Hulk, The : Interview


Hulk, The (2003)Academy Award winner Jennifer Connelly (Betty Ross) has proven her versatility as an actress. Connelly received a Golden Globe, BAFTA, AFI, Broadcast Critics and Academy Award for her role in Ron Howard’s Beautiful Mind, A (2001).

She most recently completed production on The House of Sand and Fog, directed by Vadim Perelman and starring opposite Ben Kingsley.

Connelly starred in the critically acclaimed film by Darren Aronofsky, Requiem for a Dream. Her haunting portrayal of a drug addict earned her an Independent Film Spirit Award nomination.

Connelly also starred in Ed Harris’ highly acclaimed film, Pollock, as well as in Keith Gordon’s Waking the Dead, opposite Billy Crudup.

Her other film credits include Pat O’Connor’s Inventing the Abbotts, also starring opposite Billy Crudup; Lee Tamahori’s 1950’s crime drama, Mulholland Falls; John Singleton’s controversial film, Higher Learning; Of Love and Shadows, directed by Betty Kaplan and co-starring Antonio Banderas; The Rocketeer, directed by Joe Johnston; and the comedy, Career Opportunities, written by John Hughes, as well as Sergio Leone’s Once Upon A Time in America.

Acclaimed filmmaker Ang Lee's concept for his film adaptation of the classic Marvel Comics series, The Hulk, combines all the elements of a blockbuster visual effects-intensive superhero movie with the brooding romance and tragedy of Universal's classic horror films.

In depicting The Hulk as both a superhero and a monster, a wish fulfillment and a nightmare, Lee and his team have stayed true to the early subversive spirit of the character created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, while completely updating The Hulk and projecting it into the dangers and aspirations of contemporary times.

Eric Bana (Black Hawk Down) stars as scientist Bruce Banner, whose inner demons transform him in the aftermath of a catastrophic experiment.

Academy Award® winner Jennifer Connelly (A Beautiful Mind) portrays Betty Ross, whose scientific genius unwittingly helps unleash The Hulk; Nick Nolte (The Thin Red Line) plays Banner's brilliant father, who passes on a tragic legacy to his son, and Sam Elliott (The Contender) portrays the commander of a top-secret military research center.

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Eric Bana (Bruce Banner) was first introduced to American audiences in the title role of Mark “Chopper” Read in the feature film Chopper, which premiered at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival and was later released in the U.S. to critical notice after its success in Australia.

Bana was awarded with “Best Actor in a Feature” prizes from the Australian Film Critics Circle as well as the Australian Film Institute for his portrayal of Chopper.

He was seen co-starring in Ridley Scott’s acclaimed Black Hawk Down as Sgt. First Class Norm “Hoot” Gibson, one of the elite Delta soldiers, opposite Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor and Tom Sizemore.

The war epic, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer for Sony, is based on journalist Mark Bowden’s best-selling account of the 1993 U.S. mission in Mogadishu, Somalia.

Bana was also recently featured in the 2002 Australian film, The Nugget.

The actor recently started production on the Wolfgang Petersen-directed epic, Troy, in which he plays Hector, Prince of Troy. The film, also starring Brad Pitt, Orlando Bloom and Sean Bean, is based on the epic poetry of Homer (The Iliad and The Odyssey) and is set to be released in 2004.

Bana currently resides in Australia.

Acclaimed filmmaker Ang Lee's concept for his film adaptation of the classic Marvel Comics series, The Hulk, combines all the elements of a blockbuster visual effects-intensive superhero movie with the brooding romance and tragedy of Universal's classic horror films.

In depicting The Hulk as both a superhero and a monster, a wish fulfillment and a nightmare, Lee and his team have stayed true to the early subversive spirit of the character created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, while completely updating The Hulk and projecting it into the dangers and aspirations of contemporary times.

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Ang Lee (Director)

Acclaimed Oscarâ-winning filmmaker ANG LEE (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) turns his masterful eye to adapting the classic Marvel Comics character for the big screen.

Setting out to faithfully transfer the Hulk comic book character from four-color paneled page to motion picture screen, Lee combines all the elements of a blockbuster visual effects-intensive Super Heroâ movie with the brooding romance and tragedy of Universal’s classic horror films.

Born and raised in Taiwan, Ang Lee (Director) moved to the United States in 1978. After receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts in theater from the University of Illinois, he went on to New York University to complete a Masters of Fine Arts Degree in film production.

At NYU, his short film Fine Line won Best Director and Best Film awards at the NYU Film Festival. Lee’s first feature film, Pushing Hands, was screened at the 1992 Berlin Film Festival and won Best Film at the Asian-Pacific Film Festival.

The film was nominated for nine Golden Horse Awards, the Taiwanese equivalent to the Oscarâ. It was also the first film in Lee’s “Father Knows Best” trilogy.

Lee went on to direct a number of movies including 1995's Sense and Sensibility. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, winning Best Screenplay Adaptation.

Ang’s most recent film is the critically acclaimed Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival 2000 and won Best Picture at the
Toronto Film Festival.

Ang received a Golden Globe Award and a Directors Guild Award for Best Director. The film also received awards for Best Original Score by Tan Dun and Best Foreign Language Film. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon won four Academy Awardsâ, including Best Foreign Film.

Josh Lucas

Josh Lucas (Glenn Talbot) is a young actor with a career on the rise. He recently completed production on Wonderland, directed by James Cox and starring opposite Val Kilmer, Christina Applegate and Dylan McDermott, as well as on David Gordon Green’s Undertow, in which he stars opposite Dermot Mulroney.

Currently, Josh is filming Lasse Hallstrom’s Unfinished Life, with Robert Redford and Jennifer Lopez.

Most recently, Lucas starred in Andy Tennant’s Sweet Home Alabama, opposite Reese Witherspoon, as well as in Kathryn Bigelow’s The Weight of Water, opposite Sean Penn and Elizabeth Hurley.

In 2001, he appeared in Ron Howard’s Academy Awardâ-winning drama, A Beautiful Mind, in which he co-starred with Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly and Ed Harris.

Additional film credits include: Brad Anderson’s thriller, Session 9; The Deep End, directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel; American Psycho, directed by Mary Harron and co-starring Christian Bale and Reese Witherspoon; the 2000 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize winner, You Can Count on Me, directed by Kenneth Lonergan and co-starring Laura Linney; Stacy Cochran’s Drop Back 10; Harvest, directed by Stuart Burkin; Restless, directed by Jule Gilfillan; and Alive, directed by Frank Marshall.

Lucas’ theater credits include Corpus Christi at the Manhattan Theatre Club and The Picture of Dorian Grey at the Los Angeles Theatre Center.

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Other Features

Exclusive making of video feature This a four minute featurette on the creation of The Hulk movie, with commentary by Stan Lee, James Schamus and Eric Bana, the modern day Hulk.


Exclusive video from the Monster Premiere
The monster event of the summer hit Empire Leicester Square with a Hulk-sized bang. On Thursday, 3rd July, 2003, hundreds were in attendance for the UK NCH Charity Premiere of The Hulk.