Between troubled drug dealers, grieving neo-Nazis, and leaders of terrorist organizations, nobody plays three-dimensional villains better than Norton.
The release of the hugely anticipated Knives Out 2 is imminent, and part of what makes the movie so exciting is the ensemble cast, which is so much bigger than the first movie. But one of the most intriguing aspects of the movie is Edward Norton's role, and while Knives Out 2 set photos have revealed most of the cast, Norton is still yet to be seen.
But there's no doubt that the character will be quite a departure from the roles that audiences are used to seeing him in. Norton generally plays sadistic criminals who are capable of terrible things. And between troubled drug dealers, grieving neo-Nazis, and leaders of terrorist organizations, nobody plays three-dimensional villains better than him.
10 Rounders (1998) - 3.47
While poker has always been a popular card game both in casinos and amongst friends, Rounders made it bigger than ever. After watching it, viewers thought they could be a master of the game, and the movie started a poker boom in the early 2000s. The movie follows Worm (Norton,) who has to win several high-stakes games of poker to pay off a massive debt.
Movies like Casino Royale and Molly's Game have heavily focused on and dramatized poker, and it has become an overused trope. But Rounders was the first movie to do it at that big of a level and it still remains the best movie about poker. No other film has ever been able to make endless rounds of the game as entertaining as the 1998 movie.
9 The People Vs. Larry Flynt (1996) - 3.49
Whether it's insiders stealing studios' ideas in Tinseltown or a complete coincidence, there are so many strange examples of movies with identical storylines that were released in the same year. Both The People vs. Larry Flynt and Boogie Nights were released less than a year apart and focus on the adult movie industry.
However, where Boogie Nights is entirely fictional, The People vs. Larry Flynt is a biopic that follows the titular pornographer who has the uphill battle of fighting away the law and religious groups. In the 1996 movie, Norton plays Alan Isaacman, Larry's attorney, and it's one of the earliest examples of the actor's incredible dramatic monologue-delivering talent.
8 The Painted Veil (2006) - 3.50
Despite being so highly rated, few people have heard of The Painted Veil, and even many fans of Norton wouldn't know anything about it. Where Norton usually takes on roles in thriller movies and generally plays violent and criminal characters, The Painted Veil is a romantic drama.
The film follows Walter Fane (Norton) and his wife as they travel to China in an attempt to reconcile after an affair. The movie is a heartbreaking tragedy, and the final moments of the film will have audiences crying uncontrollably.
7 Primal Fear (1996) - 3.74
1996 was a huge year for Norton, as along with The People vs. Larry Flynt, the actor starred in another courtroom drama, Primal Fear. The movie follows a Chicago defense attorney (Richard Gere) who defends an altar boy (Norton) when he's suspected of murdering a Catholic archbishop.
Gere is the lead actor in the movie and has the most screen time, but Norton completely steals the show, and the 1996 film was the actor's breakthrough. The role earned Norton his first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, but he lost at the 69th Academy Awards, but he lost to Cuba Gooding Jr. for Jerry Maguire.
6 25th Hour (2002) - 3.78
25th Hour follows the last 24 hours of a drug dealer (Norton) before he goes to prison for seven years. As all great movies directed by Lee does, it explores the prejudices and xenophobia that people acquire from their upbringing. And as that's something that Norton has seemingly always had a fascination with too, the actor/director duo made for a great collaboration.
The 2002 movie was one of the first New York-based dramas shot after the 9/11 attacks, and director Spike Lee expertly included it into 25th Hour's narrative instead of simply ignoring it like a lot of other dramas did at the time. It also once again shows that Norton is one of the best in Hollywood when it comes to monologues, as the "f*** monologue" is one of the most hard-hitting movie monologues ever.
5 Isle Of Dogs (2018) - 3.90
Director Wes Anderson had experimented with stop-motion in the past with the criminally underrated Fantastic Mr. Fox, but the production was riddled with controversy. It was reported by Vulture and so many other outlets that much of the celebrated filmmaker's directing was done by email and that he was never really interested in the project.
However, he must have been interested enough, as he returned to the stop-motion animation style for Isle of Dogs, and it's one of the most inventive animated movies of the 2010s. Norton has the biggest role in the movie, but the film has a huge ensemble cast, which includes Bryan Cranston, Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, and loads more.
4 Birdman (2014) - 3.92
Birdman is one of the most impressive movies of the 2010s, as it's edited to look like one shot and is full of fantastical and surreal humor and effects. But more than anything, it holds a mirror up to Hollywood and, to an extent, criticizes the current cinematic landscape. The movie is almost a middle finger to superhero movies, and in that respect, it's easy to understand why Norton took the role of Mike Shiner, as Norton had a notoriously troubled time shooting The Incredible Hulk.
Many viewers and critics interpreted the character as an exaggerated version of Norton himself, as he has gained a reputation in Hollywood for being difficult to work with. Norton demanded final cut privileges over director Tony Kay on American History X, and according to The Guardian, he did rewrites on The Incredible Hulk without being asked and he refused to promote The Italian Job.
3 Moonrise Kingdom (2012) - 3.99
Though Norton did have a role in Wes Anderson's 2014 movie The Grand Budapest Hotel, which is the director's highest-rated movie with an incredible 4.21, Norton only had a couple of minutes worth of screentime. However, the actor did have a much bigger role in the director's Moonrise Kingdom, another sweet comedy from the filmmaker about adolescent kids hopelessly in love and armed with colorful vocabulary.
In the 2012 movie, Norton plays Scout Master Randy Ward, who runs the Khaki Scout summer camp, and he fits in the confines of Anderson's symmetrical, specific filmmaking style perfectly. And it's clear why the director and actor went on to work with each other a further three times since the movie's release.
2 American History X (1998) - 4.04
In many ways, though Primal Fear saw the actor playing a hot-headed kid, American History X truly established Norton's acting style and the type of roles he prefers. So many of Norton's roles are short-tempered evil people who eventually become redeemed, and American History X is the best example of that very character.
The film follows Derek Vinyard (Norton), who is extremely racist and is sent to jail after brutally murdering a black man late at night. Once released from prison, he has changed his ways and then does everything he can to keep his younger brother from making the same mistakes. The whole movie is an emotional rollercoaster and one big visceral gut punch, and it's a film that everyone should watch at least once.
1 Fight Club (1999) - 4.27
Fight Club is the biggest cult success story ever, as the beloved movie underperformed at the box office and was hated by critics when it was first released 23 years ago. But in the time since, it has grown a huge fanbase and is often found at the top of most "greatest of all time" lists.
It's hard to sum up exactly what the movie is about, as there are so many different things going on and so many themes that it's more than simply an underground boxing movie, which is what audiences first thought in 1999. The movie follows the Narrator (Norton), who does anything he can to escape his insomnia, such as starting fight clubs, which then spirals into a terrorist organization, and it has one of the greatest twists in cinema history.
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