According to early reports about
The Incredible Hulk script, the blockbuster
non-sequel to Ang Lee’s
Hulk (2003), Bruce Banner (
Edward Norton) makes his way to Brazil in search of a cure for the gamma radiation poisoning that causes him to turn into the Hulk.
Several pictures of Edward Norton have been released in foreign news magazines in recent days, apparently filming scenes for The Incredible Hulk in Catete, Rio de Janeiro. The specific site noted in the articles is called Tavares Bastos, a slum that once harbored drug dealers and gangsters. Brazilian police were contracted to protect the production, as well as to appear in the film.
From a Brazilian special report in
The Guardian:
Welcome to Tavares Bastos, a hilltop slum in the south of Rio that has been transformed into a shantytown answer to Hollywood. The filming of the Incredible Hulk, the sequel to Hulk (2003), began here on Tuesday, marking a dramatic turnaround for an area that just seven years ago was controlled by armed drug traffickers.
Today Rio's special forces use the area for training and the community is considered so safe it has become the location of choice for Brazilian film-makers and soap opera producers. On Saturday the Fight Club star Edward Norton visited the shantytown, where he will play the Hulk.
The Incredible Hulk is scheduled to be released June 13, 2008.