Peacemaker’s Robert Patrick on Being Willing to Embarrass Himself in New Horror Comedy Mermaid

News Senior Editor Brandon Schreur spoke to Mermaid star Robert Patrick about the new bizarre horror comedy movie. Patrick discussed reacting to seeing the titular mermaid for the first time, getting into character for some of the movie’s more bizarre and intense scenes, and more.

“A drug addicted Florida man finds a wounded mermaid at his lowest point. When word spreads about his secret, he’ll stop at nothing to protect her,” the official synopsis reads.

Mermaid will be released in select theaters in the United States on April 8, 2026, from Utopia.

Brandon Schreur: I’m so excited to talk to you about Mermaid. Before I ask you anything, I just wanted to say congratulations on the movie. I watched it earlier this week, and I loved it. It was so exactly my kind of thing.

Robert Patrick: Oh, thanks, man. I had a lot of fun with it. Ron Bocca is kind of a really out there guy. It kind of unleashes you as an actor — unabashed and very extreme. Crazy, crazy mindset to get into. It was a lot of fun to do. The movie really intrigued me, and the script really intrigued me. It was such a different take on a classic story about mermaids. You know the story, you’ve seen it, you’ve seen the movie; it has a really distinct look. I think Tyler Cornack did a really good job with it.

The music was the thing that really hooked me. When I read the script, and I heard the score, because he scored it.

Definitely. I can say I’ve never really seen anything like this one before; it was truly a unique movie, and I didn’t really know where it was taking me. But I loved the journey. I had so much fun with it.

And they say there are no new ideas coming out of Hollywood. Come on!

This is definitely a new one.

Absolutely. This is not your average movie. It’s very extreme. And it’s a lot of fun.

Oh, yeah. I want to ask how it was that you first got involved with this project. What’s the story of how you got cast in such a weird movie that blends horror and comedy so well, and what made you the most excited to join Mermaid?

It was during the writers’ strike and the actors’ strike. So there wasn’t a lot going on. There weren’t a lot of things being done. This one crossed my desk. I looked at it, and looked at the offer. I checked out the director. As I said, I listened to the score — I listened to the score as I was reading the script. And I said, ‘This is a really novel idea. This is something I haven’t been cast in in a while.’ I get to kind of have a lot of fun and take the piss out of myself, if you don’t mind me saying that. I get to make fun of myself and have an embarrassingly great time on film. I thought, ‘What the hell, let’s do it.’

I love it. As you alluded to, Ron is such an interesting guy. I’ve seen you play villains all the time in the past, but Ron seems different. On the one hand, he’s so unhinged and unpredictable with all the drugs he’s doing and all that kind of stuff. At the same time, he’s not incompetent. He meets this mermaid and almost immediately comes up with a plan for what to do with her. I thought it was a really interesting take.

Yeah, exactly what you just said. That’s what hooked me. Here’s a guy who sees this, and he sees it as a business opportunity. He fancies himself as a businessman, an auteur, and an entrepreneur. He sees it as an opportunity to make a lot of money, so he organizes a big auction and reveals this thing. All of the platitudes he’s putting on, he really fancies himself as a P. T. Barnum Bailey kind of guy. ‘Wow! Here she is!’ He reveals this, and it’s pretty remarkable.

At the core of who this guy is, he’s a low-level drug dealer. So, you know, between him and his son, Gator, who wrestles gators — he’s running around with that neck collar the whole time. Unfortunately, there was a scene that’s not in the movie because they lost the damn — independent filmmaker — they lost the damn film that we shot. But there was a great scene that we shot where we’re elated when we find the mermaid in the bathtub, and we realize this is our golden ticket. Those two guys together, Gator and his dad. Piece of work.

Yeah, definitely. The action scene that you mentioned, I have to imagine that was so much fun to film. It’s such a larger-than-life moment when you’re talking to all these guys. As you said, it’s P.T. Barnum, just, ‘Look what I’ve got!’ I thought that was so cool.

