Michelle Monaghan Interview: White Lotus Season 3, MaXXXine & Bad Monkey

Dicey Questions I have eight random questions here you pick three numbers and then they correlate with the questions that we start with [Music] great 1 three and seven oh boy 1 three and seven I will remember that first one's a nice softball it's guest star if you could guest star on the TV show of your choice what show would you pick would you play God oh my gosh oh gosh it's so good succession I mean it was just such a I mean I love that show so much the writing all of the actors it they just The Ensemble of that cast and the way that they work together was just speaking of a well-oiled machine that was just gold watching them so that would be fun just to just to play for a second even though it's canceled that's a good one that's a good I can see you on that too yeah it'd be good be really Power Boss or something I like it yeah all right one three three is a good one I really like this one it's rap gifts what is the most memorable rap gift you've ever received or given oh gosh okay so oh that's so that's so good I've got to say that I just received um a really really special rap gift and it was from our set photographer uh for the White Lotus and he's just not just a set photographer he's just an amazing all-around photographer he's um this Italian man who worked on season 2 and that's how Mike knows him of course um but he's been shooting beautiful things fashion and whatnot for many many years and it was a rap gift that he gave all of the actors not just the actors but also um the department heads to the hair and makeup and um you know costume of just printed black and white film um pictures of us in character and behind the scenes and it was just this big beautiful stack and for me that was one of the most beautiful rap gifts Tom Cruz actually did something very similar for Mission movies and it's such a generous and thoughtful gift because there's such um milestones in one's life and to have a record of it that you can just flip to and see it's just it's just a beautiful gift and he took the time in his art to to do that and just a meal lot to I love those kinds of gifts it's I mean it's kind of like an adult yearbook yes it's like an adult yearbook I love that I like looking at my old yearbooks jeez I did too in fact I get it's so cute because I have two kids and their school puts out like even in elementary like a little yearbook and the pride that those my children have in those yearbook they they look at them nightly like and and remember and he wrote this and she wrote that and I'm like oh it's just not a thing that like you did you enjoyed as a as as a as a as a high schooler or something like that which is super special I'm like I'm seeing the pride and the joy that it brings to like the littles as well I love that you just said like an adult yearbook it's totally that it sticks with you too my last trip back East to visit to visit my family we Unearthed my dad's yearbooks oh you're kiding and we're like busy reading all of the M see that's it that's it and you're looking at all the different funny glasses and the hairstyles and you know it's just it's just it's super cool my dad was an athlete he was a pole Bolter and like our brains now can't Comm do that as his children but like there's proof written in the messages you're like Dad that's for sure now I believe it I believe it all right your last one was seven I'm shocked I remembered all three numbers you got a lot of fun questions today this is one of my favorites it's Scream the only question that could be for scream is what's your favorite scary movie ooh oh gosh I I would have to say shining it's just it's just so good all the elements of it I mean he's so scary she's so I'm rest in peace Shelley Deval like how incredible was she and that it's just cinematically it's just everything about it's Introduction perfect what's up everyone welcome back for a new edition of collider ladies night with a returning guest Shanahan you were in ladies night from like the ground level I didn't realize how long ago we taped but you were probably one of the first 10 guests wait are you ser Ser I didn't know that CU it was Messiah was 2019 oh my gosh see I didn't know I I felt like you had been doing the show for like ages like it was a well oiled machine it's kind of a well oiled machine now it's grown a lot over the years and it only grew because people like you believe in start I love I love it Perry and I'm happy to be back on it so thanks for having me once [Music] again what is the movie the performance or personal experience you had that first made you say to yourself I have to Steel Magnolias, A Woman Under the Influence be an actor o gosh okay so I just talked about this recently um Steel Magnolia was like the first movie that I remember watching that really moved me I don't know if it inspired me to be an actor but it's certainly when I reflect upon my career I'm like oh that obviously had some impact on me um because I just remember watching these just these Powerhouse women these actresses uh all of them who I revered at the time um just doing this dramatic but also funny it was heart breakingly funny um this movie it's just stuck with me my whole life anytime I see it I have to watch it uh but I will say that one of the most inspiring films and still to this day I always kind of go back