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Greetings, All! šš
So... I painstakingly made a transcript of Emily Kinneyās MCW podcast episode with Norman Reedus. I did it for the benefit of several Emily and Norman fans who I know in South America who canāt necessarily comprehend spoken English that well. So all they need to do now is copy/paste this script into their preferred translator app. So I figured I would share it here as well so that it can help any of you who are non-English speaking or even deaf/hearing impaired comprehend the dialogue. š
I made it as verbatim as possible.ššāŗļø
This is Part 1 of the transcript. btw... Tumblr would not let me put it all into a single post since itās so long. Part 2 and Part 3 can be found in my following two posts. Enjoy! š
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Emily: āAll right... time to make some coffee. Oh my God. I had cinnamon rolls outside of my front door this morning from my neighbors so my next cup of coffee Iām making, Iām gonna make to go with my cinnamon rolls. I cannot wait!ā
[Emilyās introduction]: āI first met Norman Reedus working on āThe Walking Dead,ā of course. Over the course of my four seasons on our show, I got to know Norman better and better and we became good friends. And in a sort of interesting parallel, our charactersā storylines also became more intertwined within the show. Norman is so special... he seems to have endless amounts of creative energy that I find incredibly inspiring. He also has great taste in music and coffee which makes him a perfect guest for this podcast.ā
*coffee making sounds* āOkay... we gotta get the filter in there...ā
[Emilyās intro continued]: āWelcome back to āMy Caffeine Withdrawal.ā I am so incredibly excited to share this episode with all of you today. Norman has so many fans and I know this to be true because every day someone in my life or someone on social media asks meāāHey, how was it working with Norman? What is Norman Reedus like?ā
Well, now today you guys are going to get to know Norman in the same way that I know Norman. We talk about how Norman got into acting and when and why he moved to California as well as what his life was like as an artist first starting out in Los Angeles. We talk about a book heās been writing... and he tells a lot of great stories. But first, Norman explained his current coffee set-up situation and how heās currently weathering the quarantine from Costa Rica.ā
āIām already eating the cinnamon roll... it smells too good. They texted me and were likeāāThereās some cinnamon rolls outside your door.ā I literally have the nicest neighbors.ā
*Podcast theme music plays*
N: āHi, Emily!ā
E: āHi!ā
N: āI just set this up because Iāve been listening to your podcastāwhich I really likeāand I know itās heavy on the coffee, so I brought my coffee set-up down the mountain in my backpack on the motorcycle and this is my coffee jam here... so this is what I do. Are you ready?ā
E: āYes.ā
N: āOkaaay... this is my coffeeāmy butterfly coffee that I drink here...ā
E: āItās called CafĆ© Hermosa.ā
N: āYeah! Itās the one with the little butterfly.ā
E: āGot it! Costa Rica.ā
N: āAnd then... I mean, Costa Rica has really good coffee... so then, this is my coffee maker. So this little sack goes in this little thingālike this. And then I put my coffee in the sack, and then I put my cup here, and then I just pour it slowly.ā
E: āNice!ā
N: āAnd I... you know Iāve gone through all the high-tech everything, and I always go back to this sock. And the dirtier the sock, the better the coffee tastes.ā
E: āOkay.ā *giggles*
N: āI think.ā
E: āW-what do you call that? Like... just āthe sockā...?ā
N: āI mean... I have one of these in my trailer...ā
E: āOkay.ā
N: ā... back in Georgia, then I ta-, you know, I pour the coffee in, and then I make the coffee, and then I take whatās left in the sack and I put it in compost and I hurl it into the jungle...ā
E: āMm-hm.ā
N: ā... with all the fruits and stuff that I havenāt eaten or whatever and then these things called pizotesāwhich are like raccoons, but have a long nose and theyāre hugeāthey come and they eat all the scraps and I just... I just have a circular thing that I do.ā
E: āOh, wow! Yeah... so um... youāre also like one with nature with your coffee drinking.ā *giggles*
N: āYeah! I mean, you know... Costa Rica has the, you know... I think it has the best recycling program on the planet...
