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Greetings, All! 👋😍
So... I painstakingly made a transcript of Emily Kinney’s 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 can’t 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. 😁
I made it as verbatim as possible.😉🙃☺️
This is Part 1 of the transcript. btw... Tumblr would not let me put it all into a single post since it’s so long. Part 2 and Part 3 can be found in my following two posts. Enjoy! 😁
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Emily: “All 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 I’m making, I’m gonna make to go with my cinnamon rolls. I cannot wait!”
[Emily’s introduction]: “I first met Norman Reedus working on ‘The Walking Dead,’ 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 characters’ 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.”
*coffee making sounds* “Okay... we gotta get the filter in there...”
[Emily’s intro continued]: “Welcome back to ‘My Caffeine Withdrawal.’ 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 me—‘Hey, how was it working with Norman? What is Norman Reedus like?’
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 he’s been writing... and he tells a lot of great stories. But first, Norman explained his current coffee set-up situation and how he’s currently weathering the quarantine from Costa Rica.”
“I’m already eating the cinnamon roll... it smells too good. They texted me and were like—“There’s some cinnamon rolls outside your door.” I literally have the nicest neighbors.”
*Podcast theme music plays*
N: “Hi, Emily!”
E: “Hi!”
N: “I just set this up because I’ve been listening to your podcast—which I really like—and I know it’s 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?”
E: “Yes.”
N: “Okaaay... this is my coffee—my butterfly coffee that I drink here...”
E: “It’s called Café Hermosa.”
N: “Yeah! It’s the one with the little butterfly.”
E: “Got it! Costa Rica.”
N: “And then... I mean, Costa Rica has really good coffee... so then, this is my coffee maker. So this little sack goes in this little thing—like this. And then I put my coffee in the sack, and then I put my cup here, and then I just pour it slowly.”
E: “Nice!”
N: “And I... you know I’ve 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.”
E: “Okay.” *giggles*
N: “I think.”
E: “W-what do you call that? Like... just ‘the sock’...?”
N: “I mean... I have one of these in my trailer...”
E: “Okay.”
N: “... back in Georgia, then I ta-, you know, I pour the coffee in, and then I make the coffee, and then I take what’s left in the sack and I put it in compost and I hurl it into the jungle...”
E: “Mm-hm.”
N: “... with all the fruits and stuff that I haven’t eaten or whatever and then these things called pizotes—which are like raccoons, but have a long nose and they’re huge—they come and they eat all the scraps and I just... I just have a circular thing that I do.”
E: “Oh, wow! Yeah... so um... you’re also like one with nature with your coffee drinking.” *giggles*
N: “Yeah! I mean, you know... Costa Rica has the, you know... I think it has the best recycling program on the planet...
E: “Mmm...”
N: “... so if you don’t do it, I think they kick you out of here.”
E: “Oh... that’s great.”
N: “My cat’s 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.”
E: “Yeah. Do you put anything in your coffee?”
N: “I do! I put honey. There’s this honey here that is... there’s a local restaurant here called Laguna and one of the waitresses, her aunt makes this honey and it’s the best honey ever.”
E: “Mmm.”
N: “So I just scoop it in the... in the thing and I put like two scoops of honey and I, that’s all I drink [unintelligible word/phrase].”
E: “Mmm! That sounds good.”
N:”Yeah.”
E: “While you’re in Costa Rica, how do you start your day? Just with coffee first or do you do something else?”
N: “Sometimes I jump in the pool to wake up...”
E: “Mm-hm.”
N: “... and then I walk upstairs and make my coffee.”
E: “Mmm.”
N: “There’s 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 I’ve 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 ‘til the gym’s kind of empty to go in it, so I end up out in front of the gym like, ‘You almost done? Are you almost done?’
And you know... and they’re doing this and they’re looking at themselves and it takes forever. So...”
E: “Yeah.”
N: “Sometimes I’ll ride the bike there and then I’ll try to work out and then I’m like, ‘Fuck it,’ and I go swimming.”
E: “I mean, I think swimming and then coffee sounds like a great morning routine.”
N: “Yeah. So I live on this mountaintop where there’s a monkey reserve. The trees are... you can’t cut down these trees because it’s a monkey trail. Sometimes I’ll be in the pool and there’s a tree that sorta overlooks the pool and there’ll be monkeys in the trees. I mean they’re literally like eight feet above me so I’ll just swim and look at the monkeys.”
E: “Awww... nice! Do they like come up to you and everything?”
N: “They don’t come up to you, uh... sometimes they’ll poop in the pool... which is kinda weird...? But there’s lots of these colorful little finch-like birds that will come down and you know... fly around me and stuff. It’s pretty magical.”
E: “Yeah, it sounds like it. What was the thing on Instagram—you posted this picture of a hummingbird. That was crazy! What made you post that?”
N: “It’s this person that I’ve become friends with. They only try to post uh... positive things and they work with people and... I didn’t realize that until after I posted it and they contacted me and we’ve 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 we’re friends.”
E: “Yeah.”
