Natalie Martinez: Vince Vaughn perfect partner for 'Bad Monkey'

NEW YORK, Aug. 14 (UPI) -- Natalie Martinez says that Rosa, the Florida medical examiner she plays in the new crime dramedy, Bad Monkey , is stuck in a rut until she meets Vince Vaughn 's character, Andrew Yancy, a fast-talking, suspended police detective who needs her help on an important case.

"It was so easy to play Rosa. She is born and raised in Miami and she's Cuban American, so those two things we have in common right off the bat," Martinez, 40, told UPI in a recent Zoom interview.

"I really love that she had layers to her. She's a little unhappy at work. She loves what she does, but she just feels a little stuck, and along comes Yancy, played by Vince Vaughan, and he gives her this new burst of energy and kind of perspective on life," she said.

"She needs to kind of figure out what she wants, and she finds him interesting, as well, so the little journey that they go through to figure out this case is really exciting."

Premiering on Wednesday on Apple TV+, the adaptation of Carl Hiaasen's novel follows Yancy, a restaurant inspector in the Florida Keys, who has the chance to get his police job back after a tourist reels in a severed arm while fishing.

Rosa is the expert he meets while trying to identify the arm's owner and figure out what happened to him.

"They're intrigued by this case," Martinez said. "They make a really good team and I think with every situation and predicament they're put into, they kind of find this humor and something to learn from it. They're both going through their own growth a lot."

Martinez said she was happy to share this experience with Vaughn, adding, "He's such a collaborative actor."

She added: "This is my first comedy show, so to get pointers and to learn from one of the greats? I couldn't ask for a better scene partner. It was kind of like a little tennis match between both of us."

Known for her roles in Ordinary Joe, The Stand, Kingdom and Under the Dome , Martinez said a real-life coroner assisted her in the more serious aspects of understanding how her Bad Monkey character would think, feel and work as a doctor for the dead.

"You're operating and you're doing things on a cadaver, so I wanted to know what the procedures or protocols looked like. How do you put the gloves on? How do you approach a patient?" Martinez said.

"Those things really kind of matter. It gives a little bit of authenticity to the role and to the character. That way, when you have someone watching, they're like, 'Oh, OK, she knows what she's doing.' And it's not distracting."

The mystery's hilarious tone and snappy pace were immediately evident when the actress read the show's scripts, which were penned by Bill Lawrence , creator of Ted Lasso and Scrubs .

"It's very quirky. It's very fast," Martinez said said, adding Lawrence "did such a great job of bringing everyone together and creating a safe environment where he encouraged everyone to kind of bring something to their character, allowed a little bit of improvisation and allowed creative exploration with these characters."

"Everyone really just went 100% toward their characters," Martinez said.

The actress said she hopes viewers find the show a bright spot in a television landscape filled with bleak or post-apocalyptic programs and troubling real-life news stories.

"It feels so good putting something out that's so vibrant and entertaining," she said.

"I love a good show that you can kind of just escape into," Martinez added. "i think we need a little escape from reality sometimes with everything that's going on in the world, so it's nice to kind of sink your teeth into a fun murder mystery."

The show's ensemble of misfit characters also includes Michelle Monaghan , Jodie Turner-Smith, Meredith Hagner, L. Scott Caldwell, Ronald Peet, John Ortiz and Alex Moffat.