Norton, director Curran didn't aim to make 'Stone' an easy film

Oscar-nominated actor Edward Norton and director John Curran were in Chicago to promote “Stone," the opening feature in the Chicago International Film Festival and a new release at select theaters this weekend.

Norton plays a prisoner convicted of murder. Robert De Niro plays a parole officer who has the power to recommend early release. Throw in Milla Jovovich as Norton's sexy wife willing to do whatever it takes to free her man, and you've got “Stone.

I've got questions.

Gire: In the press notes, it says that Edward Norton is the one of the few actors who can intimidate Robert De Niro. Do you agree with that?

Norton: That's a trick question. When you're working together on something, it's not like you're trying to intimidate Bob. We're together trying to shape a dynamic between these two people of shifting power, shifting balances in this conversation.

The process of my character trying to crack his character is a process. There's a collaboration on making that happen. It's not like I'm winning. It's not like John comes in and says, “Oh, man, you won today! This movie's going to work because you beat him!

Curren: I would say that Bob has told me numerous times that he has a great amount of respect for Edward. He knows Edward. He's worked with him before. And I can tell you he's very honest about the people he doesn't necessarily respect. He's very cut and dried, Bob.

Norton: It's really wild to work with him. You can get this mistaken impression that he's resisting you. A director or actor can get this sensation from him that he's resisting for some reason. He doesn't like what I'm doing. Or he doesn't like the scene. It's not like that at all. He's just putting the screws to the scene, making the scene force him on.

Gire: Toughest challenge directing “Stone?

Curran: There are seven long scenes in an office with two guys sitting in chairs. It's very static. It's not cinematic. I'm trying to impose ideas camera-wise, lens-wise, to give a different personality to those scenes.

Gire: Why be an actor? Why not an attorney or actuary?

Norton: I'm not good at math.

Gire: Anything else?

Norton: Movies are our most broadly shared format for telling stories. It's one of the most potent ways to reflect on everything. Apart from entertaining, which I think is great, I have a faith that films still have a capacity to rattle people, give them something to think about, help them sort out the dynamics in their own lives.

Gire: Was there a particular movie that opened your eyes to the possibilities of film as art, or something beyond entertainment?

Norton: There were many, not a few of them De Niro's films. There was Spike Lee's “Do the Right Thing. That had a big impact on me. I was a teenager. To me, that was a great example of a film that people made a lot of noise about being controversial.

The truth is that the film wasn't an incitement to do anything. It was an incitement to think. Stylistically, it was so liberated and original. I remember watching and thinking you can do anything you want! This guy is doing anything he wants to do! There are no rules!

He put in these quotes by Martin Luther King and Malcolm X that were diametrically opposed as points of view in how to interpret what you just saw.

Gire: I argue that if John Wayne had been credited with the Malcolm X quote, everyone would have accepted it.

Norton: Right! But to me, the point is that I felt there's a real value in making movies that jab at nerves and don't deliver pat answers. That leave room for people to do some of their own thinking and debating.

Making it easy doesn't always make it deep, you know? If you make it easy for people to understand exactly what was intended, then it's also easy for them to just walk out and say “Where shall we eat?

If you leave a lot to argue about, then people will have conversations and something more will come out.