The Hulk's Incredible Return
Marvel exec says new movie won't suck.
by
IGN Staff
US, June 14, 2007 - Kevin Feige, Marvel Studios President of Production, has the inside track on all of the company's plans to bring their legendary comic book properties to the big screen. Feige dished on several major projects during a chat with journalists on the
Iron Man set and IGN was on hand.
Feige had the most to say about the new
Incredible Hulk flick, which will star Edward Norton in the title role. He considers it a new start for the franchise after the failure of Ang Lee's version a few years ago.
"
The Hulk movie will be different from this one because this one will be good [laughs]. It was a dream getting Edward Norton," Feige said. "We're joking about it, but there were certain elements in the first one that I'm very proud of, and there are other ones that I'm not. The cast of the first film was spectacular, a great cast -- you couldn't ask for a better cast coming together than you did in the first movie. Eric Bana was great, and frankly they were all great, but in looking to sort of reboot and start the franchise fresh and new, we wanted to start with a clean slate. And it wasn't Eric Bana that I was looking at and saying we need to improve upon. It was Bill Bixby, because Bill Bixby is really what I believe most of the fans and most of the audience members look to when they think of Bruce Banner, and they think of that Hulk storyline. I was thinking, 'Who is that today? Who can get that empathy across and who is a great actor in any medium?' We started talking about someone like Ed Norton, and it's your dream in movies like this when you go, 'Boy, it would be great to have someone like
this,' and end up actually getting them."
So, do Marvel and Universal just expect fans to forget about the suckiness of the first movie? "I think the casting announcement has given everybody pause," says Feige. "I think there are a lot of people who are looking at it in a new light, something that might be interesting and worth a second look. I think that's a big part of it. I also think when people see a kickass trailer, they will change their minds, and when they see the redesign of the character and the new texture and the new tone and the new vibe and the fun and the action and the smashing, that will change everything!"
Speaking of smashing, it could be intense. According to Fiege, fans can expect the movie to have a PG-13 rating.
Feige further revealed that filming on the flick will get underway soon. He says, "
Incredible Hulk goes into production the day [
Iron Man] goes into post -- July 9th,
Hulk starts production."
