EDWARD NORTON - NORTON TOOK BREAK TO AVOID BURNOUT

NORTON TOOK BREAK TO AVOID BURNOUT

EDWARD NORTON forced himself to take a break from his film career to avoid burning out after intense roles in FIGHT CLUB and 25th HOUR left him exhausted. The 37-year-old star needed to step away from acting and re-group before returning to the big screen to star in THE ILLUSIONIST and THE PAINTED VEIL with NAOMI WATTS. He explains, "I got back to work eventually. It's funny, I'd been doing a lot of heavy movies - Fight Club and 25th Hour. "I took a break and suddenly I was offered all these sort of romantic films - it was a big shift of gears. "It made me remember that's why I sort of got into it in the first place - to meet girls. "In this film (The Illusionist) I worked with this lovely young actress named JESSICA BIEL. "It's a lot more pleasant to wrestle with her than with BRAD PITT or COLIN FARRELL. I suddenly started to wonder what I'd been doing all these years. "How did I forget that that's what I was supposed to be aiming at and get sidelined into all this other stuff?"