TIFF PHOTO GALLERY: Edward Norton, Robert De Niro, Frances Conroy and Milla Jovovich at the Stone press conference
The bright constellation of stars in this new prison thriller, Stone, attracted a mob of journalists to the Hyatt Regency. Robert De Niro, Edward Norton, Milla Jovovich and Frances Conroy didn’t disappoint, joking with one another, discussing the U.S. prison system and talking seriously about how they prepared for their their deeply psychological roles.
Norton was particularly upfront, saying he got ready for the film by going to a correctional facility near Detroit “that was very accommodating to” the cast. “That was my main resource, trying to dig into the authenticity of [the] experience and how they speak.”
Of the prison system itself, Norton said, according to the Wall Street Journal:
I will say that we have an enormous problem in the United States; I think we’ve got more people per 100,000 in prison than any country in the world except South Africa under Apartheid, we’ve made it a massive industry... [Parole workers] are totally undermanned and overwhelmed by the insane case loads they have to deal with. These people seemed tremendously overworked, and I couldn’t imagine how daunting it would be to make penetrating decisions about people at the speed in which they were being asked to handle their work.
