The Bikeriders: Norman Reedus Explains Unique Way He Was Cast, Reveals He Thought He’d Get To Kiss Michael Shannon

The Bikeriders is the latest film from director Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter, Midnight Special) and it follows the story of a real-life motorcycle club from the 1960s in Chicago. The cast features many big names ranging from Tom Hardy to Austin Butler, and you’ll also catch Norman Reedus showing up as a biker named Funny Sonny, a real motorcycle maven from that time. ComicBook recently had the chance to chat with Reedus, who is a known lover of bikes himself. During the chat, we asked if his history with motorcycles meant his casting process was different from his past projects. 

“Totally. Yeah,” Reedus began. “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,” Reedus said of the real-life Funny Sonny. “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,” he continued. “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.”

You can watch our interview with Norman Reedus at the top of the page. The Bikeriders is heading to theaters on June 21. Stay tuned for more from our interviews about the film.