Edward Norton on digging into Pete Seeger’s activism for ‘A Complete Unknown’ and annoying his kids with banjo playing

Though A complete unknown is about Bob Dylan, the film also delves deep into Pete Seeger’s life.

The folk singer was instrumental in discovering and mentoring Dylan, and the film follows how Dylan eventually grows restless with the genre during the 1960s. Despite their diverging paths, Seeger is still there, rooting for him and advocating for civil rights alongside him.

Edward Norton told Yahoo Entertainment that he was drawn to the role of Seeger because the character is “incredibly complicated and compelling.”

“Just the music in this film was enough to grab me and I loved the idea of ​​getting into the music to recreate some of that. It was a different challenge,” he said.

Norton said that Seeger is a “well-documented person”, so when he was preparing for the role, he spent a lot of time watching “almost everything that was ever recorded by him” in a “treasure trove” on YouTube.

He also learned to play the banjo.

“I focused a lot on a limited repertoire, so I think if I play ‘This Land Is Your Land’ one more time in my house, my kids will break the banjo over my head,” he joked.

Although now a familiar tune, Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land” was released in 1945 as an anti-nationalist response to “God Bless America.” Over the years it became a popular protest song.

Like one activist Norton himself said that he “admired (Seeger) enormously” and felt a “fit” with him, especially when he was in his early 20s.

“He was the one there cleaned Hudson River” said Norton. “There were people who – when I told them I was going to play Seeger – had tears in their eyes. He had a huge inspirational effect on a lot of people.”

Norton hopes people who watch A complete unknown will learn about “the breadth and depth of (Seeger’s) commitment to social causes over many decades,” he said. “Overall, I think we all hope that the film would make people look a little deeper at artists throughout that period — how closely woven these great artists were with … the movement for social change.”

“They were in it to try to use music as an instrument for change, and not just to get famous and rich, you know what I mean?” Norton added. “It’s worth reconsidering.”

A complete unknown is in the cinema now.