The Bikeriders follows Kathy (Jodie Comer) and Benny (Austin Butler), who meet at a local bar and are drawn together. But with Benny comes the world of the Midwestern motorcycle clubs, as he is the newest member of the Vandal. As the country transforms, the motorcycle club does as well, going from a place where outsiders who love riding can find a sense of belonging to a world of violence and danger. Benny will be forced to choose where his loyalties lie: with Kathy or the Vandals.

The Bikeriders is based on Danny Lyon’s photography book of the same name and took inspiration from the visuals of the photographs as well as the interviews. The movie captures the difficulties of the era while showing the transformation of the motorcycle club alongside the country as a whole. Jeff Nichols helmed The Bikeriders as both the screenwriter and the director, with Tom Hardy also starring as the Vandals’ leader Johnny and The Walking Dead‘s Norman Reedus playing Funny Sonny.

Screen Rant interviewed director Jeff Nichols about his new movie, The Bikeriders. He discussed how the original book inspired every visual aspect of the movie and his approach to the use of both sound and silence. Nichols also explained how he wanted to portray the Vandals’ view on society, including their seemingly contradictory feelings.

The Bikeriders Book Is “A Toolkit For How To Portray A Subculture”

Nichols shared how he discovered Lyons’ book, The Bikeriders. He also broke down how the book features beautiful photographs while also shedding light on the truth of the subculture through interviews. He explained how this book was the perfect blueprint for how to portray a subculture.

Jeff Nichols: My brother showed it to me. My big brother Ben, who’s in a band called Lucero, he’s always been the coolest one in the family and always had the coolest music and stuff. I found it on the floor of his apartment and was immediately taken by it. The reason I’m attracted to that book is because it’s a toolkit for how to portray a subculture.

You have these photographs which are super romantic and compelling, but then you have these interviews that Danny did and that kind of strips the veneer away. They’re less romantic, they’re more realistic, and you start to see how people’s brains were working, why they were attracted to a group like this and a lifestyle like this. It really had everything I needed to portray a subculture.

Danny Lyon is one of the most influential documenting photographers ever. Can you talk about how the look of the book The Bikeriders inspired the look of the film?

Jeff Nichols: Every single department had got a batch of photographs and so it was down to the amount of grease and dirt that we put under people’s fingernails. There was a person whose whole job was to walk around with a bag of dirt and a sock and just hit people with it. We wanted these people to feel like they did on the pages of Danny’s book, which was covered in grease, which was really of this place and this time, so we devoured those photographs.

The Bikeriders Director Explains The Vandals’ Outlook On Normal Society

“You Can’t Have It Both Ways”

Nichols explained how the theme of being outsiders was intriguing in the original interviews because of the contradictions in how many of the Vandals view society while feeling upset that they aren’t accepted. This contradiction jumped out because, for Nichols, it connected to the search for identity and a place to belong that so many people continue to struggle with.

Jeff Nichols: If you read the interviews, these people, they do not feel like they belong in normal society, and they’re quite outspoken about their opinions of normal society. But at the same time, they kind of talk like their feelings are hurt for not being accepted by normal society. And it’s like, Well, wait a second. You can’t have it both ways. You don’t like normal society, but you’re kind of bummed out that they’re not accepting you.

That mentality I found really interesting and it seems to resonate today. It seems like everybody’s looking for an identity and now more than ever, I think with social media and everything else, we’re all trying to say, this is who I am. And a lot of times we find out who we are by joining a group and that can be a very powerful thing. It can also be a very dangerous thing, and this movie, it’s both

When I was sitting in the theater, when I heard those engines roar, I felt the ground rumbling. Your usage of sound is magnificent in this film, with the engines roaring, but also your use of silence. Can you talk about how you use sound in this film?

Jeff Nichols: I have to give a lot of credit to Will Files, who I actually went to college with, who was my sound designer. There is nothing quite like standing in the middle of a pack of 40 period Harley-Davidson motorcycles. It’s a real thing. American masculinity, for all of its pros and cons, say what you will when you stand in the middle of 40 bikes, you feel aggressive.

We needed to represent that in the film, in the theater experience. Will Files did an incredible job of making room for it all. Because that’s what I’m kind of most fascinated by, there’s room for the dialogue, there’s room for the music, but then there’s room for these bikes and so he’s having to pick and choose when to let one or the other be the star of the moment, and you have to come to a theater to experience it appropriately. That’s my opinion.

About The Bikeriders

The Bikeriders captures a rebellious time in America when the culture and people were changing. After a chance encounter at a local bar, strong-willed Kathy (Jodie Comer) is inextricably drawn to Benny (Austin Butler), the newest member of Midwestern motorcycle club, the Vandals led by the enigmatic Johnny (Tom Hardy). Much like the country around it, the club begins to evolve, transforming from a gathering place for local outsiders into a dangerous underworld of violence, forcing Benny to choose between Kathy and his loyalty to the club.

Check out our other The Bikeriders interviews:

• Austin Butler & Jodie Comer
• Tom Hardy
• Norman Reedus

Source: Screen Rant Plus