Actor Edward Norton came back to his alma mater to debut his new film, "Fight Club," and to talk with students about the entertainment industry. Norton told the audience that he broke into the business by reading "cue lines" at other actors' auditions.

Alumnus actor says of his craft, 'You have to be a sponge'

Award-winning actor Edward Norton may have graduated from Yale College in 1991, but he still makes a point of doing his homework. Norton came back to visit his alma mater on Oct. 3 as a guest of the Yale Film Society (see related story). He was here to talk about his craft and his career, as well as to help launch his new movie, "Fight Club," which he screened for the Yale audience. Four years ago, Norton made a quantum leap from obscurity to superstardom in his first feature film, "Primal Fear," garnering a Golden Globe award and an Oscar nomination for his supporting role as a choirboy innocent who is actually a brilliantly manipulative sociopath. Since then, he has appeared in leading roles in Woody Allen's first musical, "Everyone Says I Love You"; "The People vs. Larry Flynt"; and "American History X," a film that earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor for his portrayal of a neo-Nazi who undergoes a life-changing epiphany while serving time in prison. To prepare for the latter role, Norton waded into the dark sub-culture of American fascism, even spending time with the prototype for the character he played in the film. "People underestimate the importance of doing your homework," the former Yale history major told the students who gathered in Ezra Stiles College before the screening of "Fight Club." An actor, said Norton, is an "experiential dilettante," who must remain totally empathetic to the character he or she is playing. "You have to be a sponge," he noted. "The best thing you can do is to go down as deep as you can into the character, even if you can't use all that later." Furthermore, an actor committing to a role has to remain free of judgment, he said, and "can't look at the character from the outside. ... If there's a moral judgment to be made, it's when you decide to take the role." Describing his own philosophy, Norton said, "The first thing to pursue as an actor is to be as pluralistic as possible." He prefers to play opposite to type -- what he called "pushing the limits" -- and to take on challenging roles. "If I am scared that I can't pull [the role] off, that's the part I want," he said, noting that he sees himself as a character actor, like his role models: Meryl Streep, Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman. Nonetheless, Norton stressed, an actor also has to know his or her limitations. He once decided he had to play the part of Dylan Thomas, having long admired the poet's work. When it was pointed out to him that Thomas was short and stout with a round face framed by curly black hair, Norton -- who is slightly taller than average, lean, light-haired and of sharp angular features -- had to admit he had met his limitations. In "Fight Club," directed by David Fincher of "Seven" fame, Norton plays a young middle manager for the car industry who travels around the country figuring out reasons not to recall faulty vehicles and compulsively attending cancer support groups. On one of these trips, he meets a soap salesman (played by Brad Pitt), who convinces him to trade in his ennui for membership in the Fight Club, which offers regularly scheduled, no-holds-barred combat sessions. The film, while extremely violent, is also sharply satirical -- much in the tradition of "Dr. Strangelove" and "The Graduate," which Norton describes as two of his all-time favorites. Norton will appear next in the soon-to-be-released "Keeping the Faith," which he co-wrote with Yale classmate Stuart Blumberg. In that film, Norton plays a priest who competes with a rabbi (Ben Stiller) for the affection of a woman (Jenna Elfman). Although he couldn't offer any "methodology" for the aspiring actors in the Yale audience, Norton did divulge a few tricks of the trade. For instance, he suggested "hitting into one little thing" as a way to get a handle on a character. In "Primal Fear," for example, that "little thing" was his character's stutter, noted Norton. "Actors borrow; great actors steal," he quipped, by way of advising fledgling thespians to do both. The Yale alumnus also counseled those interested in acting to try one route he used to break into the business. Before landing his role in "Primal Fear," he worked reading "cue lines" at other actors' auditions. This exposure, he said, not only put him in contact with important people in the trade, but, more significantly, taught him that talent is not the sole determining factor for landing a role. Noting that this is the first time he has returned to Yale since he graduated, Norton said his visit inspired him to reflect on his "bright college years." "[Coming to Yale] was the first time I went anywhere where people were interested in you because of your interests," he commented. "The abiding thing about Yale is the people I went to school with," he said, adding that his closest friends today are people he befriended at Yale. Norton, who says he spent much of his time as an undergraduate "interacting with other people," added that, if he had his Yale years to live all over again, he would be "more focused on work and learning." -- By Dorie Baker T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S The Yale Endowment reaches $7.2 billion 'Yale Nursing Matters' magazine debuts at YSN Yale's Year 2000 Project is preparing campus for the new millennium As population grows to 6 billion, Yale expert warns of future scarcity Alumnus actor says of his craft, 'You have to be a sponge' Yale completes self-study as part of reaccreditation process Award-winning journalist Roger Simon to visit as Poynter Fellow Scholar will offer 'personal response to philosophy' in Terry Lectures Scientists unraveling building blocks of memory Exhibit features 'treasures' from the Lewis Walpole Library Symposium pays tribute to noted Brazilian writer Haroldo de Campos Sneak previews now part of the cinematic fare at Yale Film Society Seminars examine genocides by Nazis and Cambodians Yale Concert Band's first show of the season features film scores Historian is next speaker in book review series . . . 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