Edward Norton and Catherine Keener play the 'love interests' in Warner Bros. Pictures strange, twisted comedy, "Death to Smoochy." Norton stars as Sheldon Mopes, a man who loves kids, eats only health food and lives a squeaky clean life. He makes a living performing as Smoochy the Rhinoceros, a gigantic, purple dancing/singing rhino. Life is relatively boring for Sheldon until kid show producer, Nora Wells (Catherine Keener) enters his life, offering him the chance of a lifetime - a Smoochy kids show on a major television network. The man who held the time slot prior to Smoochy, kid show phenom Rainbow Randolph (Robin Williams), was fired after being involved in a bribery and extortion scandal. Fearing another scandal, the network hires Sheldon/Smoochy, a man without skeletons in his closet and no known vices. Proving opposites attract, Sheldon and Nora's dislike for each other transforms (through movie magic) into a passionate relationship.
EDWARD NORTON (Sheldon Mopes/Smoochy):
How did you feel the first time you put on the rhino suit?
It was great. I worked a long time with the costume designer and this guy Chip down at the creature creations studio in the valley. We spent a long time with ears and I brought in a book with Peter Beard photos and some stuff I shot in Africa - with rhinos and hair in their ears. You have to like play with it a long time to make sure it's something you look at and that you really feel warmly toward.
Was Smoochy based on any particular type of character?
He was, I had a lot of people in mind. I mean, Adam Resnick's script was just hilarious and an amazing percentage of it is still in the film. For the blistering pace of the movie and for what may seem very improvisational, an amazing amount of it was in his original script. But, I worked with him a little bit on it. There was always the crusader kind of element of Smoochy and there were references to the fact that he didn't like someone selling sugar to kids, but then Adam and I kind of took that and and pushed it a little further out into a complete commitment. Into like, you know, everything that Smoochy is now. We had a joke at one point about how Armani has made him all kind of clothes and we got Armani to make a whole bunch of hemp suits.
Was it fun not to be the wild and crazy guy?
Yeah, actually I thought Danny wanted me to play Rainbow Randolph. When I read the script I figured Adam Sandler will be Smoochy or one of those guys. Danny and I were in Montreal making competing "Heist" movies and he said, "I've got this thing I want you to read. I want you to think about it." I read it at 2 in the morning. I was lying on my back and I had these rivulets of tears running down my temples when I was done. Such a funny script and I was thinking to myself, "God, you know? Maybe they'll let me play Rainbow Randolph. They'll never let me play Smoochy." So I went to Danny and I said, "Listen, I'm thinking, you know maybe I can take some of this other stuff I've done and flip it over into Rainbow Randolph." He said, "No, no you've got to play Smoochy!"
Was that surprising?
Well, I was surprised. I was a little surprised that he was able to convince the studio to let me do that role. I thought he'd get me on the other one. But then Danny told me he had Robin for Randolph and I was so excited.
This doesn't seem like a mainstream studio movie. Were you surprised that the studio would allow a film like this to be made?
No, but you know I always liked it. I've had this happen a couple of times - particularly with "Fight Club." First of all, I give them all credit for ultimately making these movies, but sometimes the way you can really turn the screw and make it tough for them to say no is if you put together a certain group of people. You start to engage their fear that someone else will make it and have a hit. So I think Danny is brilliant. Once you have Robin signed on to a comedy, I think they almost crunch the numbers and they can't not make that movie. That said, I'm really pleased they did make it. And for their credit, they gave us real resources to make it.
Does this film more reflect your sense of humor?
Sure. After "Fight Club" this seemed like a light comedy to me. I like this stuff. I'm not interested in making movies for everybody. I just don't. I like making movies for myself and my friends and people with my sensibility. When you read a script like this the first thing you think is I hope to God they don't back off all this stuff and try to make it so you can take your kids. I was so happy that Danny didn't. I'm not saying it's bad to make those movies, that's great. It's just that it was such a thrill to make an adult comedy and you KNOW you were making an adult comedy and you know not to shoot an alternative tape where Robin doesn't [cuss]. It's great because there's no harm in it. Danny's a master. I think he has such a deft touch at going as black as you ever want to go and as profane as you would ever want to be while not making it offensive or dirty. I think you'd have to be wired way too tight not to be able to laugh at this movie. I love that he's able to do that. He's able to give you a dark chuckle on an adult level and satirize things in a sophisticated way. That was a thrill for me. And I love seeing Robin in that vein. You know, I grew up on "Robin Williams: Live at the Met" and I loved hearing him just cut loose in such an uncensored way like this because he's obviously so brilliant.
