Norman Reedus on Stumbling Into Role in THE BIKERIDERS and Why He Thought He'd Get to Kiss Michael Shannon
Norman Reedus is best known for his role in The Walking Dead series and spinoff, as well as his own ongoing AMC docuseries Ride With Norman Reedus. Both of these shows feature the actor showcasing his love of motorcycles, which he is carrying into his current project, the film The Bikeriders, written and directed by Jeff Nichols.
In a recent chat with ComicBook, Reedus talked about getting hired onto the film, which happened by happenstance when he attended Cannes Film Festival, where he landed the role of character Funny Sonny, based on a real guy:
"So I was at Cannes and I was shooting Daryl Dixon in Paris. I was sitting next to Jeff at a dinner and we were talking, having fun, having a really good time. And he goes, 'Hey, I got a movie I'm directing called The Bikeriders. And I was like, 'Wait, the Danny Lyon photography book?' And he goes, 'You know about that?' And I said, 'I got a bunch of prints at my house. I have a signed book from Danny. Of course I know it.' And then I go, 'Who are you?' And he goes, 'I'm Jeff Nichols.' And I was like, 'Wait, did you direct Mud?' And he goes, 'Yeah.' And I'm like, 'Why didn't you tell me you were Jeff Nichols? I directed Mud.' And then he sends me the script and he tells me who's in it. And I said, 'Man, you got a lot of good-looking guys in your movie.' I was like, 'Can I try something else? Can I go in the opposite direction?' And he was like, 'Yeah, do what you want.' So that's kind of how that happened."
Turns out, Reedus also thought he was going to get to kiss his co-star, Michael Shannon, who plays Zipco in the film.
"I didn't really have a lot of info on him. I had some photographs of him. I had some photographs of him making out with Michael Shannon's character. So when I got there, I was like, 'Are we going to be making out? Are we doing that?' And they were like, 'What?' A lot of times when cops pulled up, it was kind of like [makes kissing sound], and there was those relationships back then. So I was like, 'Are we playing that?' And he's like, 'No, no, no, we're not doing that.' I was like, 'Oh, okay.' ... 'Should I be looking at him a certain way?' He was like, 'Norman, relax.' But I had photographs and he sort of showed his personality through the photographs and then I kind of just ran with it."
This looks like a great movie, and I look forward to seeing how the ensemble tells the historic tale. The Bikeriders is heading to theaters on June 21st.