He is that reliable guy we have come to expect to provide us with the most outrageous and memorable laughs. From his beloved comedies like Old School and Wedding Crashers, actor Vince Vaughn has paved a rather unique career trajectory for himself, including celebrated dramatic roles in the Academy Award Best Picture nominated film Hacksaw Ridge and in the second season of the HBO True Detective series.
With his latest project, Bad Monkey, which is now streaming on Apple TV+, Vaughn has found a project that allows him to effectively mix his comedic and dramatic chops. Based on the 2013 book by Carl Hiaasen, he plays main character Andrew Yancy, a former detective-turned-restaurant inspector in the Florida Keys, who comes across a bizarre case and chooses to take the investigation into his own hands.
With Hiaasen’s book brought to television by Shrinking and Ted Lasso showrunner Bill Lawrence, I sat down with Vaughn to uncover what it was about this Bad Monkey tale that made him feel like that this Apple TV+ series was the quality, next project for him in his elaborate career.
Vaughn said, “Carl Hiaasen is such a great author of the story and the book is so cool, and then Bill Lawrence is the best. I’ve actually known Bill for over 25 years. We used to play in a poker game when we were kids together. He was a stand-up [comedian] - he was so funny. I’ve got to be a fan from afar, kind of watching all the shows and really enjoying his work. So, when he came to me with this, I felt so excited because I knew he would be such a good person to be the storyteller and kind of pull this off. What I love about this [series] is the stakes are real, the crime is real - but the personalities are complicated and fun.”
I also spoke with Lawrence, wondering after decades of bringing fan-favorite television series to our screens, which also includes Scrubs and Cougar Town, what it was about Bad Monkey that made this the right project for him to take on next.
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Lawrence said, “Two things - one personal, one professional. Carl Hiaasen is partly why I’m a storyteller. I was not a huge reader of the classics and when I was 15-16, I read one of his books. You can draw a direct line from Carl’s surrealistic kind of satire and crazy character capers to Scrubs and Scrubs fantasies. As I’ve reached my senior years as a TV writer - a passion project, I’m not sure what it looks like, but for me to go to my favorite author, have to drink a couple drinks with him because he is definitely cynical about Hollywood because no one has really nailed his stuff before. He’s like, ‘Mostly, my Hollywood experiences are me apologizing for pieces of crap on my book tours.’ So for me, to be nervous again - because I care about all the shows [that I do] but I’m a little bit Teflon for how this stuff goes because I know the game - I’m so nervous of wanting him to be happy because he was a hero of mine.”
He added: “The professional reason is they have stopped making a certain type of entertainment that I loved. I loved Midnight Run and 48 Hours and Beverly Hills Cop and Out of Sight - Jackie Brown. All of these kind of cool, funny, banter-driven caper character pieces.”
So, with Vaughn having such a popular acting career over the past three decades, how has he noticed his mentality towards acting, the entertainment industry and executive producing (which he also does here with Bad Monkey) evolving most as time has gone on?
Vaughn said, “That’s a great question. I think that you want to feel excited to do something - you want to challenge yourself. It’s fun to do different types of things - different genres. You kind of want to ride all the rides at the amusem*nt park. You don’t want to just stay in one area. So, I like doing different things and putting myself in different tones. This was really such a unique one because this is a tricky tone to get right, where you’re really buying into the crime and to the reality, but also the characters are fun and their personalities are interesting. So, this just felt like a big, fun, entertaining world that is a combination of both funny and grounded.”
He added: “Bill is a great writer - honestly, him and Matt [Tarses], who writes with him - so much of it was on the page. We got to improvise and play around and so many great actors are in it. It was really an entertaining ride, even in reading it.”
With Lawrence having already brought three seasons of Ted Lasso to Apple TV+ and with a much-anticipated second season of Shrinking coming to the streamer on October 16, I was curious what it is about Apple TV+ that remains the best home for his latest television creations.
Lawrence said, “One of the first things you learn when you come out and do what I do, Jeff, and what you do man, is that it’s a business. Hollywood is a business - it’s not a place - and so, you don’t always get partnership relationships. Ted Lasso worked - I try to remind everybody that Apple was the only one that bought it. Instead of just having it be their success, they had it be our success and they have really championed me. I would tell you that Bad Monkey even exists, not because everybody in the world was trying to buy it, but because it was a passion thing of mine. I said, Hey, I want you guys to believe in me on this one and they gave me a shot. So, it’s a really good relationship for me. I still like doing shows all over the place, but man - it’s been fun!”
As I concluded my conversation with Vaughn, I wondered after playing this stubborn yet well-intentioned investigator in Bad Monkey, what would he say to his character Andrew, if only he could.
Vaughn said, “Well, I don’t want to ‘spoiler’ for anybody, but one of the things that I love about Andrew is just his resilience. He’s just going to keep going - despite the odds, despite the obvious hurdles. He can’t help but follow that calling and continue to march forward, no matter how challenging it gets. So, I love that quality that he has, but I think there is some growth for him, as there is for all of us, in other areas for sure.”