Louis Leterrier On Issues With INCREDIBLE HULK, Ed Norton, & CLASH OF THE TITANS

This upcoming weekend Louis Leterrier is hoping his new movie "Now You See Me" can work some magic at the box office, but a little film called "After Earth," starring Will and Jaden Smith is all but assured the top spot. Well, unless the Fast & Furious sequel still has some gas left in it's tank.

While Louis is hitting the press circuit, promoting his newest film, he is also asked about his past work, in particular, The Incredible Hulk and Clash Of The Titans. And The Huffington Post's Mike Ryan landed some rather candid responses from the director, pertaining those two films.

No Script:
"I've started movies without screenplays both on "Clash" and on "Hulk" and that is tremendously stressful, because you have a tendency to overcompensate with effects. You haven't tested it in your head. You didn't run it over and over again and covered all of the plot holes and figure it out. It's a marathon that you sprint. "Now You See Me" was longer and it was a great script to start with."

As he points out, once he landed The Incredible Hulk gig and was told the film was set to be released in a year, he was surprised to find out that the Marvel didn't even have a script for him.


Another Incredible Hulk issue that was well-documented, was that Ed Norton and Louis were butting heads on how the film should be cut. According to Louis it's not as bad as the media has made it out to be. In fact the two hung out at the New York premiere of his new film, and Louis gushed about the love that the two have for each other.

So what was the issue on Hulk? Well, Louis says, "It literally was about one scene. It's one scene that still in the movie. It was either the long version of the scene or the short version of the scene. Edward wanted the longer version of the scene and I wanted the shorter version."

Which scene was this?
"It was the psychoanalysis scene. It was a very interesting character scene -- to go back to what we were talking about. It was analysis, going into the dark places of Bruce Banner -- very adult themes. It was a great scene and the scene is on the DVD. But also the start of the movie, something I did, which is Bruce Banner walking to the edge of the world to commit suicide, then the Hulk saves him. And the studio said, "There's no way we are starting this movie with a guy putting a gun into his mouth." Which I understand, but then it was informing who this character was and his relationship with his alter-ego. All of that stuff made it deeper, if you will."

Louis also reveals that Mark Ruffalo was his first choice for Banner, but Marvel, funny enough, fought with that casting choice, and he ended up with Ed Norton instead. Not too shabby.

"When people are asking me, because Mark Ruffalo is in this one, who's the better of the Bruce Banners -- both are great; both are fantastic -- but I actually wanted to cast Mark Ruffalo as Hulk and Marvel was like "No, you should get Edward Norton because he's more famous." So you see what I am saying? They are the ones who wanted Edward -- and I was thrilled to meet him and work with him. I wanted Mark Ruffalo. And they were like, "No, no, he just does smart, intellectual movies." Which makes sense, then and there in his career. But that's I how know him. We've stayed in touch and it's why he said "absolutely" when I offered him the part in this one."

As for Clash of the Titans, Louis describes that experience as being "thrown under the bus." Whom by? Well, Warner Brothers to be exact. Saying that the studio tried to pass the poor 3D conversion off on him.
"I still have a good relationship with Warner Bros., but at one point it was like, "Yeah, Louis chose the 3D." And I was like, "No, guys, I didn't choose the 3D. I actually told you it's not working. I couldn't control it. I said don't do it."

MIKE RYAN: The 3D on "Clash of the Titans" was famously rushed.
LOUIS: Yeah, exactly. It was famously rushed and famously horrible. It was absolutely horrible, the 3D. Nothing was working, it was just a gimmick to steal money from the audience. I'm a good boy and I rolled with the punches and everything, but it's not my movie. "Clash of the Titans" is not my movie. And ultimately that's why I didn't do the sequel.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL INTERVIEW

THE INCREDIBLE HULK was directed by Louis Leterrier, from a screenplay by Zak Penn. The cast included: Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, William Hurt, Tim Blake Nelson and Ty Burrell. The film scored $263 million at the box office, against a budget of $150 million.