WME Entertainment Fires Back at Marvel

Great news in that WME Entertainment, the agency that represents Edward Norton, has fired back against Kevin Feige and Marvel.

Now in an email to HitFix, which broke the original story, Brian Swardstrom of William Morris Endeavor Entertainment calls Fiege’s statement “offensive” and “a purposefully misleading, inappropriate attempt to paint our client in a negative light.”

Swardstrom lays out a sequence of events that began two months ago, when Feige reportedly called to see whether Norton would be interested in playing Banner and continued with “a very good meeting” between the actor and still-unannounced director Joss Whedon. That led to an offer from Marvel, followed by contract negotiations. However, on Wednesday, the agent writes, “after several weeks of civil, uncontentious discussions,” they were told the studio “had decided to go in another direction with the part.”

“We know a lot of fans have voiced their public disappointment with this result,” Swardstrom writes, “but this is no excuse for Feige’s mean spirited, accusatory comments. Counter to what Kevin implies here, Edward was looking forward to the opportunity to work with Joss and the other actors in the Avengers cast, many of whom are personal friends of his. Feige’s statement is unprofessional, disingenuous and clearly defamatory. Mr. Norton talent, tireless work ethic and professional integrity deserve more respect, and so do Marvel’s fans.”

Hitfix has the entire email from Norton's agent.