Mark Ruffalo Talks to EW about Playing Hulk

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Entertainment Weekly has an interview up with Mark Ruffalo about taking over the role of the Hulk:

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What was it like appearing en masse at Comic-Con last weekend and being introduced to 6,500 screaming comic book fans?

RUFFALO: It was very exciting — and I realized I had some pretty big shoes to fill. Those were my heroes up there! I was a comic book fan growing up. I loved The Hulk and The Avengers — it’s just strange to be entering that world as an actor. I never would have imagined that before.

EW: You’ll be playing Bruce Banner, The Hulk’s human alter ego. What are your thoughts on the character?

RUFFALO: He’s a guy struggling with two sides of himself — the dark and the light — and everything he does in his life is filtered through issues of control. I grew up on the Bill Bixby TV series, which I thought was a really nuanced and real human way to look at The Hulk. I like that the part has those qualities.

EW: Did you have any trepidation taking the role, given the very public way Marvel split with Edward Norton?

RUFFALO: I’m a friend of Ed’s, and yeah, that wasn’t a great way for all that to go down. But the way I see it is that Ed has bequeathed this part to me. I look at it as my generation’s Hamlet.

EW: When do you start shooting?

RUFFALO: Sometime in the winter. I’m not sure.

Skitch Commentary: Not a particularly deep interview, but worth a red.

I groaned a bit when he mentioned Bill Bixby…not that it was a bad show, just not how I think of Hulk. But I guess that is inevitable. The TV show was much more popular than the comic.

I also thought his answer to the Ed Norton question was pretty much the only one he could have given in this venue. Was EW really expecting him to blast his new employers?

Mike Maillaro is a lifelong Jersey Boy and geek. Mike has been a comic fan for about 30 years from when his mom used to buy him Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Adventures at our local newsstand. Thanks, Mom!! Mike's goal is to bring more positivity to the discussion of comics and pop culture.