The Stars of Twilight

After climbing the cinematic ranks in such films as Mimic, Six Ways to Sunday, and 8MM before landing the role of gun-toting, butt-kicking Irish brother Murphy McManus in Boondock Saints, actor Norman Reedus added thirty-four more film credits to his resume in the decade leading up to the long awaited sequel, Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day. Although Norman Reedus kept himself busy in such films as Blade II, The Notorious Bette Page, American gangster, and the recently released Pandorum, Reedus gained a huge loyal fan base due to his explosive role in Boondock Saints next to co-star Sean Patrick Flanery.

Now, after a decade hiatus from the hail of gunfire justice of the Boondock world, Norman Reedus is Boondock locked, loaded, and ready to roll for the October 30 release of Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, which sees Reedus step back into the Boondock shoes of Murphy McManus for a re-team with Sean Patrick Flanery as Connor McManus plus returning Boondock actor Billy Connolly and new Boondock II cast additions of Peter Fonda, Judd Nelson, Clifton Collins Jr., and Julie Benz.

With almost one month to go before Norman Reedus is back as one half of the Boondock Saints brothers, we caught up with Reedus for some exclusive one-on-one Boondock II time to find out what it was like to kick Boondock ass for a second time, his personal view of Boondock Saints violence, his take on the Boondock Saints fan base, and what it was like to be a Boondock Saints II type rock star at Comic Con. Interestingly, Norman Reedus also filled us in on what it was like for Boondock Saints II to go head-to-head with Twilight at Comic-Con and what it was like to work with Twilight Saga actor Kellan Lutz in Meskada.

THE DEADBOLT: Since the sequel took so long, were you worried it wasn't going to happen or that it may have been too long of a wait?




NORMAN REEDUS: I didn't really worry that it wasn't going to happen. I knew it would happen. It was just a matter of timing. I think the contract expired on a Monday at noon and it was bought by Sony at 12:15p.m., like everyone is sitting around white-knuckling it waiting for this time to expire. The original producers just boned all of us. They took everyone's money, they didn't know what they were paid, and they just held it up as long as possible because it was such a cult word-of-mouth movie that they were making a ton of money off of it. So they just screwed everybody and held onto it as long as possible and filed extensions and all of this crap. So we were just glad to get it out of their hands.

THE DEADBOLT: How did it feel to strap on the guns and kick some ass with Sean again after all of these years?

REEDUS: It was good, man. It was really good. Putting on the peacoat was a little strange at first and then we started aiming guns at people and shooting them and being insane, and it just sort of felt like it was just yesterday [laughs].

THE DEADBOLT: Where does Murphy McManus sit in your resume of characters?

REEDUS: He's definitely one of my favorites. You know, I get stopped like everyday and everybody is about Boondock Saints. It's almost ninety-nine percent Boondock fans and it's a film that didn't go to movie theaters. I've done some bigger films and it's just nice to have that sort of a following. It's funny, because when I first met Willem Dafoe a long time ago, he said, "You know, I just wanted to be a really cool cult actor." And I'm like, "Yeah, me too." And I just sort of became one. It's kind of cool.

THE DEADBOLT: Since fans of the original are so loyal, what does that give you as an actor?




REEDUS: It's nice, man. You know, I've written things for people's funerals who were Boondock Saints fans that I didn't know. I get letters from the troops a lot of times; I've sent t-shirts over there. It's nice to have this loyal of a fan base. Sometimes people come up and have my face tattooed on their arm, and I'm like, "I hope you were drunk when you did that." And 99 times out of 100 they'd say, "Yes, I was." So it's cool.

THE DEADBOLT: What's your personal view of the Saints, good or evil?

REEDUS: I think they're e good. I think they're really good. They're good people. They don't go out and do violence for violence sake. They only hurt bad people, you now? They're the underdogs, they stick up for people. And if there's a certain level of crime that's out of control and un-fixable, they just sort of go take care of it. They don't look for the glory, they don't need the recognition, and they're good guys. There's a level of brotherly love. They stand behind their friends and family and they're really good people.

