They might want to create a new Oscar for Edward Norton: Hollywood’s Biggest Pain in the Butt.

Word is Norton is warring with Marvel Studios over the final cut of “The Incredible Hulk,” which he wrote and stars in, but is threatening not to promote. The temperamental star’s rep denied any serious friction, insisting: “Edward was brought on board by Marvel as a producer, screenwriter and actor, so it shouldn’t surprise anyone that he has a lot of creative input into the post-production process.

His deal was for all three and he takes those roles seriously.” She would not elaborate on Norton’s issues. The Oscar-nominated actor has a reputation for being difficult.

Tony Kaye, who directed him in “American History X,” charged Norton re-edited the flick to give himself more screen time. And screenwriter/director Joe Eszterhas once cracked: “You don’t want Edward Norton to star in your movie. He now rewrites all the scripts he agrees to act in.”

Universal Pictures, distributor of “Hulk,” which debuts nationwide on June 13, had no comment.

The new Incredible Hulk movie stars Edward Norton as David Banner, a scientist who is trying to discover a cure for the gamma radiation that poisoned his cells and turns him into the Hulk.

I’ll see it just for Ed Norton, he’s hot.

Edward Norton is exiting “State of Play,” and talks are under way for Ben Affleck to replace him in the Kevin Macdonald-directed drama for Universal Pictures and Working Title.”State of Play” is expected to begin production in the first week of January.

Norton becomes the second high profile cast member to disembark, following the exit of his “Fight Club” co-star Brad Pitt just before Thanksgiving.

While Universal threatened legal action with Pitt, Norton’s exit has no rancor. His problem: he had committed to follow “State of Play” by playing the dual leads in “Leaves of Grass,” an independent comedy written and to be directed by Tim Blake Nelson. Norton is producing that picture with his Class 5 Films partner Bill Migliore, and Nelson. Barbarian Films is financing.

Pitt’s exit, and the courtship of Russell Crowe to replace him, moved the “State of Play” start date from mid-November into January. That created a clash, and the studio, working with Norton’s and Affleck’s reps at Endeavor, worked out an exit plan.

Now it will be Affleck who plays a fast-rising politician who is caught up in a murder conspiracy. Crowe will play a journalist who leads a newspaper’s investigation into the killing. He’s conflicted in that he once ran the pol’s campaigns, and he is now romancing his estranged wife.

Still in the cast are Helen Mirren, Rachel McAdams, Robin Wright Penn and Jason Bateman. Andrew Hauptman and Working Title partners Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner are producing. While Mirren had a stop date so that she could star with Joe Pesci in the Taylor Hackford-directed “Love Ranch,” attempts are being made to work out the dates.

Affleck’s most recent credits include a starring role in last year’s “Hollywoodland” and his directorial debut, “Gone Baby Gone.”

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Edward Norton is getting back in the ring with his “Fight Club” partner Brad Pitt.
Duo will star in “State of Play,” Universal Pictures’ adaptation of the British miniseries. Kevin Macdonald (”The Last King of Scotland”) is directing the Matthew Michael Carnahan script.

Norton will play a congressman whose speedy political rise is threatened by an investigation into the death of his mistress. Pitt plays a politico-turned-journalist whose relationship with the solon is compromised when he oversees his newspaper’s investigation into the murder and develops a relationship with the pol’s estranged wife.

Project has been a high priority for U since the studio won an auction for rights to the six-hour mini written by Paul Abbott. Though Pitt has long been attached, he had been courted for other pics while Tony Gilroy worked on a rewrite. Pitt recently committed after that script was turned in, and the project is on track for a November start.

Norton will begin shooting “State of Play” days after he wraps “The Incredible Hulk” for Marvel Studios, with Universal releasing the Louis Leterrier-directed superhero film on June 13.

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Edward Norton has been set by Marvel Studios to play Bruce Banner in The Incredible Hulk.

Norton takes over a role played in the Ang Lee-directed Hulk by Eric Bana. Though that film opened strongly, it didn’t fare as well as other Marvel efforts, including Spider-Man, X-Men, Fantastic Four and, most recently, Ghost Rider.

Marvel Studios, which has a $525 million credit facility obtained through Merrill Lynch, made The Incredible Hulk its second film under that arrangement, and seeks to make a sequel that is less self-serious and more in line with the comic series and TV show. Leterrier directed the action-filled Transporter and its sequel, as well as Unleashed.

The new movie begins with Banner on the run, trying to avoid capture long enough to cure the condition that turns him into a misunderstood green menace.

“Edward Norton is a rare talent and one of the most versatile actors in the business,” Marvel Studios production president Kevin Feige said in a statement. “His ability to transform into a particular role makes him the ideal choice to take on the character of Bruce Banner and the Hulk. Edward is perfectly suited to bring one of the most popular and important Marvel icons to the bigscreen in a new and exciting way.”

The script for The Incredible Hulk was written by Zak Penn, who had a hand in crafting two “X-Men” films and Fantastic Four for Marvel.

Edward is totally hot when he’s angry (hello – totally hot in American History X) so I think he’s a great pick for the hulk. 

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Edward Norton says he broke three vertebrae during a horse riding accident on the set of his new romantic drama, “The Painted Veil.”

Norton said a horse threw him off while he was galloping before filming a scene for the movie, directed by John Curran, which was shot entirely in China.

“One of those horses chucked me off pretty badly,” the 37-year-old actor told AP Radio News in a recent interview. “I broke my spine in like three places. I broke my back. I broke three vertebrae in my back.”

“I felt like my back was horribly wrenched but I sort of assumed I was OK, and I didn’t actually find out I had broken it until I went to Hong Kong,” he said. “I cracked my 10th, 11th and especially my 12th thoracic vertebrae.”

“The Painted Veil,” also starring Naomi Watts, Liev Schreiber and Toby Jones, was set to open in limited release Friday. Norton and Watts were producers on the film, a Warner Independent release. Warner Independent is a unit of Time Warner, as is CNN.

Watts plays a woman unhappily married to a bacteriologist (Norton) who uproots them to a remote plague-ridden town after learning of her affair with another man (Schreiber). The movie is set in 1920s China.

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They have a new movie coming out, called “The Painted Veil.”  If you haven’t seen the trailer yet, I command you to go watch it NOW!  Go here!