to that is a woman under the influence which is just as we all know it's just one of the best performances one of the best female performances of all time and what a special like I all I have to do is just flip that on and it just makes me proud to be an actor and just you know just want to be more like her oh I love that answer so much now I have some follow-ups from our last chat so one of Trucker the things that you mentioned when we were talking about how you kind of got going as a professional actor is that you said it was more about proving to yourself that you should be doing this so it was making me wonder can you name something that happened early on that you would say prove to you absolutely absolutely without a doubt it was a film called trucker um it was a little independent film and at the time I had been really just doing um I had a couple of I was just coming off of Made of Honor so I done Kiss Kiss Bang Bang um I think I had done Mission um I may have done gone baby gone at that point I'm not for sure but I I just know that I wasn't I wasn't really being um offered like lead lead roles um and certainly lead dramatic roles and I remember I got sent um the script uh by James modern the writer director and it just really struck me it really hit me and I was like this this is what I'm going to do uh and it was the first film I think in really first role that I had the opportunity to really like be fully absorbed in creatively because it was sort of a lead role and I got to um really delve into uh the livelihood and the culture of the trucking world into the female Trucking world and um got my uh driver my trucker driver's license and spent a lot of time with lady truckers and and it was really the first time I really got to put myself in somebody else's shoes and that meant a lot to me and it was such a fulfilling experience personally and professionally and at the end of it I was just so proud of of what we had made and what we created I hadn't even seen the finished product yet but I had already felt so much pride um in the collaboration and um and the creative work and and it did turn out really great I'm proud of that performance so that really was when I went oh wow like I really did the work um and it it paid off and just keep going down this road I love that answer that answer also gives me a lot of hope you are going to ace the very last question we will get there the other Robert Downey Jr. followup I had was you mentioned that early on it was really important for you to you know get validation and encouragement from the people around you whether it was in front of the camera acting with you or people behind the scenes and a specific example you gave me was Richard Gear giving you the thumbs up I was wondering if you had some more because it is just so important in this this industry to to feel welcomed and supported so in addition to that thumbs up who gave you that you know what also Robert Downey Jr I mean he was somebody who again that was my first lead role it was more of a comedy and uh we would have long chats you know this was kind of his first um film back after taking a lot of time off and we were just we had really vulnerable great conversations and he just said you know stay humble work hard like you've got something special and you'll make it but just you know keep doing what you're doing and it was really just kind of simple but you know words of encouragement in any kind of profession or any career they go a long way you know I recently you know you work with um camera people you know you work people with people on the crew and you know they'll just say things like that was a really great scene that really moved me or that was really unexpected and these are people that you spend 15 hours a day with day in and day out and they're the people that see it first you know they're your first audience and they're people that you really bond with and just just that that's a kind note of encouragement it's so positive and um I just think it's important to acknowledge um people because when they do great work whether it's cast or crew because I know how much it it impacts me and and um and how supportive it is to for me as as a performer you are validating my last question so much right now I can't wait to ask it but not just yet the other thing I wanted to Circle background I'm surprised I didn't follow up on this more last time because anytime I talk to Studying Journalism someone and they have a journalism background I get very fascinated by that why did you choose to pursue a degree in journalism and now all these years later is there anything you learned in that program that you find yourself thinking about in these kinds of spaces gosh oh my gosh I love this question so much so it's really interesting because when we go back and we start to think about like our lives and all the different turns and the pivots that we did and why we did them um you know journalism for me was something that was kind of a no-brainer for me my family we loved we talked about current events a lot um in my house we talked about politics and all sorts of things and we always watched the news together we always watch the Nightly News um Tom broa was like my dude um at the time I loved him um Diane Sawyer you know I can just name them and it's interesting when I when I think about What drew me to that I I really was um