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Patrick spoke to ComicBook about Mermaid’s unconventional premise, villainous roles, rebooting The X-Files and more time in the DCU.
ComicBook: It’s difficult to pigeonhole Mermaid into one concise tagline. What drew you to the project?
Robert Patrick: Its bizarreness. It was certainly not something I had read before. It was incredibly well-written and just intrigued me with the twists and the turns and the reveals. I thought it was really well done. I thought director Tyler Cornack was an interesting guy. He had a voice. He had also done the score, so all the music were originals he wrote. Visually and musically, it really resonated with me. And the way he wanted to shoot it and tell the story… I don’t know. I just got really in sync with it.
It took me a while to say yes, because I wanted to make sure that I felt like it had a certain class to it… That the project was elevated. But it was during the writer’s strike and the actor’s strike, as well. So, the other thing was there wasn’t a lot going on, but this was one of the things they allowed to be made during that time period. And then to go down to Florida and hang out in St. Pete was intriguing. My character was unabashed and wild and out there. It let me cut loose and go crazy and do stuff that was embarrassing and silly and stupid. That’s fun to do.
In your career, you have portrayed numerous antagonists and villains. What did you want to bring to Ron that made him stand out from your previous roles?
Number one, it was very similar to something I had done before. I had done Striptease with Demi Moore and I had played a guy who was a morphine, drug-addict wheelchair thief. And a redneck in Florida. It was an overlap there. This appealed to me in a more mature, “What if that guy kept living? What would he be like now with a different sort of polish on it and not quite as rednecky?”
Ron, realizing he has the opportunity of a lifetime and trying to convince himself that he can organize and orchestrate this huge auction and sale of this unbelievable find… It’s almost like finding an alien… And capitalizing on that and making that happen. It all falls apart. His son dies. He is so sad about that. There’s drinking and drugs and it was just awful. It was so much fun and it’s just so pathetic. So, there’s some elements of characters that I have done in the past like David Scatino, the gambling addict in The Sopranos, and I could steal from that. I hope people are kind of charmed by my guy. Maybe I am delusional thinking that. There’s a little bit of a charm with this guy, hopefully. It’s all a wink wink, having fun kind of a thing.
As an actor who has been a part of massive productions and blockbusters, what did you enjoy about filming on a smaller scale, on an indie project?
Every time you are working on an actor, you are growing. Every time you work, you are experiencing something. In the different levels of budgets that I have worked in… big movies, big streaming things like Tim Sheridan’s 1923 and Tulsa King and then you do the low budget… It’s all the same and yet, it’s not. In big budget, there’s more time, there’s more this and more that. Lower budget is a little more stressful. You don’t have time. It’s not as comfortable. It’s a little more of gunning and running and you have to be adaptable and amiable to all these different situations.
But I think they all infuse you as an artist and an actor and makes you prepared for more and more different situations as time goes by. It’s a daunting thing, sometimes, to realize you have a big scene coming up with Harrison Ford and you haven’t been working in a while or whatever, and it’s, “Have I got it today?” You have to walk out there and you have to be a gunslinger and go for it. So, the more variety and the more different things that you do as an actor, gives you more confidence for different situations and different things that you are going to have to go through as an artist. That can help prepare you for those unexpected moments.
Mermaid almost feels like an X-Files episode. Ryan Coogler is making noise with his X-Files reboot. Have you been keeping tabs on developments? Would you be up for reprising your role as John Doggett?
Number one, I have never been able to go back to The X-Files since I shot the final episode. I have always been busy whenever they have done a reboot or done a season 10. I wasn’t available. I was doing another show. They have checked my schedule, but not for this production, not the Ryan Coogler one, but in the past they have and it never worked out.
John Doggett is my favorite character I have ever played. I loved being a leading man. I loved that experience. Ryan Coogler… I am a big fan of. I’ve seen Sinners. I loved it. It was fantastic. I am sure he is going to do a masterful job. I don’t really think John Doggett fits in this reboot. I can’t imagine them wanting John Doggett in this reboot. I am excited to see what he does with it and see where he takes it.
Of course, you were in the Peacemaker superhero series. Have you had conversations with James Gunn about more Auggie Smith or about fitting into the DCU in some other capacity?
James Gunn and I are certainly friends. And James Gunn knows how much I respect him as a writer, a director and as the head of DC Studios. He can find me very easily. If there is something he wants to do down the road, I am certainly game. I love James and his wife. They are great people. They are good friends. That could inevitably happen. Who knows? We are all just going to keep doing what we are doing and we will see what happens down the road.
You will probably always be best known as the T-1000 in Terminator 2. But what movie in your filmography do you consider a guilty pleasure?
There are certain movies I am super-proud of. They are both directed by the same guy, James Mangold. He directed me in Copland, and I think what’s a great film. I am super-proud of the work in that movie, and it’s underrated. I also love Walk the Line.
As far as a guilty pleasure, a movie people might enjoy that you can’t take too seriously is Double Dragon. It’s so bad it’s good. I run into people that grew up on that and they love that movie. I am so intrigued because it’s not the best movie in the world. There you go. That’s a guilty pleasure.
The Faculty is another fan-favorite.
It’s a good movie.
We need a sequel. There’s been talks. Your Coach Willis doesn’t die in the original. He could totally be back.
I would love that. There was some talent in that movie. Shawn Hatosy. Josh Hartnett. Jordana Brewster. Elijah Wood. Clea DuVall. Usher. Famke Janssen. Salma Hayek. Jon Stewart. The late, great Piper Laurie. Bebe Neuwirth. I had fun with that one.
Mermaid is set to be released theatrically in the United States on April 8, 2026. Will you see it? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
