Norman Reedus wants Daryl Dixon in The Walking Dead graphic novel

Here’s one of the results of my Singapore The Walking Dead trip: an interview with Norman Reedus. Full coverage will be available in Total Film Indonesia Issue #52 (out this weekend) consisting of a 2-page Norman Reedus interview and a 6-page Andrew Lincoln feature. Earlier today I wrote an introductory piece to those magazine articles for totalfilmindonesia.com (Norman Reedus Ingin Tokohnya Di Serial TV THE WALKING DEAD Masuk Komik). And here’s the English translation of that piece.

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All The Walking Dead TV fans know that their favorite series comes from Robert T. Kirkman’s popular graphic novels, making this AMC show highly popular and a lot of people’s favorites. But not all the comic book characters are 100% the same to the TV series and vice versa. And one of those characters that exist in the TV series only but not in the comic books in Norman Reedus’ Daryl Dixon.

Daryl, who made his TWD debut as Michael Rooker’s Merle’s brother, was one of the most interesting characters in Season 1. He started out as somewhat of an antagonist, parroting his big brother who was a real piece of work) but is now Rick Grimes’ (Andrew Lincoln) trusted lieutenant.

Total Film Indonesia caught up with Reedus in Singapore last month and we talked about Daryl’s transformation in the past four seasons.

I think once… I think he was going to be Merle. I think he was going to grow up being Merle and once Merle was sort of out of the picture, it sort of allowed him to not be sort of embarrassed to who he was going to become and slowly… and the situation that they’re all in [allows him to say] ‘it’s okay to be you’. I think he sort of learned that late in life and I think he sort of found a family in a lot of ways for the first time.

But he doesn’t think Daryl is in any way ‘softening up’.  “So I think that’s his way of softening up. But he’ll still stab you if look at him wrong,” Reedus said.

Also, don’t call him a ‘douchebag’. (Another reporter conveyed a fan question to Reedus that used this word. Reedus’ reaction was incredulous and perhaps a little annoyed.)  “Douchebag? DOUCHEBAG?That’s a bit harsh! Give me that guy’s address!” he quipped with a little shake of his head.

The most important question on the table, though, is this: is Robert T. Kirkman, the graphic novelist who is also involved as a writer and producer in the TV series, going to put Daryl in the comic book? Does Reedus know anything about the status of Daryl’s graphic novel existence?

You know, I’ve offered to wash Robert Kirkman’s car, I’ve offered to sleep with him, whatever it takes… but, God, I don’t know. I mean I would love to be in the graphic novel.  I would love to but that’s a Robert decision. The only thing he’s said to me is “STOP ASKING ME ABOUT IT.”

We reckon that all the fans who want Kirkman to put Daryl in The Walking Dead comic book should stop asking and just offer the author a huge favor… anybody up for washing those cars?

More on Norman Reedus and his The Walking Dead character can be found in Total Film Indonesia #52 (coming out this weekend). TWD is playing on Fox Movies Premium in Asia. New episodes are broadcast every Monday morning at 10.30 AM (Indonesia time) and replayed on the same day at 19.10.

Guardians Of The Galaxy Official Trailer & Intros

Are you hooked on this feeling yet? Marvel’s Guardians Of The Galaxy is proving to be a serious summer blockbuster contender!

I’ve been waiting to see what Marvel and director James Gunn are doing with this particular Marvel property… the comic is obscure enough to feel like a novelty in the Marvel Cinematic Universe but the story of the comic book (that is, the 2008 version) is quite good so that people who’ve read it like it enough to get excited about it and promote it. Personally, I think this team have a great set of characters just from the looks of them (I mean, a tree and a talking gun-wielding raccon? Those are already winners in my book!) and I think they are totally different from other MCU titles so people are going to be curious to see what the Guardians are all about.

