“The film is about an
underdog,” says Mother-
less Brooklyn director
Edward Norton, who
also adapted the screenplay based
on Jonathan Lethem’s best-selling
novel. Norton could be saying the
same thing of himself: The movie
was a labor of love for the thrice-
Oscar-nominated actor, 50, who
spent nearly two decades getting it
made. “Writing it was an off-and-on
process for me,” he admits.
The 1999 book is set in the late
’90s, unlike the film, which takes
place in the 1950s. Norton plays
Lionel Essrog, a detective with
Tourette syndrome who investi-
gates the murder of his mentor,
Frank (Bruce Willis). Along the
way, Lionel runs up against power-
hungry New York city planner
Moses Randolph (Alec Baldwin)—
loosely based on NYC megabuilder
Robert Moses—who destroys
diverse neighborhoods to make
way for his real estate plans.
“I think one of the great ironies
of Brooklyn is that you had all
these historic middle-class and
working-class African-American
neighborhoods,” Norton explains
of the now übertrendy borough.
The actor, who first moved to New
York nearly 30 years ago, says that
Brooklyn is currently “unrecogniz-
able” to him. “Change is good, but I
think [people are] looking at what
the cost of progress is,” he says.
Ultimately, Norton hopes audi-
ences come away with a more
hopeful message: “The essential
theme in the film is that part of
becoming heroic is stepping up
and taking care of other people,”
he says. “And the way people are
looking out for each other over
power and money is the way to
stay true to who we say we are in
this country.” —Lauren Huff
MOTHERLESS
BROOKLYN
New York
Undercover
DIRECTED BY Edward Norton STARRING Edward Norton, Gugu Mbatha-Raw,
Bruce Willis, Alec Baldwin IN THEATERS Nov. 1
T
↓ Edward Norton as Lionel in Motherless—and hipsterless—Brooklyn
NOVEMBER
FA
LLMOVIE
PR
EVIEW
DIRECTED BY Todd Haynes STARRING Mark Ruffalo,
Anne Hathaway, Tim Robbins, William Jackson
Harper, Bill Pullman IN THEATERS Nov. 22 (limited
release), Nov. 29 (expanded release)
DARK WATERS
I have come to feel like the
culture calls a movie into
existence. The Kids Are
All Right landed nicely in the
middle of the gay-marriage
debate, and Spotlight
addressed the Catholic
Church’s unconscionable
cover-up at just the right
moment. I feel that way about
Dark Waters. We are in
the midst of a collective
debate about corrupt
corporations.... We culturally
sense that something is wildly
out of balance. This movie
addresses this issue, and it
spreads it across politics
and corporations and com-
munities, reaching all of us.”
—MARK RUFFALO
S TA R
SYNOPSIS
↑
La
wy
er
Ro
ber
tBi
lott
(Mark
Ruffalo)hulksouto
na
che
mic
al
co
m
pa
ny
44 NOVEMBER 2019 EW ● COM
DARK WATERS
: MARY CYBULSKI/FOCUS FEATURES;
MOTHERLESS BROOKLYN
: GLEN WILSON/WARNER BROS.
