Edward Norton on becoming Pete Seeger in "A Complete Unknown"
The fires that ravaged Southern California last month turned too many of Malibu's most treasured places to ash.But some, like the legendary Shangri-La Studios, still stand.
Over the years, Shangri-La has been used by some of the biggest names in the music business, like Eric Clapton and Adele.But it's also known as the house that Bob Dylan built.
Even the old bus out back, legend has it, was used by Dylan on tour.Dylan even camped out on the lawn."I actually think it's in Clapton's biography that there was a period where Dylan had a tent in the rose garden here," said actor Edward Norton. For him, this is hallowed ground – and in a way, so is his latest movie role.
In "A Complete Unknown," Norton is folk music legend Pete Seeger, playing opposite Timothée Chalamet as the young Bob Dylan.Norton says playing a music legend like Seeger was both sublime, and terrifying."I think every actor, some part of 'em wants to be a rock star, you know?" he said.
"I think every actor holds the dream in some sense.I mean, I almost started crying at the idea of it, because, well, I was nervous about it.
I was nervous about the whole enterprise.Because I thought the idea of a biopic about Dylan – if you just said it that way, I was, like, Oooh, like, I'm not sure.
'Cause to me, it has a mythical kind of place in me, and I thought, this could be really, really a bad idea."And here's just one of the challenges: Pete Seeger was an accomplished banjo player, so Norton had to become one as well, and the banjo's a tough one to learn.I said, "We did an interview with Steve Martin, and he played the banjo for us, and watching him play the banjo, I mean, it's so complex and it's so fast.""Yeah, I made the joke that I googled, you know, 'Is there an AI that can replace my hands with Steve Martin's?'" Norton laughed.
"Or, you know, that thing where you put your arms behind your back and Steve Martin puts his hands under my armpits and does the playing for me? Which I'm n...