A little more than a month ago, we heard the rumor that Edward Norton and his fiancée Shauna Robertson were expecting their first child together. The rumor was unverified by Edward’s people, which is not surprising because Edward is crazy-private and he would never allow his rep to confirm anything about his personal life. Well, now it looks like Shauna may have given birth. To a boy!
Edward Norton and his fiancee, Shauna Robertson, welcomed a healthy baby boy in March, multiple sources tell Us Weekly exclusively. The private pair got engaged in 2011 following a six-year courtship; Us broke the news of the Canadian film producer’s pregnancy last month.
The two are “thrilled and excited for parenthood,” an insider says. Norton — known for his scene-stealing roles in Primal Fear, American History X, Kingdom of Heaven and Moonrise Kingdom — has never publicly addressed his engagement, nor has he spoken of Robertson’s pregnancy.
In addition to raising his firstborn child, Norton recently began production on the movie Birdman, costarring Emma Stone and Zach Galifianakis. The film also features Naomi Watts, with whom the 43-year-old shared the screen in 2006’s Painted Veil.
A rep for Norton had no comment when contacted by Us.
Congrats to Edward and Shauna. And congrats for keeping everything so low-key, although maybe that wasn’t completely their choice, you know? It’s not like Edward is still an in-demand actor and it’s not like anyone still thinks he’s a contender for the big roles any more. I’m so old that I remember when Edward first “arrived” on the scene and how quickly he ascended to the top tier of Hollywood. And I also remember how he began to falter, the stories about his perfectionism, his diva-ego, his narcissism. He’s done a lot of great work, for sure, but he’s also treated some powerful people like crap, and he seems to think he’s the only one with any brains in Hollywood. Anyway… sorry, I wanted this to be a positive post, but all I can think about it how pissed I am at Edward for not keeping his ego in check long enough to make more good movies.
PS… If Vera Farmiga and Kristen Wiig had a love child, she would look like Shauna.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
Dude has crazy ego. It really annoys me he can’t be more flexible because he’s such a talented guy. The one scene he did in the dictator was hilarious, but he needs to get humble and get back to work.
I’d love to see him on screen again. Kind of miss his work.
“Mr. Norton next time you pee on me!”
He was on holiday in Croatia, and people said he was one of the most humble people they’ve met. Maybe he’s a diva only on set.
@Spooks
Yeah, I’ve heard that he’s a nice guy off set.
I don’t care about his ego. He’s one of the best actors out there. I love him so much.
Wish we saw more of him and less of Clooney, Pitt, Downey Jr, etc.
If you want to see more of him and less of Pitt, Clooney, Downey Jr, then you should care about his ego because that’s EXACTLY the reason he isn’t working so much.
People in the industry got fed up with his diva antics — including things like refusing to promote a movie simply because it wasn’t edited the way he wanted (The Incredible Hulk), or editing a movie behind the director’s back to please the studio and get more screen time (American History X), or rewriting ENTIRE pages of dialogue from both his and Anthony Hopkins’s characters (Red Dragon), or having endless arguments with David Fincher over what type of sneakers his character should be wearing (Fight Club) and so on.
Actually, it’s not only that he’s a diva — he’s unprofessional. A person who refuses to promote a movie, a 150 million dollar movie, is simply unprofessional no matter how one wants to spin it.
Say whatever you want about the actors you mentioned (I agree with you about Clooney and Pitt), but they’re a way more professional than Norton ever was.
I used to be a huge fan of his, then not even as a die-hard fan I could take it anymore.
Honestly, he brought this on himself.
Agree with Eve he should be more professionnal, he’s hella talented but ostracized himself with his diva behaviour. Anyway, congrats.
Preach it sister.
I don’t think he refused to promote The Incredible Hulk, that was just a rumour (Anne Thompson wrote a piece about it). And the director of AHX was completely bonkers, the film had to be taken off him.
I can believe the other stuff though, Norton is known to be difficult. I’ve got the impression it may be his choice to do 1 film a year, and concentrate on his environmental/charity work instead, but I may be wrong and he’s just not getting the offers. It is a shame as he is so talented.
@ Roberta:
Universal released a statement addressing the rumours, saying something along the lines that he had fulfilled his contractual obligations. That’s euphemism to “did enough not to be sued”. He attended only TWO premieres (LA and Tokyo), looking like he didn’t even want to be there. Gave very few interviews and went to one talk show (Jimmy Kimmel — during which he criticized the movie more than actually promoted it). After the movie was released he started playing hard to get, saying he “didn’t know if he wanted to reprise the role of Bruce Banner” and even called Marvel executives “opaque”.
And there’s more than just refusing to promote The Incredible Hulk — he was a nightmare to work with even before filming began (for instance, he announced, during San Diego’s 2007 Comic Con, that he’d write the script along with Zak Penn — well, he forgot to send Penn the memo because he had no idea about that). Nonetheless, he still rewrote the script (dialogues) and wanted to be credited as one of the writers. The thing had to be arbitrated by Screen Writers Guild.
http://theplaylist.blogspot.com.br/2008/07/zak-penn-knocks-ed-norton-for-taking.html
I don’t doubt any of this (where’s the “opaque” quote from?) but they did sign him on in an uncredited producer role, as well as the work on the script (they didn’t have time in the end for him to work with another writer), and he directed some scenes after the director was injured. He was expecting some creative control – doesn’t excuse his unprofessional behaviour but there seems to have been a misunderstanding from the outset.
