Developed by executive producer and showrunner Bill Lawrence, the creator of “Ted Lasso” and “Shrinking”—two of Apple TV+’s top series—“Bad Monkey” blends star power (hi, Vince Vaughn) and high jinks (Lawrence did create “Scrubs,” too, after all) against the kooky backdrop of South Florida. It premieres on the streamer on Aug. 14, and it’s likely to get picked up for a second season. The series is based on Carl Hiaasen’s book of the same name, which has a sequel, “Razor Girl.”
For those interested in learning how “Bad Monkey” got cast, in the hope of getting in on a second season, we’ve got you covered. In this guide, we’ll give you the lowdown on the “Bad Monkey” casting process, including audition advice from the show’s top talent and updates on the show’s future.
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- What is “Bad Monkey” about?
- Who is in the cast of “Bad Monkey”?
- Who is the casting director for “Bad Monkey”?
- How does the casting process work for “Bad Monkey”?
- When does filming for “Bad Monkey” Season 2 start?
- Where can you find “Bad Monkey” casting calls and auditions?
- What are the best audition tips for landing a role on “Bad Monkey”?
Based on the bestselling novel by Hiaasen, “Bad Monkey” follows Andrew Yancy (Vaughn), a former Miami police officer who finds himself demoted to health inspector in the Florida Keys. But Yancy’s luck soon seems to change when tourists find a human arm. Believing he can get back in the MPD’s good graces if he solves this potential murder, Yancy sets out to prove his hunch true, but he’ll have to deal with some crazy characters along the way—and one (literal) bad monkey.
Season 1 features:
- Vince Vaughn as Andrew Yancy
- L. Scott Caldwell as YaYa
- Rob Delaney as Christopher
- Meredith Hagner as Eve Stripling
- Natalie Martinez as Rosa Campesino
- Michelle Monaghan as Bonnie Witt
- Ronald Peet as Neville Stafford
- Jodie Turner-Smith as Dragon Queen
- Tom Nowicki as Narrator
- David St. Louis as Egg
- Crystal the Monkey as Driggs
- Alex Moffat as Evan Shook
- John Ortiz as Rogelio
- Charlotte Lawrence as Caitlin
- Todd Allen Durkin as Sheriff Sonny Summers
- Gizel Jimenez as Mel Campesino
- Reese Antoinette as Dawnie
- Nina Grollman as Madeline
- Victor Turpin as Montenegro
- Ashley Nicole Black as Johnna Russell
- Zach Braff as Israel O’Peele
Jennifer Cooper (“Hawaii Five-0”) and Lori Wyman (“Burn Notice”) cast “Bad Monkey” Season 1.
Cooper advises actors not to worry about what she’s looking for during auditions. “Focus on what’s right for the story and right for you as an actor,” she told Casting Networks. “Because I feel like when actors make decisions based on being cast, it’s so hard to get it right. Your actual take and your actual essence are what I’m most interested in, as opposed to everybody trying to come in and fit it into the box that they think I’m looking for. With every single tape that I show or that I look at, I am praying it’s the person. Always. Or that I’ll be able to craft it into helping to get you the job, or barring that, to build a relationship with you over however many years it takes to get you 10 jobs.”
After all, she added, “It’s a long-lasting partnership between actors and casting directors, and I really look at it like a partnership, because if they don’t do good, then I don’t feel good. It’s in direct correlation to each other.”
With “Bad Monkey” set in the Keys, it’s no surprise the team turned to Florida-based Wyman for her CD expertise. So what’s the casting process like for someone who operates outside the usual hubs of NYC and Los Angeles?
“I will receive a script, and I will be told which roles I am looking for locally. I am in Florida, so we usually only look for the local roles. Once I know which roles I am looking for, my office will type up a breakdown of the character descriptions. After we have sent the breakdown out to all of our local agents, I will then review the submissions,” she explained to Backstage. “Due to the fact that I have been in Florida casting for so many years, I will always request certain actors who I think would be good for the roles as well. My office will see actors in person, and we also accept taped submissions. Once we have all of the auditions, we review them all and then submit them to production.”
Wyman also noted that there are some definite dos and don’ts for those who enter her audition room. Do learn your dialogue. “I think when an actor comes in completely memorized it makes their audition so much better. They are less nervous and more confident. I can see this difference and it is huge,” she said.
