The Big Picture

Collider’s Steve Weintraub talks to Natalie Martinez about her experience shooting
Bad Monkey
.
Martinez recommends watching
End of Watch
, praises Vince Vaughn’s comedy skills and reveals she was pregnant while filming.
Growing up in Miami influenced Martinez’s approach to her character and wardrobe, and also connected her to the series’ environmental message.

A detached limb, a desperate health inspector and a meddling monkey — this is the bizarre grocery list that cooks up the outrageously hilarious and occasionally dark series Bad Monkey. Set in sunny and humid Florida, the show follows police officer-turned-health-inspector Andrew Yancy (Vince Vaughn), who grasps at his former glory by attempting to solve a murder.

Natalie Martinez joins him as medical examiner Rosa Campesino, as they both get pulled into the world of corruption that impacts the surrounding environment. They are also accompanied by the following ensemble: Michelle Monaghan (The Family Plan), L. Scott Caldwell (The Fugitive), Rob Delaney (Deadpool 2), Meredith Hagner (Search Party), Alex Moffat (Saturday Night Live), Ronald Peet (First Reformed), and Jodie Turner-Smith (After Yang).

In this interview, Collider’s Steve Weintraub speaks to Martinez about her experience on set, where she dives into working alongside the comedic Vaughn, being able to collaborate with wardrobe choices, and how growing up in Miami impacted what she brought to her character. Martinez also reveals that she was pregnant on set and also praises the subtle environmental commentary in the series. Hear about her experience on Bad Monkey in the video above, or you have the option to also read the transcript below.

Bad Monkey After getting bounced from the Miami PD, a former detective is demoted to restaurant inspector in the Florida Keys. An unusual new case might get him back in the department if he can get past a trove of oddballs, and one bad monkey.Release Date August 13, 2024 Seasons 1

COLLIDER: You’ve done a lot of stuff in your career. Besides Bad Monkey, if someone’s never seen anything that you’ve done before, what is the first thing you’d like them to watch and why?

NATALIE MARTINEZ: I have a close tie. It’s a little bit between Kingdom and End of Watch. A little bit between those two. I would say End of Watch. Even though I don’t have that big of a role, I find it’s such a great film and it was a fun one. It’s a special one in my heart.

I did a set visit on that film and hung out all night in South Central with Jake [Gyllenhaal], Mike [Michael Peña], and David [Harbour] and watched them. It was pretty crazy. That was a guerrilla shoot.

MARTINEZ: That’s why it’s probably one of my favorites.

Vince Vaughn Is “His Own Genre”
“It was an honor to be a scene partner with him.”
Image via Apple TV
 

I’m watching you and Vince together and I swear half the shit he says he’s just making up. That’s what it feels like to me because I’m looking at your face, and you are genuinely laughing, as well as other people in the scenes. People are laughing for real. What is it like working with Vince because he is legitimately very, very funny?

MARTINEZ: He’s brilliant. The way that that man’s mind works, I’m in awe of him all the time. It was great working with Vince Vaughn and seeing him create these moments out of, I wouldn’t say nowhere because we had such a great script written by Bill Lawrence, but whatever he brought just elevated it. That’s one of the things Bill was super excited about, as well. They made a really good marriage because they would ping-pong each other. We would be on set and Vince would be going off, and then you’d hear somebody screaming something from the back to add in, and he just adds it right in. Doesn’t skip a beat. It was definitely a fun experience because I haven’t really done comedies like that before, [so] to be in this environment where there’s this free flow of creativity coming out, it felt very liberating.

It’s also Vince’s delivery. The way he delivers lines is like, “How are you doing this?”

MARTINEZ: He definitely brings that Vince Vaughn to the character. I feel like he’s his own genre. He has such a cult following. He’s such a creative man that he sees things and just calls it for what it is, and he’s so witty and so quick. It was an honor to be a scene partner with him.

Anything You Can Do, Natalie Martinez Can Do Pregnant
“That was definitely very interesting to manage.”
Image via Warner Bros

You see the shooting schedule in front of you. What day do you have circled in terms of, “I cannot wait to film this,” and is there a day circled where you’re thinking, “How the F are we gonna film this?”

MARTINEZ: I was excited every day to shoot. I can’t really pinpoint one day or another. We had such a lovely crew. Being in Miami, my hometown, I got to be in different locations that brought memories to me because I grew up in Miami. With that and having such an amazing ensemble cast, I was just excited every day. It was a different journey. It was a different experience. The whole shoot was just a really good time. We just laughed and — I’ll say it again — had a great time.

Were there any unique challenges for you making this show that were different than some of the other things you’ve worked on?

MARTINEZ: There was definitely a very unique challenge in shooting Bad Monkey that I had never experienced in any show: I was pregnant. That was definitely very interesting to manage. [On top of] the humidity and to be able to be at this fast pace, and we had some action scenes. That was probably one of the biggest things.

I had no idea.

MARTINEZ: [Laughs] Nobody did.

Wow.

‘Bad Monkey’ Allowed Natalie Martinez to Bring Authenticity

One of the other things I always think when I speak to actors is the importance of the costumes you’re wearing in bringing your character to life. Can you talk a little bit about working with your costume designer, Heidi [Higginbotham], in terms of what you were wearing and how you maybe collaborated to make yourself feel comfortable?

MARTINEZ: It was such a collaborative thing with wardrobe. One of the biggest things that I loved about this [series] is how amazing the environment was, that it was safe to collaborate, and [you were] actually encouraged to bring your own thing to the characters. Being from Miami, Cuban-American born and raised, I have a little bit of a sense of, “This is who I am.” I got to wear the gold jewelry that I normally like. I have little charms on my necklace that are very common for my culture and where I’m from; I got to add that in. [Rosa] always had her necklaces and her bracelets. We also got to bring a lot of dialogue into it. I had my hair curly and natural because there’s no other way to be in Miami because of the humidity. There was definitely a very collaborative effort to things. Being from there, I was able to kind of make her really her authentic self.

Miami is brutal every time I’ve been there in terms of the heat and humidity. I don’t think people realize it.

MARTINEZ: It’s pretty unique.

‘Bad Monkey’ Drops “Knowledge Bombs” About Conservation

One of the other things I really liked about the show is that there’s a conservation message in the show without it ever being preachy, about the red lights and talking about nature. Can you touch on that a little bit because I really responded to that?

MARTINEZ: I thought it was a beautiful thing. The whole tone of the show, you can even see when Yancy is talking, there’s always some kind of little truth or knowledge bomb — some little wisdom thrown in there, whether [it is] being happy or releasing anger or letting things go. You also have the conservative side of the turtles. A lot of people don’t realize that. The majority of South Florida was in the Everglades, so we have a lot of natural things that we need to take care of there. We have crab seasons; we have lobster seasons; we have our Key deer; we have turtles as well. It’s such a beautiful thing growing up. We would go to the beach for the hatching, watching them and helping them get to the ocean. It’s just a part of who we are as Miami and South Floridians. You got to take care of your land. It’s where you live. I thought it was very beautiful the wisdom bombs that they would throw and what you get out of that. I hope this is one of those shows that people not only have a good time watching but also learn a little bit about themselves, too.

The first two episodes of Bad Monkey are available to stream on Apple TV+ with subsequent episodes dropping every Wednesday.

Watch on Apple TV