Edward Norton has had a long and successful career as an actor, accruing three Oscar nominations along the way. But it's been a few years since we've seen the 50 year-old actor on the screen in a leading role. While he recently had a surprise cameo in Alita: Battle Angel and voiced Rex in Wes Anderson's Isle of Dogs, it's been a few years since Norton was able to take center stage onscreen. But that'll change with his upcoming crime drama Motherless Brooklyn.
Motherless Brooklyn is based off the novel of the same name, and follows a 1950s private investigator who has Tourette Syndrome. The upcoming movie has a killer cast, lead by none other than Ed Norton himself. Aside from that, he also produced and directed the upcoming project, his second directorial venture. The first trailer for Motherless Brooklyn just arrived, check it out below.
Pretty cool right? Edward Norton has assembled a killer cast, and the concept of Motherless Brooklyn looks like it'll be a thrilling take on the mob movie genre.
The trailer opens on Edward Norton's character Lionel Essrog, who is narrating the first footage from the film. We're introduced to Lionel as a character, as he reveals his Tourette Syndrome diagnosis. The audience is shown some of the tics that he's subject to as a result of the disease, which are both physical and verbal.
But Lionel's life with Tourette's isn't necessarily the main subject of the movie. Instead, it's a dark crime drama, with the protagonist getting involved in a dangerous investigation. Everything gets kickstarted when Bruce Willis' Frank Minna enters the scene. Frank is a P.I. who was a mentor to Ed Norton's character. But he uncovers something dangerous and mob related, and is promptly killed (spoiler alert).
Motherless Brooklyn will follow this hunt for the truth, and the trailer hints that there will be plenty of shocking twists and turns in the upcoming drama. Just what Frank learned before his death is unclear, but it was enough to get him killed for it. Lionel's investigation puts him in danger as well, and will put the character in contact with the rest of the upcoming film's stellar cast.
This quest eventually finds Lionel meeting a woman named Laura Rose, played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Black Mirror, Beauty and the Beast). She's somehow linked to Frank's death, although the film's protagonist is shown having more than just professional feelings for her. This should make his mission all the more confusing, especially as he also gets involved with Alec Baldwin's Moses Randolph.
Moses Randolph appears to be a morally corrupt man, who is trying to gain as much power and influence as possible in New York City. Baldwin's performance has already shone through in the trailer, and he's one of many A-listers to be apart of Motherless Brooklyn. Also filling out the cast are Willem Dafoe, Bobby Cannavale, Leslie Mann, and Cherry Jones.
Edward Norton's upcoming movie is set to arrive in theaters on November 1, 2019, after premiering at the Toronto Film Festival. In the meantime, check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.
