Eric Bana Explains Why Playing The Hulk Was Frustrating

Eric Bana shared that he found working on Hulk frustrating. The actor became famous after the 2000 film, Chopper. Eric then found himself in one of the best roles in 2001’s Black Hawk Down and then he was cast as Bruce Banner in 2003’s Hulk.

The movie was directed by Ang Lee and it opened to $62 million. However, it fell off after negative word of mouth from audiences because the film is more cerebral and sombre than the film’s marketing campaign. After the movie went downhill, Universal Pictures and Marvel Studios rebooted the character in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk. But this time, the character was played by Edward Norton.

However, Norton’s clash with Marvel led him to be recast yet again and we landed up with Mark Ruffalo and he has been playing the character ever since. Eric has had a steady career as he starred in Troy, Munich and J. J. Abrams reboot of Star Trek. The actor has now spoken openly about his frustration with filming the Hulk. In an interview with Vulture, Eric said he hated filming Hulk.

ET Canada reported via Vulture that he hated playing the Hulk because he was stuck filming interior scenes in small rooms in contrast to some big, open spaces. The actor felt a disconnect when playing the Hulk and Banner and only got to be a part of one movie.

“here’s this other movie going on with green screen that I have nothing to do with, because that’s the Hulk.”

He said, “You go from ‘Black Hawk Down’ where you’re shooting mainly daytime, exteriors, natural light. Boom: out in the world. To suddenly, I’m playing a scientist and I’m in a lab or a house, indoors. There’s this other movie going on with green screen that I have nothing to do with, because that’s the Hulk. It’s the other actors that are playing in that space. So in some ways it felt like a tiny movie because the reality for me was every day was interior, studio, one room, very few big scenes. Lots of dialogue. I don’t like working indoors.”

Eric was not the one who performed the motion capture of the Hulk and Ang was the one who did that. This is in contrast with Mark; who plays both Bruce Banner on set as well as the motion capture references work for The Hulk. We now hear actors are reprising their iconic roles like Michael Keaton as Batman in The Flash; or the rumour of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield suiting back up as Spider-Man for the upcoming Multiverse. It is clear that Eric will not be returning to the MCU multiverse and has already expressed no interest.

Regardless, Bana’s performance in Hulk contributes to the larger tapestry of the character, who much like in the comics, has many different versions and identities.

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