CM Punk Talks Vampire Movie Night Patrol, Fulfilling a Horror Fan’s Dream
ComingSoon spoke with WWE Champion CM Punk, also known as Phil Brooks, about his latest acting role in Night Patrol. Punk discussed working with Justin Long, fulfilling a horror movie fan’s dream, and more. Directed by Ryan Prows, it is out in theaters on January 16, 2026.
“An LAPD officer must put aside his differences with the area’s street gangs when he discovers a local police task force is harboring a horrific secret that endangers the residents of the housing projects he grew up in,” reads the synopsis.
Tyler Treese: Phil, congrats on Night Patrol. We don’t see much good or to like about your character, who’s just known as Deputy in the credits. He’s really ruthless, and you don’t have a ton of visible backstory or much humanity on screen. So how do you approach that as an actor? I was really curious.
CM Punk: All my experiences with most law enforcement [laughs] led me to play Deputy, and I got to be a vampire, so there’s no humanity there. Just seeing, especially most recently with the political climate we’re in the United States, seeing how police move and act. Is it justified? Is it overreaching? I think this movie asks a lot of those questions and explores those things. So I think it was rather easy to jump into that role.
There’s a scene in this film where you’re fighting Flying Lotus and Freddie Gibbs. These are incredible artists. How surreal was that set experience where you’re doing choreography with these incredible artists?
It was very surreal. And also wildly uncomfortable being a white Irish Caucasian man and there’s just N-Bombs flying around left and right [laughs], and I was just like, “God, jeez, come on guys. Take it easy.”
But yeah, it was just a funny, awkward, weird moment. But when that red light is on, and I’m the vampire coming to get ’em, it’s pretty badass, and there’s a good fang reveal in that scene. I’m getting shot, I’m getting stabbed, and I just keep coming. A true real treat for a horror movie fan to get to play that unstoppable killer. It was a lot of fun.
It was really cool seeing you get to work with Justin Long, who I’m a huge fan of. What stood out about him as a scene partner? Because we get to see him go to some places in this film that you definitely don’t usually get to see from him.
I think I was really blown away ’cause you don’t know how people are gonna approach this stuff, and Justin Long is somebody who has been in crazy huge movies. I mean, this guy starred in a Die Hard movie with Bruce Willis, and there’s almost a thought that, “Okay, he’s not gonna take this seriously,” or “This is just a small thing that he’s doing, he’s gonna be in and out. Like it’s quick.”
He jumped into this with both feet, and I was blown away at… I mean, I guess shame on me for maybe assuming that he was gonna think he was bigger than this role, but man, he absolutely destroys it in this movie, and I shouldn’t have been surprised.
There’s a scene where I do with Dermot Mulroney and him that I think they just do an acting tour de force that you would think with whatever description you hear of night patrol… “Oh, it’s a vampire movie. They’re cops, okay, it’s quasi-low budget,” but no, these guys do an acting tour de force. You’re right. He did some scenes in this that were gut-wrenching, and I watched him just dive in, and I learned a lot just from watching him. It is amazing to watch him work.
I’m glad you mentioned Dermot because he has such a stage presence in this. It’s remarkable, and he makes so much out of just a few minutes of screen time, and he’s so on. How is it getting to watch him work? Because he is magnetic.
CM Punk: I mean, tremendous. Yeah. I think he was popping in and out while shooting Chicago Fire. So, I was just like, “Hey, how’s Chicago? I miss it so much.” He showed up on set ready to rock and roll, too. It’s just like whatever illusions anybody has, I’m sure people assume things about me, too, when I show up to do stuff. But man, both those guys couldn’t have been any better. Like, just really crushed it, you know? And I’m just kind of star-struck, here are these bona fide movie stars, and then there’s little old me that gets to tag along, but I’m glad they let me play with ’em. It was fun.
There are some wild twists in this film. What was your reaction when you were reading the script, and you saw that there were layers upon layers to this movie, and the surprises just keep coming?
Yeah, it starts off, and it could be a completely different movie, but within like 10-15 minutes you’re just like, “Okay, where’s this going?” And it doesn’t stop. It’s like a runaway freight train. I read the script, and it was one of those where I read it, and I was just like, “Okay, we can’t make this movie, can we? What year is this? This is a little too on the nose.”
But I think it’s important to talk about what is going on in the real world through art, and this team who wrote, directed, and produced, and every single actor who’s a part of this really, really brought it. I’m interested to see what the reception is gonna be.
Yeah, it’s always great to see art that has a vision to it, and this definitely has a vision.
I did have one spoiler question I wanted to ask. We see a decapitated version of your head later on. Did you get to see that prop? If so, how weird was that? Because that was so awesome.
Yeah, that prop specifically came from like a digital scan of my head and, you know, I can barely use my own iPhone. So for them, I was like, “I’m gonna be put in a machine to scan it.” And they’re like, “Nope, just stand still.” Somebody used an iPhone and an app, and they walked around my head, and I was just like, “Okay, I didn’t know we could do that.” Like, almost had this thought that it wasn’t gonna look good. And then sure enough, when they made that thing, it looked good.
Last question, a small wrestling question. I loved it when you removed your shirt at the House show to reveal another shirt. I thought that was such a funny gag after Kevin Nash’s comments. How have you learned to just move in stride and poke fun rather than getting dragged down by them? Because I thought that was just a perfect way to address it.
Yeah, you know what, I can say it had nothing to do with him, but obviously, the genesis of the story was him saying that I wrestled in a shirt, and I never wrestle in a shirt. So I didn’t really understand what the criticism was. But thanks. You’re right. I did that to make people I was in the ring with laugh because when I’m on a house show, to me that’s what it’s about. It’s about having fun.
If the fans see us having fun, they’re having fun. I like to keep it light. I like to make people laugh when I’m on the road, and I’m away from my wife, and people are away from their families. That’s our family while we’re on the road, and I’m kind of the joke-y guy. I’m gonna have fun on a house show.
Source: Comingsoon.net