idealistic I think I still am in a way um and I really kind of wanted to write the wrongs of the world but I also think that coming from a small town that was the closest stream that I think that I maybe felt was I was capable of um of being on TV and I don't know precisely but when I try to like do the math I'm like what led me to like be an actor because you know I think really growing up in a small town of 700 people like you don't even think that's a possibility like becoming an actor right like you're you feel so far removed I never thought for a second like that was something that I wanted to do or pursue and I think because you feel so far removed at that time right um certainly in the in the 90s and the 80s and the 90s growing up and you know maybe it was like the being the broadcaster you know I was like oh that sounds like something I could do that sounds interesting and it felt like within um the realm of how I was raised and what interested me uh so I went to school uh to Columbia College and I and I loved it I loved studying journalism what I didn't love was finding out that I was going to have to go back to small markets in Iowa in the Midwest and essentially become a oneman band and also finding out that it was the lowest paying degree at the time coming out of college and I was like wow I really like I'm digging the city life and I was modeling at the time that's how I was putting myself through school and I went gosh I don't know man I don't know if this is what I'm cracked up to do I had a terrible breakup with a dude as you do and I wanted to move to New York and I moved to New York I dropped out of college and my folks were very supportive and I continued modeling and I this is a very long this is but trust me we get to your second part of the question and I always thought oh gosh I'm gonna go back to college I'm gonna get that degree and I won't feel complete unless I do uh I'm very type like that and I didn't but all of a sudden I started acting right the acting thing started picking up because I started doing commercials off of the modeling and this and that and I'd never formally trained and so I think what happened is one day I was I was actually prepping um my role for Gone Baby Gone for Angie janiro and I realized what I was doing was writing the who what when where why and how and I went oh my gosh it wasn't all for not and I still do that I still utilize those tools that I learned in journalism school um in terms of finding out who my character is I essentially do an investigative piece and I write the story of my character which is the backstory really and so when I realized ized that I was like oh my gosh that's so awesome because number one I don't have to go back to school and finish my degree like I got what I needed from it you know I'm on the right track over here um but it was just such a big it was just like a big old thank you to the universe because it's so it's so I'm such a firm believer and everything happens for a reason and I just went yeah that's cool man I've got that I've got that tool under my belt and so I've just taken it with me I love that so you get some tools from your journalism Acting Techniques degree now I want to talk about some of your acting tools I got a big two-part question for you what is a an acting technique that you have used since day one and still hold tight to today but then can you also tell me a technique you've tried for the first time more recently oh gosh oh gosh that's a really so an acting technique that I have used you know because I'd never formally trained I always just revert it's not the healthiest technique that I can say but you you I just connect from my own personal experience right so um that's something that I can always sort of revert to um but I also and having done that um on a very deep level um throughout my career that can sometimes be great and then sometimes that can be hard to kind of let go of and so I've realized I was like that's not necessarily a healthy thing to do and it also feels like um I've used it I've been there I've done it like I got past that I healed from that I had that experience that was fun that's great that no longer makes me laugh or bring me joy or excite me like you know so um so it's interesting i' I've worked with now various different kinds of acting coaches and I work a lot with like sense memory I create something um over an object in the room and so I can utilize that I can create a whole backstory on an object or a pillow or a piece of clothing um uh or a picture and and I create a whole world about that story between you know somebody else that's in the room and so that's that's really great because it's it's infinite in the way that I can create for that something recently that I've been um playing with in the last year last few projects is using um an animal uh that inspires me and that's something that I used in Bad Monkey uh the character is very um well I used a panther I used a leopard because she's very um she's very Sly she's slightly treacherous she can like pounce she likes she's very unexpected very unpredictable uh and uh she likes to Mark her territory and I like the way cats move they they're just very I don't know they're very fluid um and so I like using animal symbolism a lot in and prepping for for a role or for a character because again that kind of behavior is very specific and and