Norman Reedus on "The Walking Dead" Zombie School

On the sofa with this handsome guy, Norman Reedus. How are you?

I'm good, dude. I'm good.

It's a pleasure, again.

Yeah.

I had you last time. That's right. Sounds so wrong. But no, I just meant the sofa. That's right. Now you stabbed me. Just meant the sofa clearly. And last time you were you were a little bit tired. You've been up since 4:30 in the morning beating someone up on set.

Yeah, I'm a little tired now.

Are you? For the same reason?

For the exact same reason.

So Daryl's still got anger problems, then clearly.

Um he's yeah, he's a very angry dude. No. But um, he's a little less angry this year, but you know, he's like a subdued wolf, you know what I mean?

Right. Can you relate to that in real life?

I'm a complete wimp. Yeah, not at all.

You're a lover, not a fighter.

Exactly.

Okay. Season 4. crazy, right? Crazy.

Four years, yeah.

Four years. It's great, though. I mean, four years on television, you you really get to play all the little things and build a character, right? In four years of doing it, you can you can do magic. You were 25 when you started. So you must have you must have learned a lot in the last four years.

Right. Um, yeah. Yeah, it's I mean, it's it's so different than being out here. It's, you know, we shoot out on the woods in Georgia. It's like our own little family out there.

And what can we expect from Season 4? From Daryl and from Season 4.

God, so much. I'll tell you.

You've been telling me it's the best one yet.

It is it is the best one. I mean, our writing on this season. I mean, every time we get a script, Andy comes running into my trailer and says, did you read it yet? I mean, we have that sort of enthusiasm down there. So, um, I it breathes in a way, the fourth season. I mean, the first, you know, the show started sort of like a hyperventilating, you know, like thump, thump, thump, thump, and then it sort of told some stories, and then it got real action-y, and this one it breathes in a way that like rips your your guts out. I mean, it's it's it's so full of sorrow.

When you go into a show like that, cuz people die, obviously. They're zombies, and people are dying. Do you ever get worried thinking, am I going to be in Season 4? Or am I dead?

I would be lying if I didn't say every script. I, you know.

Right.

Yeah, you know what I'm saying? We all do that.

Okay. Anyone that you wouldn't expect's going to die? Yeah. I'm fishing for it. I'm fishing for it.

There's there's a lot a lot of death.

Okay, nice. Happiness, then? Happiness? We can expect?

There's no happiness. There's no happiness. Not on our show. Um, it's like the end of the world, apocalypse.

If uh, if that happened in real life, who'd be the first person you called?

Um, it would definitely

One phone call.

It would be a it would be female for sure. Um, yeah. I would, you know, I

Love that it's female, but you can't say who. Of course.

I I can't. Later I'll tell you. Yeah, um, you know, I've I would haul myself up and put myself in the Chateau.

Nice. Just wait it out. Nice. Yeah, you love the Four Seasons, don't you?

I I stay here every time I come to L. A. It's my favorite hotel out here. There's so I mean, you can call downstairs in the middle of the night and say, can you tie a bow tie? They're like, yep.

Brilliant. Why is anyone wearing a bow tie in the middle of the night?

Hey, that's, you know. That's a whole another story.

That's exclusive.

It's a whole another story.

Oh, the zombies coming around. I found this out recently. They they're actually trained specifically to be a zombie. There's a there's a zombie school that we have.

Um, there is actually a zombie school.

There is a zombie school.

Yeah. Greg Nicotero puts them through the through the tests and stuff. But, you know, a lot of the zombies the the best zombies come back as different zombies. So you see a lot of the same zombies, just you would never recognize them again. The way that they do that, I mean, the monster itself isn't the scary part. It's the seeing the lost dead confused person behind the monster. That's the creepy part.

Okay. That's a weird set to be on all day, isn't it?

It's nuts, yeah.

Now, acting's obviously going amazing. But was there that moment when you were younger when you were like, when I grow up, I want to be what was that what was that for you?

I want to be Jacques Cousteau. I wanted to be a marine biologist, wear stripes, and just live that life. I mean, I used to watch that TV show as a kid and just he was the coolest guy ever.

That would be a good job. That'd be a good job. And now I don't know if everyone knows this, but you were you appear in loads of music videos. You have done. Like, Gaga, Goo Goo Dolls, I mean, there's there's loads that you just pop up. Why is that? Are you a massive music fan?

Well, at the time, I was working at a motorcycle shop. Um, those directors that did that, there was Tarsem and David Fincher and Mark Romanek, and like really good directors that were all in a group and they were doing music videos. And they sort of passed me around.

Right.

You know. They sort of, you know. It's a good little gig. It was odd. It was fun. And I met a lot of cool bands, Björk, and Radiohead, and It was fun.

If you could be in any artist's music video, dead or alive, who would you pick?

Wow. Um, God, something like Chet Baker or something.

Good one. Good choice. Yeah. It's a good choice. Who do you uh, who do you like right now? What bands that but new bands that?

God, what new bands do I like? Um, wow, you know, I I'm interviewing Jay Mascis soon. I really love his.

So you're after my job now? Is it's the acting not going well enough, Norman? And now you're trying to take my job.

Yeah, people like you are disgusting.

I I'm sorry. And you just had a photo shoot with a guy that we both know well, Terry Richardson.

Yeah, I love Terry.

Interesting character.

He's the best.

How was it shooting with him? It's it's meant to be fun, right?

Yeah, I mean, that literally happened. He went to uh, I was up in his in his place on Bowery and and uh, he's like, do you have any weapons? I'm like, you have no idea how many weapons I have. Cuz

Do you have on you? Oh my god.

Well, in my apartment, I I steal the crossbow every year. People send me weapons, you know, like knives and I mean, I'm it's probably a felony. But um, I have a bunch of stuff. So, it's like

It's safe to say you're not going to get burgled after this interview.

Yeah. Yeah, but I mean, so we went in there and we just grabbed some stuff and he took us in for photos and the funny thing, that, you know, those photos just went crazy everywhere. And then people started doing paintings of them. People started making t-shirts of the photo. So, you know, it's fun.

You're a handsome gent. I've got the t-shirt.

Oh, it's Terry, you know.

I wasn't wearing it today. That would have been awkward. But I have got the t-shirt. Well, check him out. Very handsome and his show's amazing. And apparently it's the best season yet. So, uh, Walking Dead, October 13th. Let's do it.