E: āMmm...ā
N: ā... so if you donāt do it, I think they kick you out of here.ā
E: āOh... thatās great.ā
N: āMy catās here with me. So when I go feed the pizotes, the cat goes to the window and watches with amazement as these raccoon monsters eat my garbage.ā
E: āYeah. Do you put anything in your coffee?ā
N: āI do! I put honey. Thereās this honey here that is... thereās a local restaurant here called Laguna and one of the waitresses, her aunt makes this honey and itās the best honey ever.ā
E: āMmm.ā
N: āSo I just scoop it in the... in the thing and I put like two scoops of honey and I, thatās all I drink [unintelligible word/phrase].ā
E: āMmm! That sounds good.ā
N:āYeah.ā
E: āWhile youāre in Costa Rica, how do you start your day? Just with coffee first or do you do something else?ā
N: āSometimes I jump in the pool to wake up...ā
E: āMm-hm.ā
N: ā... and then I walk upstairs and make my coffee.ā
E: āMmm.ā
N: āThereās this uh... sort of like yoga retreat place so they have a really nice gym but it has mirrors all over... the walls. And what Iāve found out with the yoga people is that they work out for like four hours at a time, then they look at themselves, and then they work out and lift weights, and then they look at themselves. And then they stretch and then they look at themselves. And because of COVID, you kinda wanna wait ātil the gymās kind of empty to go in it, so I end up out in front of the gym like, āYou almost done? Are you almost done?ā
And you know... and theyāre doing this and theyāre looking at themselves and it takes forever. So...ā
E: āYeah.ā
N: āSometimes Iāll ride the bike there and then Iāll try to work out and then Iām like, āFuck it,ā and I go swimming.ā
E: āI mean, I think swimming and then coffee sounds like a great morning routine.ā
N: āYeah. So I live on this mountaintop where thereās a monkey reserve. The trees are... you canāt cut down these trees because itās a monkey trail. Sometimes Iāll be in the pool and thereās a tree that sorta overlooks the pool and thereāll be monkeys in the trees. I mean theyāre literally like eight feet above me so Iāll just swim and look at the monkeys.ā
E: āAwww... nice! Do they like come up to you and everything?ā
N: āThey donāt come up to you, uh... sometimes theyāll poop in the pool... which is kinda weird...? But thereās lots of these colorful little finch-like birds that will come down and you know... fly around me and stuff. Itās pretty magical.ā
E: āYeah, it sounds like it. What was the thing on Instagramāyou posted this picture of a hummingbird. That was crazy! What made you post that?ā
N: āItās this person that Iāve become friends with. They only try to post uh... positive things and they work with people and... I didnāt realize that until after I posted it and they contacted me and weāve been sort of having this exchange. But I think their whole vibe is to just put out positive content so they work with different artists and create positive content. And that post comes from THEIR site. So they reached out and then now weāre friends.ā
E: āYeah.ā
N: āIāve been trying to do that with posts... just post positive shit... artwork or whatever. Iām just so tired of politicians. Itās like, Iām into scientists and artists now. Like, Iām just over it. This all sorta started when EVERYBODY hit me up... theyāre like: āCan you... can you post people to wash their hands?ā
Iām like... if people donāt know how to fuckinā wash their hands by now, like, āWhat the hell, right?ā
So then... it... that went to that and then all those Twitter hashtags like #guillotine2020 and all those things happening and then everybody from the show and everybody from the network and you know everybody else thatās involved with everything wasāāCan you post this? Can you do this? Can you make a short video?ā
And I was like... I will to a certain extent, but Iām kind of cut from that cloth that I donāt wanna hear celebrities tell me what to do... you know what I mean?ā
E: āYeah...ā
N: āAnd... Iām very selective with what I do and then thereās that.ā
E: āYeah...ā
N: āAnd you know... you have Gal Gadot singing āImagineā and I was like, āThis is going to be a disaster!ā and it was.
You kind of just saw it all coming and happening so Iām just very selective and I just wanna put out positive stuff, you know?ā
E: āNo... I totally relate to that! I feel like there can be this pressure. With social media... itās like you do have to kind of like set up your own boundaries because it IS fun and like... youāre really good at like connecting with people on social media and you know... like you said, putting up cool art, putting up cool music that you like. But then there can be this pressure to get involved in OTHER aspects of social media that maybe you just like... if you wanna show your support for a certain politician or for a certain social movement, maybe you donāt do that on Instagram ācause maybe Instagram...