infinite um and so that's been a really fun process and tool that I've used as well excellent examples I can't wait until we dig into your Bad Monkey characters I don't I don't know how you are talking about her in non-spoiler territory my god there are so many layers to feel people don't even know before we get there though one really Aaron Paul & Vince Vaughn big uh broad scene partner question cuz one of the things that I remember most from our last conversation this put puts you on the spot a little but you just remember so many um great scene partners and experiences with them with such specificity and I love that and this is one of my favorite questions can you name a past scene partner who had a very similar approach to the work where the second you met you you were immediately in syn and then I want the opposite though someone who challenged you to adapt and maybe try something new for the better yes okay so Aaron Paul Aaron Paul Aaron Paul Aaron Paul Aaron Paul um I adore I adore him I I fortunately got to work with him well we first met um on Mission Impossible 3 by the way and he played my little brother and many people may not know this so we met on that movie um but then we really got to know each other of course he's one of my best friends now um I adore him through and through as an artist and as a human uh but on the path for 3 years we got to work and he and I are so similar in our process in our work and our um just the way that we we we approach the creative collaboration we're we're really in sync we're kind of two peas in a pod uh we have just a real mutual respect for each other and there's just a real comfort and ease with him uh and we want to find something to do so badly together once again have you seen his black miror episode yes it's so good oh my God they're so good in that whole group is incredible it's incredible it's incredible that's something I'd like to do by the way so let me just putting that out there we manifest things on okay great love it um okay so let me think um I'm Really Gonna think here uh I I want to say I'm gonna say Vince um because Vince Vince Fawn in Bad Monkey and and I say this specifically and I'm sure there's been others that have challenged me along the way but but he is so sharp and he is so fast and it's of course all the reasons that I wanted to work with him right because he is a comedic genius and and I say this because Grant I wanted to go back and revisit my comedic Roots because that's where I started and I was like it's time to go go do that again and who better to do it with than Bill Lawrence but you know getting you know opposite opposite Vince faon like he he he he operates on a whole other level like his brain works really fast and you get the words on the page that bill has written and then all of a sudden he will look at you Vince with like a twinkle in his eye and he'll say let's play and then you're like oh do we have to you know and and then he just he just goes you know and he's just he really you really rise to the occasion you know of what he's bringing to the table which is brilliant and and I'll say that like you meet him there because he carries you there even if you can't even if what you say isn't as funny or clever because he's just that much more clever um he'll make it funny you know he's that kind of scene partner that um you can lean into and so that's definitely a scen partner in recent years that I have felt like I went oh boy this is just wow I don't know I don't know if I'm up here I don't know if I'm up here but thank you for you know taking me under your wing and and pushing me and and I think we have great scenes we have great we have great chemistry and it was really really fun and um I love I love working with him Ken confirm you have many a great scene in this show I have two more pit stops to hit before we get to Bad Monkey the MaXXXine first one I love this because since Max scene has hit theaters I kept this question and I keep asking it over and over cuz I kind of love it so you know this in the movie Elizabeth dicki plays a director and at one point in the movie she says that if this movie I'm making takes off it'll let it will allow me to have a more meaningful voice in Hollywood so for you when you first started out what did it mean to you to have a meaningful voice in Hollywood and how has the definition changed since W oh my God what a great I'm not letting go with that question for God what a great question what a great question gosh that is a really great question what does it mean what does it meant to me to have a meaningful voice in Hollywood I mean honestly just you just sitting here and you asking me that question makes me feel meaningful makes me feel like I've I've done so much self-reflection on my career it's not lost on me like I've I've been doing this somebody told me today 25 years and I I was I keep telling myself it's 20 years but no we're we're going on 25 years I can hardly believe that I've I've had a voice in this industry for that long right and and getting to explore all the different things the projects and working with all the incredible talent that I have that is so meaningful for me just to still be able to sit here in front of you after 2019 that's like how many years it's five years later I'm we're still talking could not believe it when I looked that up we're still either could I it's crazy