Jermaine Fowler takes his love for horror to greater heights with his latest film, Night Patrol, directed by Ryan Prows.
As an actor done many things, including stand-up, television, film, horror, comedy and everything in between, he said this role pushed him in a way that was, if anything, more technical than ever before.
“I would say the director is a technician,” Fowler told Blavity’s Shadow and Act.
“I had to learn many, I guess, police skills,” he continued. “There’s so many aspects of patrolling a neighborhood I’ve never even thought about learning that I had to learn for the role,” adding, he “never felt more hands-on with a character,” and “It was a lot.”
“I don’t think I’ve really, in such a short amount of time, had to learn so much, learn that much for a character,” Fowler shared.
According to the official Night Patrol synopsis, “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.
Walking the fine line between community, trust and policing
Although Fowler’s character is currently a Los Angeles Police officer, he knows a thing or two about the streets that he’s now tasked to protect.
“I think we all have our experiences, whether you come from living in the projects, being harassed by the police, or whatever it is,” Fowler said. “I had to look at the story first, and if there was a connection to an aspect of the character, or his backstory or his goal — I had to connect with that too. If there was nothing I could connect to, that’s where the acting came in place. So, I would say there were definitely like boundaries I haven’t crossed before as a person and as an actor or performer.”
He continued, “So, at times, things got pretty heavy and deep, but the goal was still the goal. My character is that of a person who’s trying to rise up the ranks of a department that doesn’t want him there. And that’s such a unique feeling to portray and tap into. So, I had to learn that, ‘Yeah, I’m a Black dude who wants white people to like him,’ you know what I mean? Like, that’s essentially the character, and not just white dudes, but like really evil dudes, so it was something that I was like, ‘Damn — how’s this gonna look?’ There were times when I felt kind of self-conscious, like, ‘Damn, how am I going to come off onscreen?'” He also mentioned questioning whether the character is redeemable and watchable.
“All those things came into play, but the more I tap into my training, you know, for the character and the story, it all just kind of felt pretty seamless eventually. But in the beginning, it was pretty tough. It was pretty challenging.”
A film featuring familiar faces
Night Patrol also stars RJ Cyler and Justin Long, as well as pro wrestler CM Punk and musicians YG and Freddie Gibbs, among others.
“I definitely think that we elevated each other,” Fowler said when asked about the star-studded cast.
“I feel like we all wanted the same thing for the film. We all wanted this film to get made,” he shared. “We all wanted this film to be as great as it did, but I think we all understood that this film could be so special. I think Punk and Freddie, YG, RJ, myself, Justin, we all knew what this film could be, so we stayed the course,” adding, “We had to check all of our egos at the door because we were taking pay cuts.”
Fowler concluded they had to sacrifice a lot of their comfort.
“But it didn’t matter, like we all wanted the same thing for the movie. We wanted the movie to get made, and so it felt gritty. It felt grassroots in a lot of ways, too, so it was super necessary for this to get made, and I think we all captured that behind the camera and in front of it.”
Night Patrol premieres in theaters on Jan. 16.