Edward Norton discusses the setting and story of his new film, ‘Motherless Brooklyn,’ at the New York Film Festival’s closing night
Motherless Brooklyn is the second film directed by Edward Norton and the first that he has written alone. He stars as detective Lionel Essrog, a man with Tourette’s Syndrome. Lionel is thrust into investigating his mentor’s death against the backdrop of 1950s New York. In the process, he falls in love and discovers a massive conspiracy in the city’s government. The film co-stars Bruce Willis, Gugu Mbatha Raw, Alec Baldwin, and Willem Dafoe.
At the New York Film Festival red carpet for the film, we spoke to writer/director/producer/star Edward Norton and to the film’s composer, Daniel Pemberton. We learned about the making of the film, how Norton redesigned 1950s New York, and more.
Edward Norton
Edward Norton in Motherless Brooklyn
The Knockturnal: What about this material made you so married to it for such a long time?
Norton: The character was so haunting to me, he was so complex and I couldn’t get him out of my head, yeah.
The Knocktrunal: You do such a great job of recapturing 1950s New York. What were the hardest parts about trying to find the look and style for the film?
Norton: You know, for the look and the style, I was working with geniuses, and they knew what to do with that. But shutting down twelve blocks of Harlem and throwing cars that break down and keeping people with Air Jordans from walking through the frame… that was the real challenge.
The Knockturnal: Can you speak about mixing the tones, with the sincerity and humor in the film.
Norton: Yeah, you know some of those things come organically. The thing about many people I’ve met who have Tourette’s Syndrome, they celebrate the humor that comes with it, as well as acknowledging that it is difficult.
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Daniel Pemberton
The Knockturnal: I love the score of the film. I know that you worked with Wynton Marsalis and that there is a Thom Yorke song at the center of the film. How did you compose around the sounds of these other musicians?
Pemberton: Well, Wynton is obviously a part of the film, because his band appears in the film. And the film is steeped in jazz and all of this other stuff. So it was very important to capture that in the score. And then, also, Thom’s song had been written before I came on and it’s such a beautiful song. So I was trying to find a way to pull all of those elements together.
The Knockturnal: Yeah, it’s such a great sound. Very authentic to the period. Do you do a lot of research when it comes to something like this, to make it sound similar?
Pemberton: Uh, yes and no. With this, it’s like, we’ve got to use the sounds of the period. So the instrumentation is all stuff that was in the film and from the times. It’s set in 1950s New York and jazz is such a part of that, so we’ve got saxophones, trumpets, double basses, drums, and pianos. Then trying to write the score with those instruments, but trying to approach it in a way that’s different and quite modern. So you hopefully capture the inside of Lionel’s head.
The Knockturnal: I know that you’re working on the new Birds of Prey movie, and you did Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse so you’ve worked on some superhero-y sounds. What are we going to be hearing from Birds of Prey?
Pemberton: Birds of Prey we’re still working on, but it’s got quite a bit of attitude, and it’s very colorful. The film and the score are hopefully a lot more colorful than a lot of DC movies and Marvel movies.
The Knockturnal: If you could write the score for any movie that you’ve ever seen, where you can say “Oooh, I wish I’d written that…” Is there a movie you choose?
Pemberton: Yeah, but I don’t want to say it because my friend wrote it! [Laughter]
Edward Norton’s Motherless Brooklyn was the Closing Night film at the New York Film Festival. It opens in theaters on November 1st