we're still talking to each other that means so that means so much to me you know to have navigated this industry but also to have um a family that I love and adore um that I feel been just as successful at um that's meaningful to me it's very very meaningful um so I think I think if that answers your question AB yeah that's that's special I think that's a beautiful answer now I'm veering in a complete different direction because I'm so glad we're talking by the way and how great is Tai West for writing that line by the way like talk about a franchise I just have to so as a filmmaker I made qualms about like telling him how much I wanted to be a part of you know that that that movie that the final the final installment I was like dude I love I love your female empowerment I love everything that you you're doing like I just want you to know you you know you you'll make your choice but I just I'm here I want to do it I nothing would make me more excited um and he just doesn't disappoint like he just writes I I just he's just here for the woman and I love it he's brilliant BR like I think you see it in that particular Trilogy given how he captures a different era of Cinema in each one but then if you look at his entire filmography he always has like a foot in genre but every single movie he's made feels so wildly different yes his his one of his first movies was my first junk it ever I was the devil oh you're kidding wow okay so you guys have that years ago many years ago now he's rad I can't wait to see all the cool things he does so I have to ask you a big uh Maxine spoiler question okay please tell me what you thought of your character's exit from the movie and do you think she rolls down the hill and dies or does she get up and she's like living somewhere else but without an eye that is so funny I was so excited for that death scene I I can't tell you you said death scene I did she's dead I think she's dead I think she live by horror movie rues R so you don't see someone dead dead dead I love that rle they could be walking around out there I love that okay she's like she's a little lopsided for sure CU her equilibrium is off um I love that death scene because he's so known for his amazing death scenes and I was like oh my God I went out at the Hollywood Sign like how meaningful is that like love that I mean it's just it was so cool uh I loved it I it was so and with with the crucifix um you know no less it was he was Super Rad and yes I think I think she's dead but gosh if she wants to come back in some way shape or form with one eye I think that's awesome too you would be so badass as a detective with an [Applause] iPad that's pretty sexy I'm into that I think the possibilities are endless with him so I believe all right I might just have to text Ty after this again we manifest things here I am all for it all right before I get to uh Bad Monkey I The White Lotus Season 3 have one more thing to hit yes probably know what this is the White Lotus everyone's very excited that you're in this show I will start with the question that is rather blunt that you probably can't answer so I'll just get it out of the way now are you able to tell me anything about your character in the show I can yes I a feeling so here's something you might be able to answer so given how decorated that show is I imagine you go into it with certain expectations can you name an expectation that the production proc process has met but then also something about shooting White Lotus that has surprised you yes okay so I I didn't expect to like Mike White to be as much of a unicorn as he is but he's a True Unicorn uh he's such a special he's such a special talent first of all he's an actor first and formost I mean I like him from Chuck and buck days I've wanted I've wanted to work with him for such a long time so this was truly a dream come true getting to be a part of this of the show this season specifically um it's such a fun juicy character they all are nobody like you know what I mean everybody everybody has their moments you know it's so special and that's just what Mike does brilliantly but he's an actor first and foremost and then he's the writer and he's the director and he's there every single day from the beginning to end he directs every single scene I don't know how he does it his stamina is incredible and and he just does it with a smile on his face the whole time like he he really does he brings so much energy to the set um that I didn't expect that I've never seen that the only other person that I've seen do that is krie fukunaga on True Detective you know he directed he wrote every single he directed every single scene that was a beast of a of a of a season um and so so is White Lotus I mean it is it is Big we do so much the scope of season 3 is is is bigger than season 1 and season 2 the cast is bigger as a result um it's really it's really special and what is the thing that I didn't I didn't know that we would Bond so so much you know I didn't have the I didn't have the you you you can't possibly I can't possibly articulate it and I've the cast and I have spoken about it a lot um but you know we're we're living together we're working together we are really all under the same roof together I mean we're in Resorts they buyouts they we're having breakfast lunch and dinner together it is like camp and it's a really it's a really bonding experience