Norton and Voight’s Irish Pride

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Irish Voice Entertainment

Norton and Voight’s Irish Pride

October 15, 2008

In an exclusive interview, Hollywood stars Edward Norton and Jon Voight talk to CAHIR O’DOHERTY about their new Irish American police thriller Pride and Glory, which opens nationwide on Friday 24.

EDWARD Norton, 39, the perpetually youthful star of Pride and Glory, which opens October 24, is best known for his work in films like Fight Club, The Illusionist and American History X.

A two time Academy Award nominee, the Boston-born actor grew up in Columbia, Maryland and went on to attend Yale University, where he graduated in 1991. But as soon as he arrived in New York the aspiring young actor began winning awards, establishing his reputation from the beginning.

Next week Norton stars as Ray Tierney, a troubled Irish American police detective leading an investigation into an ambush that has killed four cops. On the surface it looks like a routine drugs bust gone terribly wrong, but as Ray delves deeper he realizes that someone must have tipped off the drug dealers that the police were coming. Someone on the inside. Soon evidence is pointing in an unthinkable direction — toward his own brother in law (played by Colin Farrell).

What follows is a white-knuckle thrill ride that pits Norton against Farrell, and both actors play their parts flawlessly. Director Gavin O’Connor has aimed to tell a timeless tale about the wages of sin, and in the process he has wrung terrific performances out of his famous cast.

Although nowadays he’s now well established as one of the leading actors of his generation, Norton still rides the New York City subway (“I’ll have a heart attack if I ever stop taking it”) and remains wary of sharing any details of his personal life with the public.

He has dated the singer Courtney Love and livewire actress Salma Hayek, but he eventually broke off the relationships.

The most enduring love of his life, it seems, is the art of acting, which he talks about with all the measured consideration of a lifetime professional. Norton cares deeply about the films he makes and the roles that he plays in them and this is reflected in the strong performances he gives.

As Tierney in Pride and Glory, Norton is cast as a brilliant but troubled New York detective whose investigation of a police homicide involving his own family members becomes a serious test of his loyalties.

What do you do when confronted by the wrongdoings of people you love? Do you turn them in? Do you let them off with a warning? What does it say about you and what you value? What sort of person will you become?

“I thought the story had an interesting morality tale at its center,” Norton tells the Irish Voice. “It’s about people confronting the necessity of telling the truth, and the difficulty of doing that at times.”

For Norton the conflict in the film between idealism and the abuse of power can also be read as a comment on the current state of the nation.

“The script seemed to be edging close toward themes that were breaking across the zeitgeist at the moment, such as institutional lying, and our generation recognizing that it’s loyalties have been co-opted into corrupt or less than truthful purposes,” Norton said.

“And in some sense that the higher laws are getting violated in defense of the institution instead of the principle. That all sounds very heady, but I think if you’re going to take on a film like this you should try and look for something in it that makes it look pertinent to your own generation. Something you will recognize.”

When Norton read the script he saw that it was about cops but that it was hitting on things that the whole country is going through right now, a process he calls “the crucible of truth telling” over how far do the ends justify the means, and why do we turn the eye away when institutions that exist to protect us are putting our principles and even our lives at risk.

Says Norton, “All of those dynamics were relevant to me, in some ways more than just a New York cop story, and I thought people my own age would recognize things in the film that were relevant to what was happening now. Gavin was also passionate about it and I think it’s important to look for directors who are making movies they were meant to make.

“They’re invested in it in a very special way. When I talked about it I saw that it was so deep in him. He was perfectly poised to make this film. I always trust that feeling when I get it. Interesting things tend to happen then.”

Norton’s deep investment in the material pays off in his performance. “I think Ray Tierney is in a great deal of turmoil. That’s why we are looking at these few days in his life. He’s a person who’s very close to the tipping point already and a person who’s in the moment where something is about to change in them is very interesting.”

Although the film’s main characters are all Irish American, it’s the New York City in 2008 and they’re in biracial relationships or marriages, which means they’re part of the wider fabric of the city, not of the tightly defined ethnic enclaves of decades earlier. That social and racial mix feels more authentic to the present day and it marks Pride and Glory out from the more generic cop films of earlier years.

“It’s definitely part of this storied cultural history like the Irish and the police department, but it’s also such a modern mix and I thought that Gavin caught that perfectly –- how the family has expanded to include many newcomers, and still has that deep connection to one and other,” Norton said.

Norton was closely involved in the development of his role. “We did a lot of biographical work on the character of Ray. He’s a rising star in the NYPD until an earlier incident compromised his integrity and sent him into a kind of self imposed exile, working in Missing Persons,” he said.

“For a detective in the NYPD, working in Missing Persons is like being banished to Siberia. A cop on the rise doesn’t work there. So he’s primed for change.”

Ray’s voluntary exile comes to an end when his father, Frances Tierney Senior (played by Jon Voight) the Chief of Manhattan Detectives, comes to him with the investigation into the four murdered cops. Ray’s father thinks his son is ready to get back in the game, when the truth is he’s getting ready to eave it all behind.

“To work with Gavin and the two young lions Ed and Colin was part of the attraction of this film for me,” Voight, 70, tells the Irish Voice. “They turned out to be everything I had hoped though the viewing of their prior work. They’re very passionate, very open and very daring as the real deal always are.”

“I think the theme of how you respond to corruption when you see it’s spreading is a very important theme. It’s a classic theme. We’re taking a family who are dealing with pernicious forces and they’re being tempted to many things in the course of their very tough and very dangerous work,” he added.

“And they’re dealing with a system that isn’t always friendly to law enforcement either. You see all of that and then you see the idealism of a person who joined the force turned to horror confro0nting personal corruption.”

Voight, an Academy Award winner, is the star of groundbreaking films like Midnight Cowboy, Coming Home and Deliverance, and is also famously the estranged father of Angelina Jolie. This year he is also playing Jonas Hodges, the villain, in the Fox hit 24.

A lifelong Republican, Voight also recently provided the narration for a video biography of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin that appeared on John McCain’s campaign website. In Pride and Glory he plays the head of a tightly knit department and family.

“I think my connection to the Irish helped me discover this role,” says Voight. “I have great friends among the police and fire department in New York and the majority cultural influence there is the Irish. The film has all the aspects the Irish connect to, the culture and the fierce family loyalty, and a faith, and I think it’s very prominent in this film -– the Tiernan’s are a clan, the loyalty they feel for one and other is very Irish.”

Voight gives an immensely convincing performance as an elderly Irish patriarch whose pride in his sons is obvious. Asked if the film’s theme — doing the right thing in the face of overwhelming pressure –- resonates for him he doesn’t hesitate.

“I think everyone can understand it. I think we all come to this crossroads where we have to make a strong decision and sometimes it’s against everything in our being, but it’s still somehow the right one.”

The betrayal in the film is one that pits family members against each other. In Ireland they often say a blow from your own is a much deeper hurt, and Voight agrees without hesitation.

“I agree with that one, absolutely,” he says and refrains from elaborating.

Perhaps the greatest help to Voight is the friendships he has in the department and his own experience of the Irish themselves. “I think the film speaks for itself. It’s a Greek tragedy and it has great power as it builds because of the roots of family. That’s what makes it tragic, too,” he says.

“I have been to Ireland on several occasions to visit my dear friend, the director John Boorman. And I filmed The General there, which is a very fine film, so I have a personal and deep feeling for Ireland. I hope that’s reflected in my performance.”

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