N: āYeah...ā
E: ā... for YOU is just a positive place. You get even MORE requests than I do, but similar where friends would be likeāāArenāt you gonna post about this? Arenāt you gonna post about that?ā
I think itās great that you make those rules for yourself because I feel like Iāve gone through different... āOh maybe I SHOULD be posting all the time about this thing or... but wait! Now I donāt even want to be on it anymore.ā
And it used to be like a fun thing... a fun way to share my music.ā
N: āYou know, Iāve found out a lot of āem are like, āOh, can you do this and make a video and mention this and then put this hashtag...?ā
And then it all goes back to almost self-promotion for them.ā
E: āYeah.ā
N: āYou know? Like itās like, āLook at... look what I did!ā
And then, āI got all these people with all these followers to post things with all my stuff.ā
And it was sort of being skewed in the wrong reasons with some of them...ā
E: āYeah!ā
N: ā... you know what I mean?ā
E: āSort of like a performative activism kind of thing like, āOh now this problem is... is MY problem, it upsets me too!ā
And become making it more about like... yourself rather than... like... trying to fix the problem.ā
N:āAnd you know too like if you have like a lot of followers like everybody you know is like, āIām doinā a thing! Can you post for me?ā
And then it comes to the point where everyone just is like...ā
E: *sigh* āYeah.ā
N: āYou know... āCan you promote me? Can you promote me? Can you promote me?āā
E: *laughs* āYeah.ā
N: āāIām making a brand of forks... can you promote me?ā
And youāre like, āGoddamn!ā
You know...ā
E: āYeah. Itās overwhelming. I think itās cool though that youāre just putting out positive. Plus thereās enough negative right now. Like people need a balance... like, in the... world. You know, like we need...ā *tired laugh*
N: āAnd I know, I know a lot of people too that are just like... with like... pitchforks that are just... āGet āem! Get āem! Get āem! Get āem!ā
And Iām like, āUgh... ENOUGH.āā
E: āYou wanna hear something kind of crazy about the hummingbird thing? I donāt know if you know this about me, but Iāve definitely gotten more like... spiritual. But like, this is gonna sound crazy. I like donāt even usually talk about this stuff, but I sort of have this SIGN of when Iām like guided where Iām supposed to go and my sign has been hummingbird. And you had texted me and I randomly looked at your Instagram and saw it...ā
N: āWow.ā
E: āIt definitely was like one of those... like... go THERE. Maybe it was just if there is a God or if youāre just being like, āOh nice... connect with your friend,ā you know like... āConnect with Norman,ā like...ā
N: āI actually believe all that. You know, when I texted you, I was having breakfast at this place by the beachāthe lady that makes the honeyāI was at her place. And I was listening to your... your podcast with Lennie...ā
E: āYeah.ā
N: āAnd I had already heard Laurenās and I was listening to Lennieās, and at the end of it youāre like, āYou know what? I hope during COVID, everyone can reach out to a friend, and duh-duh-duh-duh...ā
And I was like, āIām just gonna text her.ā So I texted you at that moment.
I have the same thing with a bird. Like my dad... before my dad died, he was always talking about cardinalsāthose red cardinals. Every time I see a cardinal, I think the same thing. And THEN, the night before, Danai called me out of nowhere. I havenāt spoken to Danai in forever and sheās like, āWhat are you doing?ā
And Iām like, āIām sitting on my patio with all the lights off...ā
And there was a meteor shower. Itās called, like, the Gideon meteor showerāsome huge meteor shower that happened. And I saw twenty one shooting stars before I went to bed. I pay attention to all that shit.ā
E: āYeah!ā
N: āTwenty one! And I was like talking, Iām like... āThereās eleven! Thatās twelve!ā
And they just kept going. I believe all that stuff.ā
E: āI grew up Catholic, so like, I kind of like... religion in general felt like sort of overwhelming even though a prayer and stuff like that came naturally to me. And then just over like the last like five or six years or so Iāve liked really embraced it, where Iām sort of like, āYup! I think these things are happening. I have little signs that tell me like... where to go.ā *giggles* I guess I donāt really talk about it with people much, but itās just... I read about it and stuff. Yeah.ā
N: āI-I believe it. I-I-I believe all of them. Iām not really religious, but I-I believe all those signs all the time.ā
E: āYeah.ā
N: āI see little signs in everything... yeah.ā
E: āYeah. Like during this downtime, do you feel like youāve been able to like be creative? Or have you just been sort of embracing a rest and just being able to sort of like be with your family and like...?ā
N: āI did a BUNCH during the downtime... like...ā
E: āYou did.ā
N: ā... so what happened was... I was in, I was in New Zealand and I was shooting episodes of āRideā and Diane was doing a movie in... in California in LA so I... I flew to LA from New Zealand and I was on my way to Italy and AMC called and there was like... āThereās an outbreak in Italy. Youāre not going to Italy.ā
Theyāre like, āJust sit tight.ā
So that āsitting tightā thing turned into like a year, you know? I was there forever. I have a First Look production deal with AMC and me and my partner, Amanda Verdon. It gave us the opportunity to really find a lot of projects... do a lot of reading, do a lot of these Zoom callsāwe did a ton of themāand we have like seven projects in development right now. But I wouldnāt have gotten to do that if I was on āWalking Deadā because I have zero time, you know.ā
E: āYeah.ā
N: āI wrote a novel... with a friend. So...ā
E: āOh my God! Whatās it about?ā
N: āThereās four different stories that happened. You know, itās weird, because Iāll take different sections of... of my life and Iāll turn them into other things whichāll branch into other things, and so forth.ā
E: āYeah.ā
N: āBut in āWalking Dead,ā thereās my favorite answer, I guess, for the interviews isāthis group of people who wouldāve never known each other or gotten along or whatever, because of the circumstance, theyāve become friends and they rely on each other. And theyāre people from completely different walks of life, right? And they form this bond as they sort of develop their own family, and they rely on each other, and they respect each other, and THATās how you get through. So... thatās always been like my go-to answer for everything āWalking Dead.ā
*Imitates an interviewer* āWhat is [unintelligible]? What do you think it is about it? Does it mirror society?ā
You know all those fuckinā questions you get all the time. Itās kind of like that. So... itās four different stories of people that are on the move or groups that are on the move and because theyāre on the move, theyāre forced to find a sense of family on the way. There is a lesson learned, thereās mistakes, thereās drama, thereās love, thereās horror... all the things. Um... you know, it kind of started... I was, I was on a planeāfrom Costa Rica actuallyāto Uruguay. I did an episode of āRideā in Costa Rica and it was SUPER dirty! Like, we were in the dirt, people broke teeth out of their face... like we were disgusting for a week here. And we were on the other side of the island, but I had to race to catch a flight to get to Uruguay from filming. So, thereās a group set up there with another bike and I just... I just immediately start filming there. So I race to get on this plane, Iām sitting there, and Iām kind of in this tiny little area of the plane, and Iām just like COVERED in dirt. Like the creases in my face have dust in them and Iām just fucking filthy and I STINK. Like... Iām GROSS. And Iām sittinā on the plane with a dirty backpack at my feet which is full of sand. Iām like, āSorry, sorry, sorry, sorry...ā thereās like no getting around it.
