When is Motherless Brooklyn in cinemas? What's it about?
The dark crime drama is a passion project of Edward Norton, who serves as writer, director and star
A film that has been in the works for more than 20 years finally sees release in December, telling a dark crime story on the backdrop of a 1950s noir setting.
Motherless Brooklyn stars Edward Norton, known to audiences for his role in the iconic psychological drama Fight Club, as well as for playing Bruce Banner in 2008's The Incredible Hulk.
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Here's everything you need to know about the long-awaited project...
When is Motherless Brooklyn in UK cinemas?
The film will be playing in UK cinemas nationwide from Friday 6th December 2019.
What is Motherless Brooklyn about?
Motherless Brooklyn is an adaptation of a novel by Johnathan Lethem, which tells the story of Lionel Essrog, a private detective who has Tourette's syndrome.
When his mentor figure and only friend is murdered, he begins investigating the case. This takes him all over New York City and puts him on the path of some very dangerous people.
Who is in the cast of Motherless Brooklyn?
Edward Norton (Birdman) takes the lead role of private detective Lionel Essrog, while Bruce Willis (Glass) appears as his ill-fated mentor figure.
Norton discussed how he prepared to portray a character with Tourette's syndrome in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter: "The thing about Tourette’s syndrome, it's expressed in people in highly individualistic ways. Some people have vocal components and some people only have physical twitches. You can tailor it to the things that you find compelling for the character.
"There are a couple of great documentaries about people who suffer from Tourette's, there are great articles and books, and I met a couple of people who had particular characteristics that I thought were compelling and I modelled on."
The supporting cast includes Gugu Mbatha-Raw (The Cloverfield Paradox) as Laura Rose, a lawyer fighting against gentrification when it comes at the cost of people's homes, which places her firmly against Alec Baldwin (Mission: Impossible) as city developer Moses Randolph.
Willem Dafoe (Aquaman), Leslie Mann (Blockers) and Bobby Cannavale (Ant-Man) round out the rest of the ensemble.
As well as starring, Norton directed the film and wrote the screenplay (adapted from Lethem's original novel). He initially acquired the rights to the story in 1998 and it has been slowly edging towards the big screen ever since.
Authors
David Craig is the Senior Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering the latest and greatest scripted drama and comedy across television and streaming. Previously, he worked at Starburst Magazine, presented The Winter King Podcast for ITVX and studied Journalism at the University of Sheffield.