you go through six months of people's personal and professional lives together and you're inevitably bonded for life and this is such a singular unique experience that I I don't know if I'll ever have anything like it again in a foreign country it has been one of the most beautiful bubbles I've ever been able to be a part of and I'm so grateful for I'm so grateful for the experience I'll preface this next question by saying everyone in that Ensemble is exceptional can you name one person who just so far exceeded your expectations where you're so excited for people to see their work oh oh oh gosh oh gosh well I'll just say I mean Parker posie Parker posie I can also she is the queen she's the queen of our lives like all of our Indie dream she does not disappoint I got to live with Parker posie so I have such a soft spot for that woman she's so ethereal and yet grounded and eccentric and so talented like it's mind-blowing how talented she is but she's also just the most amazing female empowered like just supporter and C like and everything oh isn't that a gas isn't that a gas Michelle and I just I just sit back and listen to her I just you just just take the floor we're we're gonna have breakfast here but I'm not going to say a word I just want to listen to you waxon about the world she's amazing she's amazing her audio book is amazing what is her audio book so I like I never read I listen to audio books but the most brilliant thing is she narrates her her own and hearing her book and her voice is a MAG wait okay how do I not I don't even know about this the title is escaping me right now but I'll give it to you it's literally downloaded on my phone it's C okay that's crazy so good Bad Monkey so good all right Bad Monkey now and I feel like I need to preface this part of the conversation by saying we're going to talk only non-spoiler stuff right now I just need people to know how many layers and how delicious your performance is while exploring all those layers are so surface level right now but there's so much more for people to explore thank you when this opportunity came your way what was it about it that made you think this is what I need right now as an actor evolving my craft thank you so much I was just wrapping up Echo uh on Netflix and that was just such an intense um artistic Endeavor and I remember being in the middle of that process thinking I'm going to do a comedy next I am absolutely doing nothing but a comedy I'm manifesting it like that's what's going to happen and sure enough a couple of months later uh Bill Lawrence called and he offered me Bad Monkey and I just knew without question I didn't have to read it I was I was going to do it I mean who I was it's Bill Lawrence right and uh I Read Bad Monkey and I mean within the first five pages I knew I still hadn't even got to Bonnie yet and I just knew I was going to I was going to it was unlike anything I'd ever read I wasn't familiar with Carl H and and and Bad Monkey being a cult favorite of Novel um but it was such a unique world that Bill had adapted from the book and it was so original and fun and Noir and it reminded me a lot of elements of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and I was like the these are the roots that I want to get back to it's where I started my career career and so I was just so excited uh about the show in general and then when I got to Bonnie I was like ooh she's an enigma this one is like she's super complicated and fun and I just got really excited because I saw a really big challenge for myself there and something that I hadn't explored before and so I was really excited to to get to do that character specifically with Bill and specifically with v okay so these these next questions are where I get a little dangerous so hopefully you can tip around spoilers so one thing that caught my eye in our press notes that you kind of just said right now too Bonnie has been one of the most amusing characters I've ever had to play because tonally she's all over the place when you're playing a character who's all over the place do you have to come up with like like an anchor of sorts so that no matter what she's doing what decision she makes it's always based in some sort of consistent truth yes oh gosh wow that's such a great question yes and I I she was all over the place and I I actually had really um sincere fears about that because I was like wow how am I going to make all of these kinds of quick changes and and things like that and I knew I was in good hands with Bill because that's what pill what Bill does the best right historically with all of his shows all of his characters and he gives you material that is like satirical and um sarcastic but also it's vulnerable and relatable and um and very intimate as well and so I just knew if this woman knowing what we know about this woman that she was just really honestly kind of lost and she knew herself there were a lot of layers and that she was just really um trying to find her own identity and kind of going on this this um this um this journey um and unfortunately taking you know a lot of victims in the Wake um but I think it was I think it was just knowing that was the Baseline is always wanting to keep the character grounded in some in some way and that was something that bill and I worked um really hard at and we spoke at length at because she is a woman as we find out is