There’s a good chance that this seemingly out-of-left-field film will trump others in the summer movies race. If nothing else, this already looks better than last year’s slew of failed sci-fi movies. Also, it has a very attractive cast led by Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana… with gorgeous Lee Pace playing the villain (if The Hobbit‘s Thranduil is anything to go by, Pace’s Ronan The Accuser is going to be even more evil/bitchy/intimidating). Oscar nominee Bradley Cooper and action man Vin Diesel will also draw big and GOTG will probably pull in other genre fans to the cinema (Whovians for Karen Gillan, wrestling/sports fans for Dave Bautista, comedy fans for John C. Reilly, etc.)

Marvel also seems to be doing quite a lot to familiarize us with the characters and the movie’s concept months ahead of the release in August. They released the official trailer yesterday and have just now released 5 intro clips introducing the GOTG crew members. We get to hear Rocket Raccoon’s voice by Bradley Cooper (no Cockney accent here and I like it) as he and the rest of the cast introduce their characters in the movie. This way, we have an idea of who they are and what they’re going to look like, if not really completely aware of the whole story just yet.

I admit to liking very much how Marvel builds up the hype for James Gunn’s comic book flick – it doesn’t have that overly smug feel of TASM2‘s major promo and the confusing way Bryan Singer is promoting X-Men: Days Of Future Past (I mean, I love X-Men, but honestly… announcing Apocalypse even before DOFP is out strikes me as an attention-seeking move. But that’s probably just me.) Now we’ll just have to see how Marvel Studios will treat this movie at Comic-Con!

Anyway. Enjoy the videos below, right after the poster.

Guardians Of The Galaxy – Marvel’s “you’re welcome”

Scenes Of A Sexual Nature

I watched Scenes Of A Sexual Nature the other day, in order to write about Andrew Lincoln’s performance in there, and I surprisingly liked it quite a lot. It’s a very low key movie with not much happening except people talking about relationships, which should be very boring, but there are some funny bits and amazing performances by some of the actors we’ve come to know as mainstream stars these days.

Lincoln, in particular, shows off a finely tuned comic timing. He’s always been a great comedic actor, which was why he wanted to do Strike Back at that time, because he wanted to play a badass role in something not comedy. He got his wish, of course, playing Rick Grimes but it’s been almost four years since he first took on Rick and now I miss his romcoms and funnier roles. Seeing him in a humorous act in this movie was so refreshing that I just wanted to back some more and watch all of his old movies.

But Tom Hardy.

I swear this man is a genius. First, he’s got a great range. He can play anythingbecause he can do it all. Secondly, he’s got a way with voice. I mean, whatever accent he needs to do, it never seems to bother him because everything flows just right in the perfect pitch from him. And finally, there’s the looks. That he is good-looking, there is no doubt, but he’s no classic beauty. He’s got a distinctive look but he can always transform his face and his entire body to suit the characters that he plays. Here, you get his real face but with a slightly different hairstyle and wearing tight polo tee and tight jeans and boom, he transforms. (Does any of this make sense?)

I just love to see him perform because he always loses himself completely in those roles and manage to sell those characters to us. The only other British actor I’ve seen who can do this is Martin Freeman. Martin, too, is an actor who can convincingly sell a character to us – no matter what the setting or the background is – and he loses his own personality in the roles he plays. Guys like Hardy and Freeman are always fun and exciting to watch because when I watch them, I get preoccupied in their characters’ stories and plight. In Tom Hardy’s case, I can name a few of my favorites: Stuart, Handsome Bob, Eames, Tommy Conlon and Ricki Tarr. And now there’s Noel from Scenes Of A Sexual Nature.

Films like Star Trek: Nemesis and The Dark Knight Rises didn’t give him enough to work with so his performances in these two franchises are probably more forgettable than others but he truly shines in character-driven films.

TLDR: I love Tom Hardy. I adore him. I can’t wait to see what he does next (i.e.Locke and Child 44).

Scenes Of A Sexual Nature: Recommended. Watch it for the performances, not for the story.