BAD MONKEY Cast Interview! Zach Braff Reflects on GARDEN STATE! Meredith Hagner, Natalie Martinez

Zach Hi how are you today he how you doing good good congratulations to you on this series I just finished it this morning so I don't want to get into too many spoilers but it really takes a turn for your character Izzy here but congratulations to you first of all thank you so much it was such a fun thing to be a part of and you're right it's kind of hard to talk about my character without too many spoilers but I love that you reunited with Bill again after scrubs and working in gorgeous Florida Keys Miami like the production looked Absol absolutely incredible but what was the best thing about working with him again here well I'm also directing shrinking um so you know Bill and I just have a great relationship both when I'm in front of and behind the camera we just have a really the same sensibility and um so it was just cool it's cool to be a part of something this big you know it is this is different for bill so it's kind of fun to watch him um stretch out and do something you know a big action comedy mystery set in Florida um it was really fun to watch him take his skill set and and expand it to something of this scope I love Garden State I have to say I love Garden State and I love all of the throwback photos that you've been posting on your Instagram he's my night and shining armor it's like that's like my quote I say like all the time and I love that it's the 20th anniversary I watch it every single year what are me of course you're welcome what are your favorite memories of just working on that film I have so many memories you know it's 20 years so I've been going down the RAB Abit hole with um Nostalgia and then I found this old there was a behind the scenes video uh that must have been on the DVD I had totally forgotten about it but I've been posting a couple Clips on my Instagram from that as well because I had forgot there's this really sweet you know half hour behind the scenes of the making of the movie video uh you should check out it's on YouTube but um yeah it was one of one of the one of the high points of my life and um I just never imagined that it would still be resonating you know just seems like every year a new a new crop of of of 20s somethings find the movie and it resonates with them and and I I'm just so grateful that I that it's had that impact please still tell me you have the wallpaper shirt I don't I think I think I once uh sold it oh sold it but donated it to a charity I wish I had it but uh but I think it it made some money for charity so it's for the best z i and I also love Kieran nightly and Pride and Prejudice like you do I can see I love Kier nightly too and I appreciate than Charlotte and meridi the two of you look gorgeous how are you today excuse look what is happening here hi Lauren oh my God Charlotte you're amazing congratulations to the two of you on this series I actually just finished it this morning I'm so excited for audiences to see it so did you like it I absolutely loved it we haven't seen it we haven't seen it we've always seen a c we've seen like a few episodes but thank you so much for watching it yes yes well the Sterling women are a little bit you know unhinged they're very very complicated women but it has to be so much fun stepping into a role like Eve who is a very very interesting woman but I'm interesting for the two of you as actors do you create like a character Bible or a diary or a playlist for your character to kind of get into the mind as actors Meredith what did you do here for Eve I love that question I oh man it's so embarrassing to be the actor who's like I do clage but like I get I get ner I get nerdy I didn't do a CL on this but I yeah I have playlists I have songs that would hype me up I'm really specific about I sound so annoying but I'm specific about shoes like I have to feel like Eve had to always be wearing a certain type of heel so I felt like I walked like her I have I have my weird My Weird actory things I love that though the heels that she wears in the final episode they're they're they're important mentioned that I don't know I don't remember what but I love it appar they're amazing somebody else was like I need those heels dude totally I actually really liked Eve's wardrobe by the way so I but Charlotte what about for you do you create like a playlist or a diary to get into the mind of your characters well this is the you know what as a master of the craft because I've worked so much and I know so much about acting I do everything I go method and I eat sleep and breathe Caitlyn and repeat I don't know I didn't I am so to this my first J thank you I've never um I've never done this before so I'm still learning and I bet that the more I hopefully work um the more you know tools I'll put in my tool belt of how to prepare properly but I think my nerves took over with this and I would literally just read the script 7,000 million times to the point that I had stage Direction and every other cast member's lines memorized and would just look in the mirror and do it and practice and practice and practice and practice so that on the day of I could just let everything go and feel Caitlyn and be Caitlyn and love Caitlyn so that was kind of my process it's probably a really one but no aming job thank you absolutely there's literally nothing wrong with diving into the script and immersing yourself in it completely and I love that you did that well last question for the two of you the production and just filming in Miami and the keys looked absolutely incredible and it is a huge part