The Walking Dead Live, AKA Andrew Lincoln and Norman Reedus take Selfies in Singapore

Boy, Andrew Lincoln and Norman Reedus really like taking selfies, the lovable cads. Thanks to Fox Movies Premium, Daryl and Rick from The Walking Dead flew down to Singapore, and fans got to see two of their idols run through a zombie obstacle course, as well as talk to them about The Walking Dead, acting, and other topics in Lasalle college of the arts. We’ll be interspersing the pictures with what happened and snippets of conversation, but you’re really here for the photos, aren’t you? So bring on the selfies!

Andrew’s camera was out the instant he stepped out of the car.

And then both Andrew Lincoln and Norman Reedus made rounds with all the fans. The fans sticking out their hands at Rick and Daryl from behind the cordon were ironically reminiscent of a zombie horde.

Adrian Pang, their host, walked them through what they were supposed to do for the obstacle course. Put together some puzzle blocks, shoot down zombies with BOTH nerf pistols and crossbows, hack apart some foam zombies and rescue the girl. Norman couldn’t resist and took the time mid-brief to show off to his fans.

After drawing lots, Andrew got to go first, and he limbered up before he took his shot.

Zombie Apocalypse Murphy’s law struck and shit hit the fan when the strong winds prevented the nerf bullets from hitting the targets, and when the little plastic toys kept on jamming. True to gun-toting hero form, Andrew Lincoln ended up walking up to the balsa targets and pistol-whipping all of them in the skull.

The crossbow part of the course wasn’t much better, and Andrew ended up shooting them just like they do in The Walking Dead; pressed right up to the ‘zombies’.

At the end, Andrew hacked apart a foam zombie, grabbed a key and saved the damsel in distress.

Not to be outdone, Norman took this time for even more selfies with the ecstatic fans.

When it was Norman’s turn, he addressed the problem of accuracy with a suitably Daryl solution: shoot more bullets!

His reloading was similarly gung-ho, carrying additional ammo in his mouth to speed up reloading time. Unfortunately, the wind was just as cruel a mistress, and Norman ended up tossing one of the pistols at the target, having it bounce off and hit the crowd close to me. Then again, I think the crowd did not mind that one bit.

Andrew also took this time to please the crowd, running around for photos with the fans.

The obstacle course done, Andrew Lincoln was declared the winner with a scored time of 3 minutes, 6 seconds. Norman… scored in a different way.

At this point in time, the Walking Dead stars were supposed to have been shepherded off to prep for their Q&A session below. However, both Norman and Andrew were so friendly with their (incredibly lucky) fans that they ended up spending probably close to an extra half-hour with the clamoring fans. It got so heated and crazed that eventually the crowd broke the cordon and swarmed the duo, a strangely suitable turn of events.

Their minders eventually managed to extricate the beseiged heroes from the zombie-fan horde and ushered them in to the relative safety of the elevator, but not before I managed to abuse media privilege to get a very satisfying selfie shot with Norman Reedus, glistening with sweat. Yes, I’m guilty of it too. I’m sure you guys would be as well.

Some of the lucky ones were then ushered down below, into a theatre where the Q&A session with the stars would take place. It was too dark to get anything more than grainy pictures, but I did snap a few off.

When Andrew and Norman came in a second time, they had managed to get a dress change in. It was probably a necessity, considering how sweaty they must have been after the obstacle course and photo taking. Norman also took another selfie the instant he appeared on the stage.

And then another one with Andrew.

It’s interesting how different Norman is from his character Daryl Dixon in The Walking Dead. Daryl is such a gruff and insular character, and Norman in contrast seems to be almost like a hyperactive kid, replying to questions with knee jerk and off-the-cuff replies, and finding the joy in everything. Granted, I only interacted with them for a short time, and my observations may be biased, but if you look at some of the (incredibly bad) photos below, you see how he watched the snippets he was shown, as compared to the host and Andrew Lincoln next to him. First, he decided to watch the clip on the big projector behind him, lying on the sofa with his legs up in the air.

Then, when informed of the smaller screen in front of him, he got up of his sofa and sat cross-legged in front of the tv, almost as if watching a show with his family in his house.

Similarly, when talking about recent achievements and events, Norman proceeded to stand up and give the audience a sufficiently risque demonstration of how he posed with his award at a recent prize ceremony. He then caught himself and apologized for for any offense caused, although knowing the fans I’m pretty sure no offense was taken. He treated the whole thing like a fun time with friends more than anything else, which was a welcome surprise to me, considering how closed-off Daryl is on the show.

One thing that was true both on and off the set though, was the camaraderie between the actors. Both Andrew and Norman seemed to enjoy each other presence, talking about shared trials while shooting, or how they’d take turns bringing coffee for each other when on set. They also talked about their little in jokes. One major one was how during just about every dramatic sequence together, Norman would lean in close to Andrew and whisper “I love you.”

Andrew’s whispered reply? “Fuck you.”

Another hilarious exchange took place during the Q&A session itself. While he had never read the comics prior to being cast in The Walking Dead, Andrew Lincoln admitted that after cast he took in the wealth of material in the comics to help in his role. When Norman was asked a similar question, Andrew immediately jumped in with “Oh wait, your [character is] NOT in the comic!”

Andrew and Norman were then asked a series of questions relating to their acting process, as well as to the Walking Dead show. When asked what the atmosphere on set was like, Andrew Lincoln said that it was like a family, which was surprisingly fitting considering how he treated The Walking Dead; less a tv series on zombies, more like a family drama… set in Hell.

When asked their inspiration for their respective characters, Andrew said that one of the reasons why he got the part was likely the fact that his baby had just been born, and that he could now identify both as a husband as well as a father. He also admitted that considering how haggard and tired he was with his newborn son, he probably looked the part. On the other hand, Norman stated that he treated his character Daryl like a boy firmly under the shadow of his brother, as someone embarrassed about who he was. However, with the death of Merle Dixon and Daryl’s prolonged time with Rick, he also said that hopefully Daryl would be able to grow into the man he was supposed to have become.

Both Walking Dead stars were kind enough to answer a whole plethora of other questions on their acting methods (very different), as well as any advice to aspiring actors (don’t be afraid of looking like a dick), and subsequently spent a good part of an hour taking photos with the very VERY appreciative audience before leaving. I will leave you with slightly unexpected (and maybe NSFW) answers to two questions posed to the actors.

1) When asked if they watch their work after filming, Andrew admitted that he does not, stating that he always ends up second guessing his performance when watching, and that the self-consciousness was not helping his acting. Norman on the other hand said that he watches it with his son, for a little bonding time. He also added that he watched the X-rated spin off of the Walking Dead. (His verdict? Good job to whoever played Daryl. Impressive crossbow.)

2) When asked about what was the ‘deal’ between Carol and Daryl, Norman merely made a hand sign with both of his hands. I leave the imagination up to you.

The Walking Dead returns to Singapore on Starhub’s Fox Movies Premium channel immediately after its US release on 10th February. Stay tuned in the next day or so for additional photos that did not make the cut for this post.

Note: We would like to thank Fox Movies Premium for giving us the opportunity to meet Andrew Lincoln and Norman Reedus, as well as providing some of the photos you see here. The rest were taken with my crappy iPhone.