'Bad Monkey' is 'Miami girl' approved from Vince Vaughn's costar Natalie Martinez
"I love their commitment to figuring out the culture and sound and tone that Miami has," Martinez said
Starring Vince Vaughn, Natalie Martinez, Meredith Hagner, Jodie Turner-Smith, Ronald Peet and Michelle Monaghan, Bill Lawrence's new Apple TV+ series Bad Monkey is a mystery comedy set in South Florida. For Martinez, a self-proclaimed "Miami girl," the series succeeded in being "authentic" to its locale.
"This show definitely represented Miami in a lot of ways," Martinez told Yahoo Canada. "I felt like everyone really leaned into the way we talk and the way we are, and how we do things."
"I love their commitment to figuring out the culture and sound and tone that Miami has. It really did show our beautiful scenery. We have such a beautiful skyline and beautiful beaches, the Keys are just so unique. ... We got to speak in our kind of Miami lingo and our Miami accent, and the way that Hispanic, especially Cuban families are with the mothers and the daughters and the dads."
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What is 'Bad Monkey' about?
Vaughn plays Andrew Yancy, a cop with the Miami Police Department who has been demoted to a health inspector in the Florida Keys, after he assaulted the husband of his girlfriend Bonnie Witt (Michelle Monaghan). But when a severed arm is pulled out of the water by fishermen, Yancy sees his path to getting reinstated by following the investigation. Coroner Rosa Campesino (Martinez) gets wrapped up in the severed arm case, specifically Yancy's fascination with it, and joins in on the journey.
"What she has to deal with on a daily basis could be a little kind of gruesome sometimes and heartbreaking, and just hard," Martinez said. "So I think she's trying to find what it is that she really wants, and just try to find a different motivation in life."
"Yancy comes around with this arm and this case that seems so thrilling and exciting, and she's so curious. And it's her opportunity to figure something else out and jump outside of her comfort zone."
While that part of the story proceeds, we also go to an island in the Bahamas. Neville Stafford (Peet) and his monkey Driggs, described as a trained monkey left from the last "Johnny Depp pirate movie," seek out the Dragon Queen (Turner-Smith) in an attempt to stop U.S. developers from bulldozing his home.
As you can expect, there's a connection between Yancy and Neville's stories.
'It becomes this tennis match while we're shooting'
In typical Lawrence fashion, who was also showrunner on Ted Lasso, Scrubs and Shrinking, Bad Monkey blends comedy and darker, more emotional moments with ease and, as Martinez described, that's what makes his work so effective.
"I think what makes him successful ... is finding how to balance the comedy perspective of things in your everyday life or in dramatic situations," Martinez said. "I feel we've all kind of hit a place in our lives at one point or another where ... you just got to laugh sometimes."
"I think that's one of the fun things about this show, is that it is like a murder mystery, but you also have drama and comedy, and you have some suspense and these twists and turns, and you have some emotional scenes as well. And I think everyone does such a great job at really playing true to what's happening and finding the humour in that, which gives it a really great tone and balance."
Along with Vaughn, the Bad Monkey cast also includes Scrubs star Zach Braff and Saturday Night Live alum Alex Moffat, with the actors given the space to improvise while filming the series.
"I think one of the best things about this and shooting this job was the fact that we were able to improv," Martinez said. "Bill Lawrence really created this safe environment for us to lean into our characters, bring whatever we thought was authentic to them."
"Working with Vince, he riffs so much. I mean, you start with this great script, but then you're given freedom to kind of improvise and if he's improvising, I've got to meet him. ... So it becomes this tennis match while we're shooting. It's always great to get laughs behind the scenes."
Aside from all the laughs, stepping into the shoes of a coroner for Bad Monkey has given Martinez a particular appreciation for professionals in that field.
"I have a lot of respect for coroners and medical examiners," Martinez said. "They deal with a lot, they have a heavy job."
"But I think they also have a very crucial and important job. I mean, without them we wouldn't really know what happens to a lot of people, and it brings families closer, it brings closure to a case."