THE DEADBOLT: Do you believe that vigilantes are justified in certain situations?

REEDUS: I think I understand it. If someone hurt my child, I don't know that I wouldn't do anything myself. I don't know that I could help myself. I've seen courtroom cases that are televised and I've seen mothers stand up and forgive them and I think it takes a lot of heart to do that. I don't know that I could do it. So I think in certain circumstances - I don't know. You know what I mean?

THE DEADBOLT: In certain situations, an eye for an eye applies.

REEDUS: Yeah.




THE DEADBOLT: Between Boondock and Boondock II, you lost Willem but now you have Peter Fonda, Clifton Collins Jr., Julie Benz, and Judd Nelson.

REEDUS: Judd's amazing in it as well. And Peter Fonda is amazing in it, too. So is Cliff and so is Julie, everyone is really good in it. Peter Fonda is doing this Italian accent and, I mean, he is so good. Cliff is hysterical in it and Julie is completely bad ass.

THE DEADBOLT: I actually talked to Clifton the day Michael Jackson died.

REEDUS: Oh, no.

THE DEADBOLT: We were talking about the movie and it sounds awesome.

REEDUS: Yeah, it's going to be cool.

THE DEADBOLT: So what was Comic-Con like with Sean, Troy, and Billy?




REEDUS: It was crazy. I'd never been there before. Honestly, the first time we walked on stage it was deafening. We came around the corner onto the stage, and I'm like, "Holy shit!" I mean, you could hear a pin drop when people were talking and then it was so loud that I couldn't hear Sean talking to me right next to me. We got so much love there. And I heard the line to get in was over a mile long, to get into our little panel, that's crazy right.

THE DEADBOLT: So you felt like a rock star?

REEDUS: [laughs] Yeah. I guess everybody wants to be a rock star. So it felt like it for a minute.

THE DEADBOLT: How did you like working on Pandorum?

REEDUS: Pandorum is great. I saw a screening of that and it came out so, so good. I was doing that at the same time I was doing Boondock Saints. So I was flying from Toronto to Berlin back and forth on just a little or no sleep the whole time we were shooting the movies. The producers of both films knew each other, they were cool with working out the dates, and I was just constantly bouncing back and forth. The thing with Pandorum is: I'm not in the movie all that much. But it takes a long time to shoot those little things and I was just so tired. In one of them I'm covered in oil and it's like I'm hanging by my neck, and the whole time I had a torn Labrum in my right shoulder. So I couldn't lift a gun and I had to literally lift them and drop them, lift them and drop them, and then I'm being yanked around by monsters. It was just totally gruelling. But yeah, I saw the screening and the film just came out so good.

THE DEADBOLT: I saw that you also did Meskada with Kellan Lutz. Were there Twilight fans stalking the set?




REEDUS: You know, I've never seen Twilight. I knew it was a big deal and there was a lot of [attention]. Like we were out upstate in these towns, shooting these sort of carnival situations, and there were as many Boondock fans as there were Twilight fans. I knew Kellan was a big deal before we started and I saw him get mobbed a few times. But to be honest, the first time I saw Kellan, he goes, "Oh shit! Boondock Saints! That's my favorite movie." So that's how I met him and I gave him a sweatshirt and I gave him a tank top for his girlfriend.

THE DEADBOLT: Cool, I was just curious. Lately every time I see one of the Twilight cast members pop up in something else, I'm thinking, "There goes the Twilight people."

REEDUS: You know, I think the Twilight people were the only ones at Comic-Con that had the same audience that's not bigger than Boondock.

THE DEADBOLT: Wow! Now that's saying something.

REEDUS: It was crazy. I mean, I think we held our own against the Twilight people in San Diego. But, you know, I want to see it. I hear it's actually good. So I want to check out Twilight. I haven't even seen Titanic yet, I'm so far behind.

Check out more here for the video of this interview.

-- Posted by Ashley from iPhone