of the series obviously your characters aren't really getting along in the show but what did the two of you do for fun in between filming in Florida great question I think each other in real each other we don't like each other did not hang out at all hat each other never talked we I think it's cuz we're the same age yeah so we had a Competitive Edge we had so much fun we we went out salsa dancing one night remember oh my God didn't I forget my ID you did and I'm fully in my 30 and they would let her drink I remember was God bless you he was like I can't let you and I was like thank you so much I don't want to I was like I I just don't have an ID I can't I'm not allowed to come in we did we went out dancing feel good when you're in your 30s though I will honestly the guy was like it's standard it has nothing to do with you and I was like well I love you anyway we had so much fun how I feel that's how I feel I would I would bug her she just had her firstborn baby he was like five months old right or a few month a year old he was like over a year year whatever he was five and plus six months a year and a half he was a year and a half old and obviously she had to be mama bear but I would stalk her and her lovely husband and baby every single day until they would let me hang out with them and sit with them at the beach because I'm just obsessed with her and her whole family so yes we did hang out and have such a blast and we were living like next door to each other basically that's so cool I love that you guys are besties not you need to do another filmer series together or she's like yeah I mean twin sisters yes God bless you oh God bless you oh my God you guys are hilarious you're so funny you guys are hilarious um they are rapping me unfortunately I would but yes I'm so excited for everyone to see your performances in Bad Monkey it's such a fantastic series truly you are so beautiful remember that oh my God charte bless never forget never forget thank you ladies so Natalie how are you I love the orange you look stunning today thank you yes congratulations on this series I literally just finished the series this morning and I absolutely loved it I can't wait for audiences to see it I thought you and Vince had incredible chemistry and Dr Rosa was obviously one of my favorite characters in the series so I'm honestly just curious how much rehearsal time and meeting time you kind of had with Vince prior to filming to kind of develop the chemistry and the fun relationship that we kind of see them have over the course of the series oh none I was uh I was traveling I had just finished a job I was traveling and I got a call um uh Bill Lawrence called me and was like hey we would love to have you for Bad Monkey for this role I think you guys you're perfect blah blah even Vince had offer he's like if you want to get on the phone with Vince and I was like you know just to kind of uh tell me about it I'm like sold Bill Lawrence Vince Bond Apple TV plus I was like Count Me In I think I was on set within like four or five days and already shooting so I kind of had to like dive into it I was very fortunate I mean Vince is Vince is so much fun and he's such a great scene partner that we got along right off the bat which made things really easy and I think you know the fact that Rosa is from Miami which I am as well she's Cuban American which I am as well you know made it very easy to kind of fit her shoes and Bill created such a safe environment on set to kind of you know explore your characters and try different things and kind of find her tone that it's very very easy to just jump right into it I love that Miami is one of my favorite places of all time I visit South Beach every year with my family and I love that you guys actually shot in the Keys in and around Miami because what I love about Apple TV shows is the production is always so amazing what was it like filming in the key I know Miami is your H Hometown but what did you in the cast do for fun in between I mean you know it's it was great just being back home even on days where you know if I had a little bit of break I was able to like go have lunch with my grandmother you know down the street because we were shooting in in my grandmother's area you know I was able to have my family come on set which is something I don't often get to do because they're all down there and my job takes me to so many different places and you know offset I mean we were all trying different restaurants you know we had a couple cast dinners that were a lot of fun and we just got to like really enjoy that culture of Miami and I think the fact that everyone else on set to really leaned into it and like went out and like kind of immersed themselves into it it brought a lot of authenticity to the character and to the show Absolutely and I'm sure everyone was asking for your recommendations too since you know everything probably better than anyone else on set at the time totally totally it was a lot of fun I mean we went to a a restaurant and the keys Vince and I and my husband and we had like this amazing steak sandwich and Vince was like this is the best thing in the world that the next day he he bought it for the whole crew you know so we had like all lunch it was it was that's the kind of like environment that we had it was it was a lot of fun hey Bill hi how are you today I'm good good to see you good to see you too congratulations on this series I literally finished it this morning oh you're a rockstar that's a lot of time thank you it is a lot of time but it was worth it because I was instantly hooked so congratulations to you