The Bikeriders will soon arrive in theaters after a long, winding road to release day. The film stars Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, and Jodie Comer and revolves around The Vandals, a biker club based upon photojournalist Danny Lyon’s seminal black-and-white photo book about his time embedded with real-life 1960s biker culture. The movie also boasts a vast ensemble cast of biker dudes, and of course this means that Norman Reedus had to be involved. How could he not?
Reedus, however, looks like this ^^^ in the movie, which is stunning to behold because this is the truly unwashed version of Norman Reedus rather than the simply greasy version as seen on The Walking Dead and the Daryl Dixon spin off. Heck, the spin off made it a point to give Daryl his first onscreen bath (and perhaps his only tub soak since the zombie apocalypse began), but The Bikeriders has him looking more than merely unwashed. Those teeth are a thing, obviously, but according to director Jeff Nichols, the chompers were actually Reedus’ brainchild, via Variety:
He’s almost unrecognizable as a biker with shaggy, dirty-looking hair, a beard and rotted teeth. “He just didn’t want to look like Daryl Dixon,” Nichols said, referring to the actor’s “Walking Dead” character. “The teeth were his idea and then we went with the hair and beard. His character felt like he could be a catch-all for every crazy frickin’ idea we had and Norman was up for it.”
This is understandable. As much as Reedus has discussed adoring his Daryl Dixon role, he’s also done so for over ten years at this point. Shaking it up is a good thing every so often, but let’s just hope that his wife, Diane Kruger, didn’t have to kiss him with those teeth. Then again, she seems to have a sense of humor, so who knows?
The Bikeriders rides into theaters on June 21.
(Via Variety)