on the Run from the law um from a very um we'll just say uh a salacious crime and and we wanted to take that seriously um but at the same time we also wanted to keep her um entertaining and fun and and yet we wanted to hold her accountable in her own Bonnie like way okay so I'm going to put this one bluntly I'm curious to see how you answer it for anyone out there who getss the slightest Taste of Bonnie at the very beginning and wants to know where she's going to go what would you tell them is I guess her her biggest want what what is she looking for the most at the beginning of the show ooh she's looking gosh that's really she's really playful she's really she's really playful um and you see a very confident uh surface level you see a really confident sexy uh playful woman and then you soon discover she's holding on to a lot of Secrets and and that's what I started to love you know as I delved into the into the role and you start to peel back the layers one by one she's quite um she's Sly she's treacherous um she's predatory um and she likes to Mark her territory and she's very unpredictable and so and she gets more and more unpredictable uh and so she likes to she likes to kind of be in control of things and she likes to maintain her her mystique and then you know her Mystique gets blown you were ready for this you didn't spoil a thing that was that was a really full and accurate description I What Is Michelle Proud Of? like that all right we have hit the end of ladies night so this is the final question that this been 40 minutes um we've been ending on this question for like about the past year and I love it I always warn people that nobody likes to answer this question but given some of the things you said I feel like it'll be right up your Alle I love how in this industry we give each other Awards I think we should keep doing that but I'm also a big believer nobody says good job to themselves e enough so I want to know something you did in Bad Monkey that you know you'll be able to look back on and say I am so proud of what I did there oh wow that's such a good question to ask people I am really proud um I'm proud of I'm proud of um the chemistry that Vince and I have in the show for me it was really rewarding and it really ticked a box for something that um I hadn't um been exploring for a long time I've I I generally we'll have chemistry with with co-stars male or female um but for me with comedic chemistry for me is what what was um what I was what I was really proud of um it was something that I hadn't done for quite some time the comedy and it was challenging to kind of um find my groove with that initially I was a little bit feeling a little daunted to do it and um it it went really well and I had a really fun time and then um the other thing that I just personally got to do and professionally do in the in the series was um I got to swim with a manatee I was gonna I almost asked if the manatee was real but then I'm like you're look stupid if the manate was bfx it's real and most people at this stage would imagine that it's CGI but like well I wonder real it was real and that was something I'm not necessarily that comfortable in water I I love stunts I love doing a lot of things but I'm not a big swimmer and it was one of those things where they were like are you comfortable in the water can you swim with a manatee I was like sure and then like I Googled like what is a manatee you know I mean like to be honest I mean for real I was like what is a manity and I see this thing and it's like a very prehistoric looking creature they're also referred to as sea cows which makes sense because they are like the size of a cow a size of of a small couch and it was one of those things that like we're going to take a road trip to Crystal River this very like small little town in uh Florida where you can find uh a manatee and then we're just going to all we got the cameras we're going to dive in there and we're going to hope that we can find a manate and then we're going to hope that we can find a manate that like wants to hang out and sure enough we found the most playful manity we swam with this creature for an hour it was so beautiful it was so humbling and thrilling and it was was one of those um it was just it was just such an amazing Venture it was towards the end of the film and there was only about 20 of us from the crew that were there and we just took a bus and it was just so much fun and uh and my kids think I'm really cool that I swam my son in particular thinks it's really cool that I that I swam with a a manate and so I'm really proud that I did that I over kind of I overcame a fear I managed to hold my breath I didn't drown I didn't drown the cameraman and um I didn't freak out so I'm proud of that as well you should be proud and the end have you seen that episode the end results are beautiful no I haven't seen it I actually haven't seen it I'm texting bill after this and I'm gonna say you have to send me all the episodes I've only seen the first four to be honest so wait oh just wait I know I'm excited I have to let you go I'm going to say huge huge huge congratulations on everything you've accomplished on Bad Monkey and everything coming your way in the future thank you probably goes without saying the ladies night door is open anytime thank you so much thank you this is so much fun I love talking with you [Music]