his biggest fan

I've got a thing for Edward Norton. It's enough of a thing that I correct people when they call him "Ed" (if you had the same name as Art Carney's character in The Honeymooners, you would insist on being called Edward too). In fact, I once thought I was his biggest fan. But then, back in 2002, I went to see Edward perform off Broadway (with Catherine Keener and Dallas Roberts) in Burn This. My friend Aimee, who came with me to the show, expressed some concern that I was going to lose my sh*t being in such close proximity to him (we were seated in the second row), but we had no idea what losing your sh*t even looked like.

Before the show, there was a group of teenage girls -- real bridge and tunnel types -- and one was crying and being comforted by her friends. I guessed that she had been done wrong by her 15-year-old boyfriend or maybe had been unsuccessful in convincing her mom to buy her a new pair of overpriced jeans. Anyway, once the show started, these same girls -- including the weeper, who had contained herself by this point -- were sitting in the row ahead of us. Edward didn't come onstage until maybe the third scene and, when he did, the weeper SOBBED -- loudly, like something inside her HURT. If he moved, from stage left to stage right, she SOBBED -- loudly. If he sat down or stood up, she SOBBED -- loudly. It was both annoying and amusing and I couldn't help but think, "When is he going to turn the audience and ask, 'What the hell is wrong with you?'"

I thought of that story when I read the an article in The New York Times today about the difficulty that Norton encountered, as a producer, in getting a distributor for his latest film, Down in the Valley, in which he also stars -- along with Evan Rachel Wood. Norton says in the article that the studios' "specialty divisions" are afraid of "really bold, independent cinema," which is why this latest film has had a tough time getting out there. However, I can rest easy. According to the ThinkFilm web site, I am going to be able to see it in a (somewhat) local theater by mid-May.

Hopefully, the weeper won't be in the theater.

(It's a little outdated, but while they don't love him as much as I do, I don't think I actually disagree with anything they say -- check out this FameTracker audit of Edward.