Not saying Norton doesn’t need to check his ego at the door.
I thought the way Marvel ditched him from the Avengers was unnecessary though – and I wouldn’t say that if they didn’t already have a habit of badly treating their talent.
Oh and the SAG have a backward way of working; if you’re not a member you can’t get credit. Aaron Sorkin & Todd Phillips both slagged them off in a roundtable not that long ago.
My comment wasn’t meant to be taken seriously, minus the last part. I’m aware of the behind the scenes crap he’s pulled in the past and I get why people don’t want to work with him. I just wish I saw more of him.
@ Roberta:
From an interview he gave to MTV:
“You know, I really couldn’t say. The minds of Marvel are sometimes opaque. I won’t say obtuse, but opaque. I don’t have any idea what they want to do. This notion of connecting the Marvel characters — who knows where they’ll go.”
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1597611/another-hulk-film-edward-nortons-future.jhtml
In my opinion, Marvel did the right thing by firing him. If anything, they took too long to do so (meaning, they shouldn’t have engaged in his petty fights over control back when they’re STILL trying to get him on board with The Avengers). Sometimes I don’t even think he’s being an unprofessional diva, but just plain childish.
The entire production of The Avengers was, apparently, really peaceful. I doubt things would have gone so easy during The Avengers filming had Norton been there.
And after seeing Ruffalo’s take on the character, I don’t miss Norton one bit.
@ Bns:
Sorry, I thought you were being serious about that.
@Eve
Oh, no problem. You made a good point and it’s true. He dug his own hole.
@Eve Thanks for that, I don’t think I’ve seen that interview before. It’s interesting that Louis Leterrier said recently that Ruffalo was his first choice for TIH but Marvel overruled him.
@ Roberta:
You’re welcome. Being a long time Bruce Banner/Hulk fan I read almost everything that was written about that movie — I was happy one of my favourite actors was going to play my favourite comic book character (but given Norton’s reputation, I was also apprehensive — later on, my fears were confirmed).
Did Leterrier say that? I remember reading Norton had always been his first choice, but he didn’t think he would accept the role so he contacted other people (while he was waiting for Norton’s answer). And the only actor he mentioned by name was…Joaquin Phoenix (*MY* first choice for playing Banner even before that disastrous Ang Lee Hulk was made — really, ever since I saw him in Gladiator) who turned down the opportunity.
But I’m really, REALLY happy with Ruffalo playing Banner — I had never thought about him for the role but it fit him like a glove :D.
I’ll give him a break over Fincher since he is notoriously known to be a very difficult director to work with. But other than that… well..
The first rule of having a baby, is you don’t talk about having a baby.
Kidding aside, congrats!
Less RDJ!? Noway. He’s winning the aging sex symbol game by miles.
Congrats to them, and also for keeping it so quiet.
He’s still working – he was in the Bourne movie and Moonrise Kingdom last year. Agree he’s talented but needs to get his ego in check though.
He was SO cute in Moonrise Kingdom! I just watched The Painted Veil last night. I’ve never even been much of an Edward Norton fan, but that movie made me think I should probably watch some more of his movies.
I’d like to recommend “25th Hour”, “The Illusionist” and “Primal Fear”.
There’s also “American History X”, but that’s a rather difficult film to watch.
I was surprised when I heard he was in “Kingdom of Heaven”. You can’t actually see him, but it’s still meaningful role.
Thanks, Eve. Of those I haven’t seen “25th Hour” or “Primal Fear”. I’ll check them out. OOh, I thought I’d seen “The Illusionist,” but I guess I’ve always gotten it confused with “The Prestige.” It’ll go on the list too. 🙂
“Illusionist” and “Painted Veil” are great. I love them. xoxo
I LOVE seeing him in movies 🙁
I love his work and would love to see more of him– but I guess this just goes to show that there is a limit to how much diva sh*t you can pull as the newest bright thing in Hollywood. Stars fall all the time.
I used to love Ed until I read about all of his diva antics. The whole debacle of Courtney Love turned me off forever, I think. Courtney Love? No. Plus, methinks that he wears a wiglet. His hair seems to get bushier as the years go by. . .
Remember when he and Selma Hayek were together. Dreamed of threesomes with those two. Hot. Now she won’t STFU and he won’t put his head down and just work. It seems like ever since Frida both Selma and Edward have been intolerable.
Weird, my fiancé and I were talking about Edward Norton just a few days ago wondering what he was up to. It’s too bad about his apparent ego. He really is a talented actor.
I’m jealous of her. I love me some Edward Norton!!!
Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t see the whole massive talent thing he supposedly has going on. Yeah, he’s not a bad actor, but he’s got that annoying whiny bitch voice, and sour demeanor in EVERY film.
A friend of mine is a gaffer and she’s been on several of his film sets. Apparently he is a complete and utter ASSHOLE to deal with.
Talent or no talent, doesn’t give you the right to be a douchebag to everyone in sight.