first of all oh thanks you know it's a a high is my favorite author since as a kid um and so for me the biggest deal he such he actually turned out to be cool too it's just I just hope I don't let that dude down no definitely not and without giving any spoilers away of course I loved Zack bra's role in this and I loved speaking with him and of course I love that you guys are working together once again after scrubs and Ted lasso and shrinking you're here working together here once again so what was that kind of like working together for this particular project in beautiful Florida oh you know what's so cool look on a personal level it'll make people laugh they always ask like hey some of the same actors and actresses and people working your shows I'm like yeah I'm a dork I get lonely I want to work with my friends you know you can work with your friends work with your friends or family forever I you know I even got my daughter to move out to Miami for a while to work on this stuff um but uh the thing about Zach I love collaborating with him he's a buddy but I think people forget how good an actor he is and is a joke because I called him up I'm like I want you to play a doctor again but it's much different dude and uh he's so skilled that he's still as funny as I think people remember him but there's like a undercurrent of like sadness you know and humanity and stuff and I was really blown away but I don't like complimenting him to his face but I was really Blown Away by the work he did I think he's great at I fully agree with you I thought that the production design was absolutely incredible the set pieces and the Florida Keys and the keys are a huge part and a character in and of themselves in the series so talk about kind of crafting you know Andrew's home and finding all of the locations you found um because it truly and I know that Natalie is from there as well so she loved working there so talk about just the whole atmosphere of creating the world yeah look uh so Carl heis is an icon in Florida all right and so you have to tell your viewers and stuff read his books if you like this at all they're amazing uh and it was really important to him because Florida he always said he said in the 60 Minutes piece that Florida's like uh someone picked up American shook it and none of the crazy people could grab on to anything and they just all fell down to Florida you know so it really mattered to him that it shot there not only for the nature and for the environmentalist undercurrent Because he believes it's so beautiful except for ravaging it but also to make it seem authentic when you populate it uh with Natalie Martinez who plays Rosa who's of course Cuban and is so cool and it feels real uh Ronald Pete who plays Neville is Bahamian he's from nassa as dad you know was a political figure there and so you know for him to actually bring that kind of vibe John Ortiz uh uh you know even the fisherman uh who ends up being the narrator of the show is a local guy you know what I mean and I think that kind of helps the the world itself feel like a character and you can only do a show this surreal and weird if it feels authentic you know in its kind of time and place and the performances and that that was part of the fun of it no one delivers dialogue like Vince vaugh he had me literally no one every single line I'm just dying did he improvise at all or did he truly no no I wrote it all this is my this is my stick because I take credit for other people's stuff anything you found funny was me the now the uh Vince not only did he improvise um he took jokes of ours and made him better and he was so respectful you know because I think an actor that's an executive producer at that level could come do whatever they wanted uh but he showed up and he established the rules for the cast he said uh we're going to do it the way it's written and make sure we get that and then when Bill and Matt and Marcos the director and the other head writer uh are happy then we'll do something for fun that we play and then he'd improvise and make the stuff better and it's all in the show and the amazing thing was it wasn't only improvising for him there was so many other gifted actors and actresses Michelle Monahan and Meredith hagner is so funny you know from search party and once Vince let them know when you're in a scene with me you get to be funny too and I'm going to set you up and make it work uh and the coolest moment for me was watching him Mentor my daughter you know um they had the scene at the bar and he was talking to her about how to be funny uh you know and it was so cool for me to be with earphones on watching that on a monitor it's a career highlight oh my God I love that I started following Charlotte today I'm totally obsessed with her I had the best time talking with her in Meredith in my interview so they were literally so lovely and I love speaking with them and you're right Meredith is totally hilarious and Charlotte was like she just seemed like she had a great time working on the series and she loved it so it was really fun to chat with her that means a lot to me that you said that and tell everybody if you ever get to work with your friends or your kids just do it who cares it's so fun I love that what was so nice to chat with you Bill and I'm so excited for audiences to see Bad Monkey it had me gripped for the 10 hours so I'm super grateful and I got to tell you your questions were really cool and interesting too because sometimes you get in the rhythm of the same stuff over and over but uh you killed it I'm glad thanks Bill good to chat with you cool till next time