Posted in: Horror, Movies, Shudder | Tagged: Freddie Gibbs, Nicki Micheaux, Night Patrol, RJ Cyler

Night Patrol: Cyler, Micheaux, Gibbs on Vampire Police, Prows & More

Night Patrol stars RJ Cyler, Nicki Micheaux, and Freddie Gibbs spoke to us about vampire crime thriller, Ryan Prows' flexibility & more.

If there's anything Night Patrol stars in RJ Cyler (The Harder They Fall), Nicki Micheaux (Ballard), and Freddie Gibbs (Power Book IV: Force) know what to do as actors is to live in the moment and have fun, especially when they have someone as creatively open as writer-director Ryan Prows is for his latest film in the RLJE and Shudder vampire crime drama Night Patrol. Blending a mix of the social commentary of the bitter struggle within the Los Angeles inner city and the prospect of facing a supercharged and supernatural threat of a rogue group of cops called the Night Patrol, it's a race against time with survival to see if the residents can survive the wrath of the bloodthirsty vampires. Cyler, Micheaux, and Gibbs spoke to Bleeding Cool about working with the Lowlife (2017) director, how he allowed them to reach their full potential for the film, and researching for their roles.

Night Patrol Stars RJ Cyler, Nikki Micheaux, and Freddie Gibbs on Embracing the Chaos of Ryan Prows' Vampire Thriller

What intrigued you about Night Patrol, and how did you all get involved?

Cyler: My agent sent the script to me and was like, "Hey, you've got to read this. I think this is pretty cool." Then he sent me Ryan's breakdown and his resume. When I read it, I was like, "Oh, okay, this is full hot high energy from beginning to end, like it doesn't stop," so I had to be a part of it. I like the fun stuff.

Micheaux: Yeah, once Ryan showed me [my character] Ayonda and gave me the script, I was like, "I was in!" I love vampires. I got to be a vampire killer, are you kidding me?!" I was so excited about this thing, and then when I found out that David Goyer's company, which did Blade (1998), came on board, I was over the moon. I was like, "We're going to do the LA Blade! I love it!"

Gibbs: Yeah, I got Blade tattooed on my leg.

Micheaux: No, you do not!

Gibbs: I do.

Micheaux: You could have sent a picture.

Gibbs: All right, I'll send a picture.

Cyler: That's crazy.

Gibbs: I got Blade tattooed on my leg, Wesley Snipes. The GOAT, you know what I mean?! Of course, I'll definitely jump at the opportunity of this.

Aside from the script, were there any additional inspirations that helped you get into your roles?

Cyler: Well, because I play a Crip in the movie, and I got Crip homies…I have friends from all types of walks of life. I was like, "Hey y'all, I don't know nothing about this. Can you tell me a little something?" We also got YG, who's the real of the real of it, you feel me? He was able to break down certain stuff to us, and then Freddie also came in to fix things in the script that didn't flow naturally, you feel me? It was a lot went into making this so flavorful. You can say it was well made, you hear me?

Micheaux: Yeah, I love the fact that we could deal with those bad apples and handle them. I was like, "Yes! This is like street justice in a vampire movie." I love it because it's a really bold thing to put on the page, and then to have a big company behind it, like Shudder, it's all amazing. I'm excited. It reminds me of when Jordan Peele was talking about how he was surprised he got to make Get Out (2017). This is what this feels like to me: Being able to make a movie like this, say these things, and make it completely badass at the same time.

You all do so much to build a story together up to the climactic finish. I was wondering how filming the build-up was compared to the climactic finish with the Night Patrol ended up being?

Cyler: I think the fun essence of the set kept the difficulties away, like it wasn't hard to do anything. It was more like the stamina to keep up with the energy we needed to do.

Micheaux: You mean all that running?

Cyler: Yeah, yeah, yeah. [Micheaux laughs]. It's more like the standard to keep up with these stunts needed, because most of us in this movie did our own stunts, and it was a different energy needed to do these things eight times, 12 times if needed, you feel me? It was worth it for sure.

Can you talk about some of your co-stars, like Jermaine [Fowler], Justin [Long], CM Punk, Flying Lotus, YG, and what they added to the film, and being able to work with them?

Micheaux: Well, I love working with Jermaine. We had one scene together…well, two, but really one, and I loved his work for so long, loved him in The Blackening (2022). He's such a good actor, and it's so easy. We had never met each other. We showed up on set, and it was like, "Click." It was great because suddenly, Jermaine, RJ, and I were our own twisted fucked up family, and it was really fun. Justin is such a sweetheart, and it's so interesting to watch him become so menacing. I mean, he's like that quiet and scary, and he's so good at it. I loved it and working with him. They're just such great actors.

What can you say about working with Ryan as a director and the way he flowed on set?

Cyler: Ryan is one of those leaders as a director that all actors dream of in a way, man. Ryan's vision incorporates everybody's input fluidly, much like the way he directs allows Nikki to bring her character to life unapologetically. It also allows Freddie and RJ to do the same, so then the characters that come up on screen are so boisterous in their own ways that nobody is a copy of the next.

There's somebody in this movie for everybody. There's a Freddie in all of us. There's a Nikki and an RJ in all of us, right? To be able to play in a movie where these characters stand out so much, just like YG, these are our big power plays, and to be able to fluidly put that together, Ryan is different. He's not just a director. He's a lethal weapon in the creative field.

Micheaux: This is my third film working with Ryan, and the thing I love…I mean, it's been so long that we've been working together creatively, and we've gotten to the point now where I can literally try anything, and [Night Patrol] is so out there. It's wild and crazy, I could try to do a take this way, or a take that way. [I can] completely make all these different choices. Ryan and I have such an environment where I can try anything, and that's so incredible for our creativity. He does that for everyone, and I'm used to it, because I've been working with him for so long, but I feel he creates this really safe environment where you can trash it and let's see how it works. Sometimes, it's so amazing.

Tapping into that, what is a movie like this lets you do that your fans don't see enough?

Gibbs: Kill the police. [Cyler and Micheaux laugh].

Cyler: It's true.

Micheaux: What's funny about it is that you don't have to take things so seriously. We're talking, we're doing serious stuff, then there's vampires, and then we got this, "Read this pamphlet!" It allows you to make it play and yet, talk about something really serious, but still like, "Let's go all out and have a good time at the movies, yell at the screen, and throw popcorn. Let us have something fun!" and that's what I'm about!

Gibbs: God bless!

Night Patrol, which also stars Dermot Mulroney and Jon Oswald, is in theaters.

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