by Dawn Kessler

He may be one of the best actors of our generation, but acting hardly comes easy for EDWARD NORTON -- so he says. Celeb 101 recently caught up with the Yale graduate to discuss his latest film, The Score, and what can we say? The guy's super smart! We were totally wowed by Norton's brilliance, humility, and his relentless commitment to a role he accepts.

"The challenge of acting is to learn to remove more and more layers of your protective facade and expose yourself," says Norton. For a guy who's played characters that include a teen on death row with multiple personality disorder (Primal Fear), a Nazi skinhead trying to reform himself (American History X), and a love-struck priest struggling with his vows (Keeping the Faith), Norton certainly hasn't hidden his talent for creating fascinating characters.

In his latest film, The Score (opens July 13, Rated R for Language), Norton shares the screen with legends Robert DeNiro and Marlon Brando, however, his intriguing and intense dual-character performance makes him top billing in our book. He portrays Jack, a young criminal mastermind who poses as a simple-minded janitor to case out a Montreal customs house for the biggest 'score' of his career -- stealing an ancient scepter worth $30 million. (Read more about the film here!) Norton applied his Ivy League-caliber researching skills to prepare for both aspects of the character.

"I spent a lot of time with one young man who had a very intense physical palsy condition -- it was amazing talking to him about it," explains Norton, who had to develop what he calls a 'much too vague' character from the original script. "Then I married that with some experience I had when I was growing up and I worked in a center for young people who had autism."

Although the audience is aware that Jack is pretending to have physical and mental disabilities, Norton still had to make it look believable. "I needed to give the character enough specificity for the audience to believe that this [con] is working on the people in the film."

He did just that by making the volatile Jack transform entirely into 'Brian' -- using different speech patterns, changing his posture, showing a lack of mobile dexterity and mental capacity, etc.

As for the other aspect of his character, a budding criminal mastermind, Norton did plenty of research with the Los Angeles Police Department to learn the complexities of safe-cracking and heists.

* Photos Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

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