Yeah, it’s like revealing a freak at the circus. That was the first scene I shot. I showed up, I met Tyler, and I met the producers. I’m sitting outside the hotel, right next to the other hotel where we shot that indoor aquarium scene where the mermaid gets plopped into the tank and revealed. That was my first day. I was very, very prepared. We were able to shoot it — we got it shot in a half-day. They actually were able to call in some other actors and film the rest of the day with some other stuff. So it went really, really well, and it went quickly. Yeah, it was a great deal of fun to do that right off the bat. It set the tone for me after that.

I bet. That leads into my next question, too, because the titular mermaid in here; I thought the creature design looked so cool but also off-putting. The fact that a love story is what emerges in this movie is bizarre and bonkers, but you’ve got a real person, Avery Potemri, under all the make-up and effects for this mermaid. Do you remember your reaction when you saw it for the first time?

I try not to see it too much — I really wanted to react to it when we see it for the first time in the movie. But I realized there was an actress in there. It is grotesque; it’s a monster, basically. It’s not your Disney mermaid. It’s not Daryl Hannah. It’s a horrific thing to see.

But it was very fish-like and a real mutant kind of thing to see. It was horrific, with sharp teeth. The fact that Johnny Pemberton’s character kind of falls for this thing in a loving and tender way just shows you out of his head he is, and what a mental crisis he’s going through. He’s longing for something he’s missing in his life. It’s so sad and pathetic and sweet all at the same time. It’s really a charming kind of love story.

Definitely. I know you weren’t in the scene, but the part where he brings it to the birthday, my jaw was on the floor. Couldn’t believe what I was seeing there.

Oh, I know, it’s hysterical. It’s hysterical once you know what’s going on, and then you see how he’s covering up for it and actually bringing it to his daughter’s birthday party. The one time he had sex, he had a daughter. I mean, he’s just such a pathetic character. And everyone’s reaction — Kevin Nealon, the gal who plays his wife as well. Reacting to this ‘Who is your new friend?’ and what happens with the kids. It’s just hysterical.

It really is. Towards the end of this movie, I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone, but there’s a part when you’re on a boat with Doug. Your character is in a really low place and making some really bad decisions while doing way too much drugs and alcohol. Filming a moment like that, is that difficult? Do you have to take a little bit to step back and get into character? Or are you able to just snap into it even when it’s a moment where Ron is so deranged and scary?

That was the toughest scene to do, and the most fun. I mean, there are a lot of things you’re working with. You’ve got the script; you’ve got the text. Then you’ve got to get into the state of mind this guy is in. It’s altered because it’s drug-induced and alcohol-induced. It is hard. You’ve got to be uninhibited, free to embarrass yourself, and willing to try different things on tape. It’s a tough thing. You don’t want to play like you’re drunk, but you’ve got to be — it’s hard.

Tyler and I were pushing ourselves and really trying to do it. He eventually has to lull himself into a place where he can barely even stand up, and Johnny can get the upper hand on him. It’s exhausting. And challenging. But, certainly, fun to get outside yourself and get into that in the moment. It’s embarrassing, it’s ridiculous. You’ve got to let yourself go and go with it, you know what I mean? Technically, you’ve also got to be able to do the story points that you’ve got to do, so you’ve got to do the dialogue. There’s a lot going on there.

But every time you work, and every opportunity you get, it’s enriching you as an actor. The more you’re letting yourself go into these extremes, it’s setting you up for your next job, whatever that may be. I don’t know how to word that other than that. Any opportunity you get to work in small movies, it prepares you for the work you’re going to do in big movies.

I had done something similar to this, so it was sort of in the realm of something I’d done before. I’d done Strip Tease with Demi Moore, Ving Rhames, and Burt Reynolds, and I had scenes where I played a drunken, redneck guy from Florida before. So there was an overlap, there, that made it kind of comfortable in the sense that I had been in territory like this before. I had that to kind of base it on.

Thanks to Robert Patrick for taking the time to discuss Mermaid.