![‘Night Patrol’: Justin Long & CM Punk On Their Vampire Cop Thriller, Their Love of Horror, Rebooting ‘Grave Encounters,’ & More [The Discourse Podcast]](https://cdn.theplaylist.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/15155003/Night-Patrol.jpg "‘Night Patrol’: Justin Long & CM Punk On Their Vampire Cop Thriller, Their Love of Horror, Rebooting ‘Grave Encounters,’ & More [The Discourse Podcast]")
There’s a certain kind of midnight movie that feels like it crawled out of an alley, brushed itself off, and dared you to follow it home. “Night Patrol,” the new wild horror stew from writer-director Ryan Prows, is exactly that. A vampire flick with cop-movie nerves, magic, and a nasty little conscience, it’s the kind of film that can play as pulpy, borderline campy fun and still leave you chewing on bigger questions about power, ideology, and what “monsters” really look like when the credits roll.
On this episode of The Discourse, host Mike DeAngelo is joined by Justin Long and CM Punk (Phil Brooks) to talk about the film, their characters, and the strange, rewarding contradictions baked into Prows’ nightmarish world.
For Justin Long, the role arrived at a time when his career seemed to be moving with wild, genre-hopping momentum, but he’s not exactly sitting at home drawing a master plan on a whiteboard.
“I often don’t think about my career in the bigger picture like that,” Long said. “Maybe I should. Maybe I’d have a different career if I did. But I don’t. I’m not that deliberate about the choices I make. I like a challenge. I like taking a swing. I like just the idea of finding the truth in anything I do. Whether it works ultimately or it doesn’t, whether it’s in a good movie or a movie that’s shitty – I’d of course rather do good movies. But at the end of the day, I can only really control what I do. And I feel really privileged to be able to do that, to keep getting cracks of the bat.”
That sense of jumping into the unknown was even more literal on “Night Patrol,” since Long came aboard late, stepping into a role originally meant for a very different kind of performer.
“It was not supposed to be me,” Long explained. “It was another actor. I came in late. I was directing with my brother on [V/H/S Beyond]. We were working very intensely for a couple of weeks, and Josh Goldbloom, the producer, had mentioned the script to me. He said the actor who was playing Ethan, and I thought, ‘Oh, he’s perfect for it.’ I believed that guy. And then when he couldn’t do it, they were scrambling, and they approached me.”
Long’s initial reaction was basically that this wasn’t his lane.
“I had this people-pleasing impulse, because I’m like a recovering codependent, I want to say yes, because I say yes,” he said. “But then I thought, ‘I’m really not right for this part.’ And then I went back, and I felt like, well, that’s kind of the thrill. That’s kind of the challenge. I like that challenge.”
With limited prep time, the work became both physical and internal, especially since Ethan is a character built around restraint.
“I had two weeks,” Long said. “The physical stuff to me was the hardest because I had to look like the guy. So I cheated a little. I worked out as much as I could. I used tricks like a smaller wardrobe. I shaved my head. I thought chewing tobacco might help. But to me, it was a challenge to internalize. I don’t often get to play people who keep most of the stuff inside. That was a fun challenge.”
What ultimately made Ethan feel personal, though, was the film’s emotional wiring. When DeAngelo mentioned the theme of the idolization of fathers versus the reality of them, Long immediately connected.
“That was a big one, too,” Long said. “That was something I was able to really connect with. And that, without getting too personal, was really what made me want to do it. And it felt there was, on a very personal level, a cathartic element to it. And this is probably a selfish reason to do a movie, but it felt like it would be something that I could explore and might be beneficial.”
On the future-project front, Long confirmed he’s still moving forward with “Grave Encounters,” alongside his wife, Kate Bosworth, and original director Colin Minihan, describing a shared desire to avoid the common remake trap of turning everything louder and shinier.
“It’s still a thing,” he said. “Colin is almost done. [Kate & I] are going to start working on the script. I would do any movie with him. We really hit it off [on ‘Coyotes’]. We have a shorthand. And we’re on the same page about how there were certain moments the first one had that we want to retain. It’s not like we want to make the whole thing bigger and flashier. There are certain things that should be scaled back and kept more minimal.”
Long also teased something in the works with Kevin Smith that may be in the ‘Tusk’ universe, while being careful about how he phrased it.
“We’re working on something that is ‘Tusk 2′-adjacent,” he said. “The script that I have read, Kevin’s script is… I think this is my favorite one I’ve read of his. So I hope we get to do it.”
The episode’s second interview features CM Punk (Phil Brooks), who plays a vampiric cop whose cruelty isn’t framed as fantasy so much as a grim extension of real-world power.
“Especially lately in the political zeitgeist, this dude’s who we’re dealing with,” Punk said. “Some of the questions and things I want people to ask after they watch this movie are like, is Deputy a monster because he’s a vampire, or is he a monster because he’s a cop who abuses authority? Who’s the gang? Is it the Bloods? Is it the Crips? Is it the LAPD? Is it the special unit inside the LAPD?”
For Punk, that tension, plus the film’s Carpenter-adjacent DNA, made it an immediate yes.
“When Ryan brings me this, I’m flattered and blown away,” he said. “This is where my imposter syndrome kicks in because I’m like, this is a dream role, and this is a dream cast, and this is, to me, a dream movie. This is the kind of movie that I would have watched when I was a kid. It becomes Carpenter-esque. There’s cult vibes to this movie. Everything about it screamed… I don’t believe in luck, but I feel lucky that this came to me.”
Punk also singled out Long’s late arrival as a major factor in why the film works as a whole.
“He comes in, and he doesn’t slack,” Punk said. “He doesn’t treat it like he’s doing anybody a favor. He comes in and just boots on the ground, murders it. It’s an acting tour de force, in my opinion. I witnessed it. I got to work with him. I got to experience it and feel the energy, and it translates on screen.”
Balancing the film’s overnight shoots with WWE’s punishing schedule pushed Punk into a state of exhaustion that, in his view, only sharpened the performance.
“It’s both,” he said. “You’re running on fumes, but you’re thriving on controlled chaos. I was a little bit crabby, a little bit gnarly most of the time. But I think that’s what both characters needed. This is the job. This is everything I asked for.”
And while his acting career is still expanding, Punk isn’t pretending he has a neat blueprint for it.
“My goals are so big, they scare me,” he said. “Michael Mann is making ‘Heat 2’ – love the book. But also Star Wars, Marvel, and DC movies. These are all things that I grew up on. Can I map it out? No. Can I put it out in the universe and manifest it? Yeah. I really enjoy doing quality work with quality human beings. If an opportunity comes my way and it scares me, that’s how I know I have to do it.”
Listen to the complete conversations with Justin Long and CM Punk (Phil Brooks) below.
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