CM Punk Discusses What Informed His Performance in Night Patrol, Praises Co-Stars Justin Long & Dermot Mulroney

During a recent interview with ComingSoon.net, WWE Superstar and World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk discussed his performance as the “Deputy” in the new horror-thriller, Night Patrol, along with working alongside his co-stars, Justin Long and Dermot Mulroney. Below are some highlights:

CM Punk on What Informed His Performance as The Deputy in Night Patrol

“All my experiences with most law enforcement lead me to play the Deputy, and I got to be a vampire, so there’s no humanity there. Just seeing, especially most recently, the political climate we’re in in the United States, seeing how police move and act. Is it justified? Is it overreaching? You know, 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.”

On Working Alongside Justin Long

“I think I was really blown away because you don’t know how people are going to 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 going to take this seriously, or this is just a small thing that he’s doing. He’s going to be in and out like it’s quick. He jumped into this with both feet. And I was blown away. I guess shame on me for maybe assuming that he was going to think he was bigger than this role, but man, he absolutely destroys it in this movie. And I shouldn’t have been surprised. You know, he’s just to me, him and Dermot Mulroney, there’s a scene where I do with them 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. There’s cops. Okay. It’s quasi low-budget.’ Like, you know, like, but no, these guys do an acting tour de force. And you’re right, like he did some scenes in this that were like gut-wrenching, and I watched him just dive in, and I learned a lot just from watching him. Is amazing to watch him work.”

His Reaction to Reading the Script

“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, you know, and this team who wrote, direct, and produced, and every single actor who’s a part of this really, really brought it, and I’m interested to see what the reception is going to be.”

Night Patrol, featuring CM Punk as the vampiric Deputy, hits theaters on January 16. You can also check out 411’s own interview with director Ryan Prows, along with his thoughts on working with CM Punk for the movie, RIGHT HERE.

If using any of the above quotes, please credit ComingSoon, with a h/t to 411Mania for the transcription.