But don’t make excuses: “I hear everything from ‘I just got the sides, so I don’t know them very well’ to ‘I know I am not dressed appropriately, but I just came from work and I didn’t have clothes with me.’ When they arrive late, I have to hear how much traffic there is out there. It doesn’t matter that I have four signs in my waiting room to please turn the cell phone off; so many actors bring their phones into the casting room, and often it will ring right in the middle of their audition. More excuses about how they didn’t know the phone was still on and they didn’t realize it was in their bag.”
Regardless, Wyman always tries to make the casting environment congenial. “I love the art of acting, and I can play at it every day I conduct a casting. I know that many CDs hire a reader when they're conducting a casting session, but I want to read with the actors,” she said. “There is a certain way that actors need to be spoken to. I often sit in a casting session and the director goes on and on about what he wants, and I know by the look on the actors’ faces that they don’t have a clue what the director is asking for,” Wyman added. “Sometimes I know if I just interject a sentence or two, I can clear up the whole thing; and I will risk it so the actor can get some clarity.”
“Bad Monkey” hasn’t yet been renewed for Season 2, but showrunner Lawrence says there’s potential to expand the story. He told Vulture that Hiaasen’s sequel, “Razor Girl,” could easily be adapted in the event that AppleTV+ opts to continue this series. But Lawrence also emphasized, “I don’t want to get caught in the thing where you’re like, ‘It’s OK that there’s no other book! We’ll do another year and it’ll be great!’ ” So don’t count on there being a Season 3, if that’s the case.
Since we still don’t know the fate of “Bad Monkey,” currently there are no open casting calls. We suggest bookmarking our main casting call page for the latest opportunities. And for more audition advice to help you get cast in another Apple TV+ series, check out our guide to auditioning for the streamer.
Keep up with your craft. CD Wyman is based in Florida, so she understands local actors might not find work on a consistent basis. That’s why she recommends training—particularly theater—as a way to help actors hone and develop their skills. “The very best way to keep up their craft is to keep training,” she told us. “I also think it is important to train with many different teachers. Each teacher will bring another element to the actor’s toolbox. I always tell actors if they learn one thing in each class, then they get their money’s worth. Hopefully, they will learn more than one thing.”
Be kind and prepared. Whether you’re on set or in the audition room, Delaney wants young actors to show their respect by being ready—and being nice. “Be kind [because] you could get hit by a bus tomorrow. It takes just as much time to be nice as to be an asshole. Show up prepared. I can’t stress enough for young actors how important it is to be nice on a set and to be prepared. Some people don’t do that,” he told us. “I know that might be shocking to people who are fighting so hard to make a dream against all odds come true. You really differentiate yourself if you’re nice, attentive, and helpful. All that Golden Rule stuff.”
Trust your intuition. Turner-Smith transitioned from modeling to acting, and in doing so she came to find that trusting her gut was the best way to guarantee her success. “Trust your intuition, because I think my instinct and my intuition got me to where I am right now,” she told us. “Your intuition is what I think leads you to leap out on faith. Something that you believe, and that you feel inside of yourself, it’s what makes you take a chance yourself. I would definitely tell my younger self: Yes, learning and listening to your intuition is the right way to go; keep doing it, even when you don’t understand what’s going on around you.”
Memorize your lines. Braff may be an old dog in the industry, but that doesn’t mean he can’t learn new tricks. As Braff noted on his “Fake Doctors, Real Friends with Zach and Donald” podcast, his former partner, Florence Pugh, taught him that being off-book remains the best way to be fully present during an audition. “If you’re trying to audition and you don’t have that stuff memorized and you’re looking down at your page, you don’t have a shot in hell,” he said of the Oscar-nominated actor’s advice. “I have to give Florence a shoutout for this…. She goes, ‘I just can’t be present. If there is a part of me that knows I have that crutch there and I can look down, I am not present in the scene enough to perform.’ ”
But there are countless other factors involved, so it all comes down to putting your best foot forward. “You could literally walk in and be the best actor for the part, but you look too much like somebody else,” he added. “Or you are too old, or too young, or we just cast the father and you look nothing like him. There’s so many...variables. All you can do is go in and crush and do your best.”