N: “I’ve been trying to do that with posts... just post positive shit... artwork or whatever. I’m just so tired of politicians. It’s like, I’m into scientists and artists now. Like, I’m just over it. This all sorta started when EVERYBODY hit me up... they’re like: ‘Can you... can you post people to wash their hands?’
I’m like... if people don’t know how to fuckin’ wash their hands by now, like, ‘What the hell, right?’
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 that’s involved with everything was—‘Can you post this? Can you do this? Can you make a short video?’
And I was like... I will to a certain extent, but I’m kind of cut from that cloth that I don’t wanna hear celebrities tell me what to do... you know what I mean?”
E: “Yeah...”
N: “And... I’m very selective with what I do and then there’s that.”
E: “Yeah...”
N: “And you know... you have Gal Gadot singing ‘Imagine’ and I was like, ‘This is going to be a disaster!’ and it was.
You kind of just saw it all coming and happening so I’m just very selective and I just wanna put out positive stuff, you know?”
E: “No... I totally relate to that! I feel like there can be this pressure. With social media... it’s like you do have to kind of like set up your own boundaries because it IS fun and like... you’re 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 don’t do that on Instagram ‘cause maybe Instagram...
N: “Yeah...”
E: “... for YOU is just a positive place. You get even MORE requests than I do, but similar where friends would be like—‘Aren’t you gonna post about this? Aren’t you gonna post about that?’
I think it’s great that you make those rules for yourself because I feel like I’ve gone through different... ‘Oh maybe I SHOULD be posting all the time about this thing or... but wait! Now I don’t even want to be on it anymore.’
And it used to be like a fun thing... a fun way to share my music.”
N: “You know, I’ve found out a lot of ‘em are like, ‘Oh, can you do this and make a video and mention this and then put this hashtag...?’
And then it all goes back to almost self-promotion for them.”
E: “Yeah.”
N: “You know? Like it’s like, ‘Look at... look what I did!’
And then, ‘I got all these people with all these followers to post things with all my stuff.’
And it was sort of being skewed in the wrong reasons with some of them...”
E: “Yeah!”
N: “... you know what I mean?”
E: “Sort of like a performative activism kind of thing like, ‘Oh now this problem is... is MY problem, it upsets me too!’
And become making it more about like... yourself rather than... like... trying to fix the problem.”
N:”And you know too like if you have like a lot of followers like everybody you know is like, ‘I’m doin’ a thing! Can you post for me?’
And then it comes to the point where everyone just is like...”
E: *sigh* “Yeah.”
N: “You know... ‘Can you promote me? Can you promote me? Can you promote me?’”
E: *laughs* “Yeah.”
N: “‘I’m making a brand of forks... can you promote me?’
And you’re like, ‘Goddamn!’
You know...”
E: “Yeah. It’s overwhelming. I think it’s cool though that you’re just putting out positive. Plus there’s enough negative right now. Like people need a balance... like, in the... world. You know, like we need...” *tired laugh*
N: “And I know, I know a lot of people too that are just like... with like... pitchforks that are just... ‘Get ‘em! Get ‘em! Get ‘em! Get ‘em!’
And I’m like, ‘Ugh... ENOUGH.’”
E: “You wanna hear something kind of crazy about the hummingbird thing? I don’t know if you know this about me, but I’ve definitely gotten more like... spiritual. But like, this is gonna sound crazy. I like don’t even usually talk about this stuff, but I sort of have this SIGN of when I’m like guided where I’m supposed to go and my sign has been hummingbird. And you had texted me and I randomly looked at your Instagram and saw it...”
N: “Wow.”
E: “It definitely was like one of those... like... go THERE. Maybe it was just if there is a God or if you’re just being like, ‘Oh nice... connect with your friend,’ you know like... ‘Connect with Norman,’ like...”
N: “I actually believe all that. You know, when I texted you, I was having breakfast at this place by the beach—the lady that makes the honey—I was at her place. And I was listening to your... your podcast with Lennie...”
E: “Yeah.”
N: “And I had already heard Lauren’s and I was listening to Lennie’s, and at the end of it you’re like, ‘You know what? I hope during COVID, everyone can reach out to a friend, and duh-duh-duh-duh...’
And I was like, ‘I’m just gonna text her.’ 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 cardinals—those 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 haven’t spoken to Danai in forever and she’s like, ‘What are you doing?’
And I’m like, ‘I’m sitting on my patio with all the lights off...’
And there was a meteor shower. It’s called, like, the Gideon meteor shower—some huge meteor shower that happened. And I saw twenty one shooting stars before I went to bed. I pay attention to all that shit.”
E: “Yeah!”
N: “Twenty one! And I was like talking, I’m like... ‘There’s eleven! That’s twelve!’
And they just kept going. I believe all that stuff.”
E: “I 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 I’ve liked really embraced it, where I’m sort of like, ‘Yup! I think these things are happening. I have little signs that tell me like... where to go.’ *giggles* I guess I don’t really talk about it with people much, but it’s just... I read about it and stuff. Yeah.”
N: “I-I believe it. I-I-I believe all of them. I’m not really religious, but I-I believe all those signs all the time.”