Does Robin get there immediately or was it a building process in terms of the choices that Danny made?
He does have a remarkable ability to accelerate up into that, but the thing that really impressed me about Robin is... I did think the script was extremely funny and the verbiage in it was so specific and hilarious and I wondered if Robin was just going to come in and just plaster over it with his own stuff - and he didn't. He was so restrained and disciplined about when he chose to sort of turn his tap on. He was comma perfect on the script and he'd find these openings to let his own thing loose. I never once thought he ever did anything but enhance the script that was already there. Then on top of that, I thought he was kind of a demonstration of that Mark Twain line about the best extemporaneous speech being the one that's the most meticulously rehearsed. He always gives you the impression that he's just going wow. But the truth is he throws a lot of stuff around and you can see him sort of go, "That sucked, that sucked, this was good," and then he's just like any actor where he works it and works it and over a number of takes, hones in on it. He doesn't just crack out a lot of stuff and let them sort it out in the editing. He worked, I mean he was maniacal about working it, working it, working it.
Was it easy for you to follow Robin?
Yeah, it was fun. It's great. You know Sheldon has such a dopey rhythm of his own and it's great to sort of dance. We did have these really funny pauses together. Danny - in sort of the George Cukor tradition - would just say, "Faster, faster," that was his note. [We would] rip it out about 20 times until you've got Robin hitting every note. It is a stylized comedy in that way.
Is it more of a challenge for you to play this type of character?
No, I've done a lot of different kinds of stuff. No, you just have to hook in because it's all the same. It's all about hooking into whatever that person's value system is. Everybody's got a value system and a set of motivations and the only difference is, with a movie like this, the challenge is not whether it's a comedy or a drama, it's with every movie. It's such a big group of people working creatively, collaboratively on the film; it's the director, the costume designer, the production designer and a cinematographer and actors and all of that has to gel. Somehow it's all on the director, I think. The director has to somehow communicate what band and spectrum this is functioning in so that everybody's operating on the same cylinders in a way. It's about early on really, really checking in with each other. In the beginning, I just kept going to Danny and saying, "Is it there or is it even more?" And he would go, "Even a little more." It's about figuring out how far off the ground it is. That's fun and in that case you really rely on trusting the director to put you all in the right place and in the same place.
Did you have a children's show you grow up with?
I put that line in, as they're entering Nathan's Hot Dog in the beginning. [The line] where Sheldon's saying, "I was born November 11, 1969 which was the first date Sesame Street aired," [I put it] in because I grew up on the golden age of Children's Television. I think Robin and I were talking about it. There was still all the residual genius of Chuck Jones and the Warner Brothers stuff. That stuff was so creative. Frank Oz directed me in this "Heist" movie and at one point I finally decided that has nothing to do with what we're doing. I know we're doing a totally different thing, but it had such a huge impact on my youth, you know? Those guys were such brilliant performers and the intention behind the whole thing was so amazing. I think it's just been a real seismic shift in children's programming. Not that there aren't any shows out there, but they receded in the landscape for selling dolls and toys and Barney and all that *beep* and I just, I feel bad for kids now. I think they've got a lot less [chance] to really get anything substantive than I think I did.
What do you do for fun?
I did this for fun. I think it takes aim at all kinds of interests, in little messages. I love Smoochy's motto - "You can't change the world, but you can make a dent." I think it's the warm part in the middle of Danny's movie. I did this movie because I was laughing at it. I felt like we did this this time last year, but in the wake of everything that's gone down, I'm very happy to be involved in a movie like this that's coming out. I think it's the perfect anecdote for the times we've all been weathering.