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Edward Norton is remembering his time filming Primal Fear.
At a screening event in Woodland Hills, Calif., the actor remembered the making of the 1996 crime thriller, his film debut. As exciting as it was to be on the set of his own film, Norton was also interested in what was going on elsewhere on the lot.
“Mike Nichols was shooting The Birdcage on the stage next door. And I used to, when I realized that, I was obsessed with Mike’s work and I would, in my prison uniform, I would sneak across the alley on our brakes and slip into the back of The Birdcage set so that I could watch Mike directing,” he shared.
The comedy starred Robin Williams, Gene Hackman, Nathan Lane and Dianne Wiest.
“It was an amazing way to… a lot of the old-school experience is harder to come by these days. I was really lucky that I got [it], that they were still doing premieres on the Paramount lot.”
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Nichols started taking chances that led to cinematic classics in the 1960s and began to guide such enduring efforts as the films Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Graduate (Best Director Oscar), Carnal Knowledge, Silkwood and Working Girl, as well as Catch-22, Heartburn and Postcards from the Edge; the Broadway smashes Annie, Spamalot, Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing and Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple and Plaza Suite, among others; and the Emmy-laden HBO miniseries Angels in America.
The prodigious theater, film and TV director-producer and performer died suddenly in Nov. 2014, ABC News announced. He was 83.
He is survived by his widow, newswoman Diane Sawyer (they married in 1988), as well as three adult children from his former marriages — Daisy, Max and Jenny — and four grandchildren.
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Primal Fear was well-received, with both Norton and costar Richard Gere receiving praise from critics.
Late critic Roger Ebert celebrated Norton for “[creating] a character that is, as you will see, completely convincing in more ways than one.” The role earned Norton a Golden Globe Award and an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Ebert also said that Gere shined in the film, calling it “some of his best work.”
