Please note this article contains spoilers for Night Patrol.
If there were an action-horror film that surprisingly feels socially and culturally relevant in today’s time, it’d have to be Night Patrol. Exploring two different sides of Californian culture, this film puts a supernatural spin on police brutality and much more.
Night Patrol follows a Los Angeles cop, Xavier, who aspires to join a legendary group of officers known as the “night patrol.” However, when he discovers that the organization is targeting his childhood home and its residents, Xavier must find a way to put his aspirations aside or face justice (in the gruesome way the group puts it).
I recently had the chance to speak with Night Patrol stars RJ Cyler and Nicki Micheaux about playing the film’s mother-son duo, getting into the action, and recording one of the film’s most comedic moments that incorporates some fun cinematographic choices. (You can watch the full interview below.)
Cyler and Micheaux play the mother-son duo of Wazi and Ayanda, two characters whose rooted beliefs oppose the mythical night patrol. However, their relationship shows some strain as Wazi initially doesn’t believe in his mother’s cultural philosophy.
Cyler discussed what it was like to explore that dynamic by playing Wazi and how he connected with the character.
“I think the relationship between Wazi and his mom was really acute to me because it literally is the relationship between mother and son,” Cyler began. “We think we know everything because our mom isn’t a dude. You wouldn’t know what she actually does.”
“Wazi was definitely all over the place throughout the movie, mostly because of not listening to her,” Cyler continued. “He was battling the truth and not trying to listen to the traditional knowledge when, at the end of the day, that’s what saves his life.”
On the other hand, Micheaux stated how her character’s harsh, yet caring, determination stuck with her. “What stuck with me about this movie was the badassery that Ayanda got to do, from the guns I got to carry to beating down my own son,” Micheaux recalled.
“Every time, it was like, ‘Yeah, you’re gonna beat his ass,’ and Adam’s like, ‘Okay,’ and it’s wild and crazy. It was crazy on the page, it’s crazy when we did it, and it was so fun to take on all of that stuff.”
It’s also noted that Wazi’s brother, Xavier, is not like him nor their mother, but instead wants to join the night patrol. This familial rift serves as the driving force that brings chaos to their home, but Wazi still has hope Xavier will come back. Cyler touched on the doubt that the character has throughout the film.
“They’re misunderstood by themselves, but very blatant to the audience,” Cyler explained. “The audience knows all of Wazi so early, so the excitement to watch him is all in — when will he get his stuff together?”
“Throughout this whole movie, you really want Wazi to make the simple decisions that are right there to just make stuff better. When he does, he jumps in drastically right to the belief system that can actually benefit and also strengthen him in general.”
Oppositely, Micheaux’s Ayanda acts as a cornerstone character, not just narratively, but also emotionally, for Wazi and Xavier. Micheaux described what it was like for her to play a character who provided the knowledge as well as the tension.
“I love that, especially when it came to being the vampire hunter,” Micheaux praised. “I loved holding all the knowledge! It’s like Chris Christopherson’s character in Blade where you know everything, but people don’t always believe you, and you’re trying to just understand.”
“I love the parallels to what it meant to be black people, and that’s to fight these beings. It was about who we were, and I loved that.”
Although Wazi finds himself in much of the fighting of Night Patrol later on, this isn’t the first role that put Cyler into action. Notably, the 2017 Power Rangers movie, where Cyler played Billy the Blue Ranger, saw the star facing an entirely different danger.
However, both Wazi and Billy do have some similarities in their personalities, which Cyler and Micheaux talked about in addition to how Cyler handled the action in this film.
“They are kind of the same in different universes,” Cyler noted. “Both are driven by fear and end up making up when things go right, that’s how it works!
“Fumble your way to success, fail up!” Micheaux joked.
“I like action, and I know Nicki,” Cyler said. “She loves action too, so yeah, he’s the taxing on the body was real for sure, but the excitement to do these things was even much more grand.”
“I think I had it easy because I just had to pick up the gun and shoot, and the guns were heavy, but it’s not like some of the stuff Wazi had to do,” Micheaux added. “The biggest thing for me was I’m not a runner, so getting out there and getting my getting my running on was physically challenging for me, but I loved it!”
Similarly, Micheaux also found herself involved in some particularly heavy action on The CW’s In the Dark, a crime procedural where the star played a similar character. However, she notes that playing Ayanda was a step forward for her.
“This was a step up really from In the Dark cause Nia was a badass,” Micheaux recalled. “I only got to beat down [Perry Mattfield]’s character one time, but that was so fun because I love messy, bloody, crazy wild fight scenes, and that’s what I loved about the scene with my son. It’s just unexpected, but if you thought Nia Bailey was badass, Ayanda takes it up a whole notch.”
One scene in Night Patrol that offers a breath of fresh air from all the action involves Wazi, Ayanda, and Bornelius trying to plan out their next steps in the midst of all the chaos. It takes a unique cinematic approach by having the camera spin back and forth during this comedic discussion.
Cyleer and Micheaux recalled what it was like to shoot that scene and how that moment stood out to both of them.
“I feel like we got a lot of outtakes from that scene,” Cyler began. “We were rolling that whole time, [Ryan Prows] showed us the first take just to give us a vision of what he was looking for because it was mostly finding the timing [and] making sure that we land the lines on time.”
“It’s not like a regular conversation because we have to wait for a camera switch. It’s much more different, but when we saw it and how funny it was, I feel like it registered in my mind each time how different it would be.”
“It was fun to make this with Ryan because he knew exactly what he was doing,” Cyler praised. “He didn’t trip out on us for having this little laugh bit the actors have late at night.”
Micheaux also recalled her thoughts when filming this particular scene. “The thing for me was I remember that scene, and I remember like, ‘Okay, when am I inhaling the joint? When am I exhaling?’ because you wanted to get it in the timing.”
“You don’t want to have the camera coming when you’re inhaling, but you still want to be in the moment. We did a lot of takes of that one, trying lay in that timing with the camera. I don’t think I’ve ever done a shot like that because it was circular, but then we go back. It’s so different for the movie!”
Watch the full interview with RJ Cyler and Nicki Micheaux:
https://youtu.be/m-UAYErG5Pg
Night Patrol is currently playing in theaters.
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