E: “Yeah.”
N: “I see little signs in everything... yeah.”
E: “Yeah. Like during this downtime, do you feel like you’ve 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...?”
N: “I did a BUNCH during the downtime... like...”
E: “You did.”
N: “... so what happened was... I was in, I was in New Zealand and I was shooting episodes of ‘Ride’ 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... ‘There’s an outbreak in Italy. You’re not going to Italy.’
They’re like, ‘Just sit tight.’
So that ‘sitting tight’ 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 calls—we did a ton of them—and we have like seven projects in development right now. But I wouldn’t have gotten to do that if I was on ‘Walking Dead’ because I have zero time, you know.”
E: “Yeah.”
N: “I wrote a novel... with a friend. So...”
E: “Oh my God! What’s it about?”
N: “There’s four different stories that happened. You know, it’s weird, because I’ll take different sections of... of my life and I’ll turn them into other things which’ll branch into other things, and so forth.”
E: “Yeah.”
N: “But in ‘Walking Dead,’ there’s my favorite answer, I guess, for the interviews is—this group of people who would’ve never known each other or gotten along or whatever, because of the circumstance, they’ve become friends and they rely on each other. And they’re 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 THAT’s how you get through. So... that’s always been like my go-to answer for everything ‘Walking Dead.’
*Imitates an interviewer* ‘What is [unintelligible]? What do you think it is about it? Does it mirror society?’
You know all those fuckin’ questions you get all the time. It’s kind of like that. So... it’s four different stories of people that are on the move or groups that are on the move and because they’re on the move, they’re forced to find a sense of family on the way. There is a lesson learned, there’s mistakes, there’s drama, there’s love, there’s horror... all the things. Um... you know, it kind of started... I was, I was on a plane—from Costa Rica actually—to Uruguay. I did an episode of ‘Ride’ 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, there’s 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, I’m sitting there, and I’m kind of in this tiny little area of the plane, and I’m just like COVERED in dirt. Like the creases in my face have dust in them and I’m just fucking filthy and I STINK. Like... I’m GROSS. And I’m sittin’ on the plane with a dirty backpack at my feet which is full of sand. I’m like, ‘Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry...’ there’s like no getting around it.
This businessman’s sitting next to me. He’s kind of like this pudgy older guy and he’s got shorts on and he’s got a little backpack with him. And people are goin’ up and down the aisle, and they’re like, ‘Hey, can I get an autograph? Hey, can you sign this? Can you, can I get a selfie? Whatever...’
And I’m just like, ‘Yeah.’
And I’m fucking like REALLY dirty, right? And the guy’s looking at me and he’s looking at the people and after about 45 minutes, he goes—‘Who are you?’
And I said, ‘Oh, I’m on a TV show. That’s what all this is about.’
We start to talk... and this business man, he, I... I go, ‘What about you?’
‘I own one of the largest Fortune 500 companies in the world.’
And I’m like, ‘Oh!’
And I never asked him what it was ‘cause I figured, like, if he’s gonna tell me, he’ll tell me. We start this conversation... me and this stranger. He goes, ‘Last year, my mother died.’
On his mother’s death bed, she said to the guy—‘You need to just run away. Do me a favor... just run away.’
And he didn’t know what she was talkin’ about. And then THIS year, his wife died and he was left alone. Like he’s 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 he’s 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, ‘Hey, can you guys take care of things? I’m gonna go away for a little while.’
And they’re like, ‘Yeah! Take all the time you need.’
Someone would say, ‘You know what? You should go to Chile.’
And he’d go, ‘Okay!’
And he would just go to Chile, and he would wander around Chile. Or, ‘Go to Peru!’
‘Okay,’
And he was on his way to where I was headed right now. And he’s sittin’ there telling me this story like a little kid. And I’m just like listening to him, you know? He goes, ‘You know what? I spent my entire life trying to make money. I wasted my whole life’... almost with like tears in his eyes. He’s like, ‘I wasted my whole life just trying to make money.’
And so he’s trying to find this personal sense of freedom like late in his life... kind of being forced to. You know, and I’m thinking about it and I’m wondering where he’s going, and I’m kind of living that life...? I’m kind of bouncing all over the world... this experience, people with the show and so forth... with ‘Ride,’ I mean. And I expanded his story and made him a character in the book. He told me this thing too. He goes, ‘Yeah, I was in Peru...’
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 there’s also in the book, there’s this group of kids that jump trains, right? And because of circumstances, they’re running from things and sort of finding this sense of family along the way with all these scary moments. But... there’s a chapter with this guy. He ends up in this situation, he ends up putting his phone on the thing and he’s dancing. And in the background there’s a train going by and there’s 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?”
E: “Yeah.”
N: “So that’s it. I turned it into a book. And I had help writing the book. I’m not an author by any means. But uh... it’s with the publishing house now... doing their final edit. So it’s almost done.”
E: “Yeah.”
N: “So I did that... and some other shit.”
E: “Yeah. I mean... that sounds like you’ve had a very productive quarantine. Or whatever... this coronapocalypse quarantine time.”