This businessmanās sitting next to me. Heās kind of like this pudgy older guy and heās got shorts on and heās got a little backpack with him. And people are goinā up and down the aisle, and theyāre like, āHey, can I get an autograph? Hey, can you sign this? Can you, can I get a selfie? Whatever...ā
And Iām just like, āYeah.ā
And Iām fucking like REALLY dirty, right? And the guyās looking at me and heās looking at the people and after about 45 minutes, he goesāāWho are you?ā
And I said, āOh, Iām on a TV show. Thatās what all this is about.ā
We start to talk... and this business man, he, I... I go, āWhat about you?ā
āI own one of the largest Fortune 500 companies in the world.ā
And Iām like, āOh!ā
And I never asked him what it was ācause I figured, like, if heās gonna tell me, heāll tell me. We start this conversation... me and this stranger. He goes, āLast year, my mother died.ā
On his motherās death bed, she said to the guyāāYou need to just run away. Do me a favor... just run away.ā
And he didnāt know what she was talkinā about. And then THIS year, his wife died and he was left alone. Like heās this guy that runs this huge company, has all these employees, but he has no family... it was just his mother and his wife. And heās kind of alone. And he was thinking about what his mother said to him. So he told the other partners in the business... he said, āHey, can you guys take care of things? Iām gonna go away for a little while.ā
And theyāre like, āYeah! Take all the time you need.ā
Someone would say, āYou know what? You should go to Chile.ā
And heād go, āOkay!ā
And he would just go to Chile, and he would wander around Chile. Or, āGo to Peru!ā
āOkay,ā
And he was on his way to where I was headed right now. And heās sittinā there telling me this story like a little kid. And Iām just like listening to him, you know? He goes, āYou know what? I spent my entire life trying to make money. I wasted my whole lifeā... almost with like tears in his eyes. Heās like, āI wasted my whole life just trying to make money.ā
And so heās trying to find this personal sense of freedom like late in his life... kind of being forced to. You know, and Iām thinking about it and Iām wondering where heās going, and Iām kind of living that life...? Iām kind of bouncing all over the world... this experience, people with the show and so forth... with āRide,ā I mean. And I expanded his story and made him a character in the book. He told me this thing too. He goes, āYeah, I was in Peru...ā
He was backpacking... you know, with his backpack. And he got out to the middle of this intersection and there was NO ONE around like as far as he could see. And he took out his phone and he played a Prince song, and put it on the crosswalk of the intersection, and was just dancing like crazy... all by himself. Like sort of finding this freedom, right? And uh... this strength, I guess. He was out there dancing. So thereās also in the book, thereās this group of kids that jump trains, right? And because of circumstances, theyāre running from things and sort of finding this sense of family along the way with all these scary moments. But... thereās a chapter with this guy. He ends up in this situation, he ends up putting his phone on the thing and heās dancing. And in the background thereās a train going by and thereās these kids like, watching this crazy guy dancing with himself. Like... so I sort of mix these stories together and they all kind of are on a mission and they sort of find their way. You know what I mean?ā
E: āYeah.ā
N: āSo thatās it. I turned it into a book. And I had help writing the book. Iām not an author by any means. But uh... itās with the publishing house now... doing their final edit. So itās almost done.ā
E: āYeah.ā
N: āSo I did that... and some other shit.ā
E: āYeah. I mean... that sounds like youāve had a very productive quarantine. Or whatever... this coronapocalypse quarantine time.ā















