Whether your first introduction to him was through 8mm, The Boondock Saints or something completely different, it’s more than likely that the first time you watched Norman Reedus do his thing it was in an action-centered role. The actor has a real vibe for the genre in what many might consider to be a situation of art imitating life — or vice versa. Take for instance his long-running role on the beloved TV series The Walking Dead as Daryl Dixon. On screen, his character, who is now knee-deep in an uber-successful spin-off series, is an incredibly talented motorcycle rider. Off-screen, the same can be said for Reedus, who is the host of a motorcycle-based travel series titled Ride with Norman Reedus. Essentially, when it comes to all-things action, it’s just something that Reedus has on lockdown or like a piece wrapped in his DNA.
When it was announced that Reedus would be joining the cast of Ballerina — the first feature-length spin-off to stem from the John Wick universe — it sounded like the perfect fit for the performer. In addition to having the acting chops needed to deliver a wowing performance in the Len Wiseman-helmed feature, Reedus was already plenty prepared for the long fight sequences that such a role would entail. During a recent conversation alongside Wiseman with Collider’s Erick Massoto at Brazil’s CCXP, the actor opened up about the differences in fight-based choreography specifically between The Walking Dead and Ballerina, saying:
“It’s a different fighting style, totally. The Walking Dead’s very sloppy, this is very choreographed and a lot of people put it together to make it safe and look spectacular. I’m pretty good with weapons after all this time, but it’s always a math problem, even on the TV show. Everything’s math. The fighting’s math. You show an arrow, bend out of frame, you come up without the arrow digitally, and you show another arrow. There’s a math there.”
How Riding a Motorcycle Helped Prepare Norman Reedus for Intense Action Sequences
Both Wiseman and Reedus had a lot to say about their first scene together on the set of Ballerina, teasing a solid high-octane sequence addition to the franchise that so many already love. Referring to the movement of it all as “a dance rehearsal,” Wiseman explained that Reedus was tossed directly into the belly of the beast and remained on-point through all of it. Shining some light on what was going through his head during those difficult shots, Reedus said:
“When I ride a motorcycle sometimes, when I’m on a trip, and I’m going around a corner, I’ll imagine how to lay down the bike just in case I have to lay it down last minute. There was a lot of that in that first scene. There’s a lot of sharp stuff I don’t want to put my hands on, steps being removed underneath my feet. There’s a lot of bang, bang, bang, bang.”
