Ed Norton and Janeane Garofalo are fighting over Fight Club
In a recent interview with Yahoo Garofalo revealed that she was originally supposed to play the role of Marla Singer in the 1999 flick starring Norton and Brad Pitt. Director David Fincher, who is known for movies like Se7en, The Social Network and Gone Girl, had reportedly handed her the script and said that if she wanted it, the part was hers. The problem? According to Garofalo, Norton didn’t want her in the role. She said he felt like she didn’t have the “chops” to do it. Maybe he was blinded by her role in Felicity?
“I was told that he would like Courtney Love to do it, because he was dating her, but Brad Pitt said, ‘I’m not going to sign off on that.’ So, they agreed on Helena Bonham Carter, who was probably much better than I would have been,” Garofalo said.
Well now Norton is speaking his own truth about his involvement in the whole thing and saying that absolutely none of it is true. In fact, he had no idea the actress was even up for the part.
“I’m sorry Janeane is under that impression, but if she was serious, she’s really mistaken,” he told CNN in a statement. “David Fincher does exactly what he wants. He makes the call on every dimension of his films, top to bottom. I don’t recall him ever even raising the subject of who he was considering for most other roles.”
Sounds like a classic case of he-said, she-said, with maybe even a director throwing his star under the bus? In any event, the contradictions continue. Garofalo also revealed that she asked to read with Norton in an audition but she was shut down, while Norton reveals he, “Was a big fan of Janeane’s so I’d have loved to do a reading with her.”
Garofalo also added that years later Pitt approached her to apologize about how it all went down. “He very kindly said, 'I'm sorry about what happened with that,' and he had nothing to do with it,” she added. She also made a point of mentioning that Norton lives near her, and although they run into each other often he, “Pretends he doesn’t know who I am every time I see him.”
So what does Norton have to say to that one?
“And if she sees me in the neighbourhood I hope she’d come say hi.”
Something tells us those two won’t be sharing a friendly neighbourly cup of coffee together anytime soon. Meanwhile Garofalo has a couple of new films—Asking For It and The God Committee—coming out soon, and Norton is continuing to ride the high of last year’s TIFF selection, Motherless Brooklyn, which he wrote, directed and starred in.
