Finding the right Banner was key to Incredible Hulk

Finding the right actor to play the role of Bruce Banner was essential to getting The Incredible Hulk off the ground says the film’s producer Gale Anne Hurd.

In a recent interview with SciFi Wire, Hurd said that casting of Edward Norton as the Hulk’s alter-ego was a key element in getting the franchise reboot to the silver screen.

“We didn’t have to go back and do an origin story,” Hurd said. “We had the opportunity to continue and do a story where Bruce Banner is already the Hulk. So we asked, ‘Who is Bruce Banner?'”

Hurd said that the actor who best captured the essential “duality” of Bruce Banner was Norton.

“He plays duality better than anyone out there today,” she said. “From Primal Fear to Fight Club, he kind of defines that duality. So he’s the quintessential Bruce Banner.”

With a perfect Banner in place, all the film needed was to find the right threat to take on the Hulk. In this case, it was the Abomination, though the character won’t be referred to by that name in the upcoming film.

“One thing that was important was to have a villain who was not only equal to the Hulk, but who actually makes Hulk an underdog,” Hurd said. “We did that with Abomination. He’s bigger, he’s stronger, he’s mean!”

Hurd went on to say that the new Hulk movie is a stepping stone toward a potential Avengers movie.

“It’s nice to be able to let things evolve, and we set things up with this film,” Hurd said. “We have Tim Blake Nelson playing Dr. Samuel Sterns, and anyone who is a fan of the comic books knows that Samuel Sterns turns into the Leader, so there is an opportunity to explore that. It’s in this film, but for people who aren’t aware of that, it’s not confusing.”

Audiences will decide if the new combination of the right actor with the right villian pays off when The Incredible Hulk opens in theaters June 16.