Ed Norton released a carefully worded, mid-length statement in lieu of an interview yesterday as rumors that he has abandoned press for the project began to spread.

Here’s the thing though: the man doesn’t deny that he is pissed at Marvel’s version of the movie and has refused to travel on the press junket for it. Norton just talks about how he “wrote and helped produce” the film (at best he was a writer who got some help, realistically, who knows how much Norton is in the script), and says that we’ll love the flick, but he never denies that he is not doing press for the movie.

As much as we want to take his minor dig at us internet gossipers personally, we can’t because the statement sounds like the song remains the same and Norton has abandoned his baby for one reason or another.

The full statement is below, but, keep this in mind: we think the movie will actually be better the more they distance Ed Norton from it. As we said yesterday, Marvel knows their property better than Norton, we trust them.

Not to mention that he refused to hit our friend DavidJr.com because of…copyright laws?

From EW:

“Like so many people I’ve loved the story of The Hulk since I was a kid, so it was thrilling when Marvel asked me to write and help produce an altogether new screen incarnation, as well as play Bruce Banner. I grew up reading Marvel Comics and always loved the mythic dimension and contemporary themes in the stories, and I’m proud of the script I wrote. In every phase of production, including the editing, working with Louis Leterrier has been wonderful…I’ve never had a better partner, and the collaboration with all the rest of the creative team has been terrific.

“Every good movie gets forged through collaboration, and different ideas among people who are all committed and respect the validity of each other’s opinions is the heart of filmmaking. Regrettably, our healthy process, which is and should be a private matter, was misrepresented publicly as a ‘dispute,’ seized on by people looking for a good story, and has been distorted to such a degree that it risks distracting from the film itself, which Marvel, Universal and I refuse to let happen.

“It has always been my firm conviction that films should speak for themselves and that knowing too much about how they are made diminishes the magic of watching them. All of us believe The Incredible Hulk will excite old fans and create new ones and be a huge hit…our focus has always been to deliver the Hulk that people have been waiting for and keep the worldwide love affair with the big green guy going strong.”