Mr. Monk's Last Case: A Monk Movie Is the Nostalgic Reunion We Need

Gabriella Paiella
·10 min read
1
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Photographs: NBC; Collage: Gabe Conte

From 2002 to 2009 Monk aired on the USA network, winning awards and setting bonkers cable ratings records. Tony Shalhoub played OCD-afflicted detective Adrian Monk, who worked as a consultant for the San Francisco Police Department homicide division while attempting to solve his wife Trudy’s murder. It was deeply funny, often poignant, and, post-pandemic, due for a reboot. (Suits may be the old USA show in the zeitgeist right now, but I’ll forever be a Monk-head.)

While reviving a beloved property can be ill-advised, Mr. Monk's Last Case: A Monk Movie, out today on Peacock, came at the right time—like Monk, many of us are now also extra scrupulous about applying hand sanitizer and paranoid about avoiding germs. Or, as another character puts it to him: “They’re all you now.”

Mr. Monk's Last Case finds Adrian at loose ends 12 years after the series ended. The Monk movie brings back most of the original cast, including Traylor Howard as his one-time assistant Natalie, and Jason Gray-Stanford and Ted Levine as old police detectives Randy and Stottlemeyer. They’ve all reunited for Trudy’s daughter Molly’s (Caitlin McGee) wedding when a sudden murder case lands in their laps. The movie also introduces a timely antagonist: a tech billionaire with a shipping company who’s obsessed with going to space. There’s enough fan service and references (and Randy Newman) to make me finally understand how Star Wars obsessives feel when they get a new installment. The result is a sweet hit of wholesome nostalgia.

And while it may be titled Mr. Monk’s Last Case, that’s open-ended too. “The truth is I do have an idea for another movie, an idea that I really am excited about,” creator, writer, and executive producer Andy Breckman said in an interview with GQ. “But it's not up to me.”

GQ: The first time I actually sat down and watched the series through was in early 2020, right before the pandemic. And because it was top of mind, I really wanted a Monk COVID special. When did it become a reality?

Andy Breckman: We did a four-minute short film during the lockdown and that was a no-brainer—people were curious about how he was faring during the crisis. That went so well and was so much fun for us and we got such positive feedback that Peacock began to think that we could do this on a larger scale.

Did it take any convincing for you to come back?

Not for me. I was thrilled to get the phone call. This is the greatest creation of my professional life. It really was like getting a band back together—a band that enjoyed making music and touring for seven years—and then getting back in the garage and picking up their instruments again.

Had there been any other attempts to revive it in the past?

When the show first ended, I pitched a different movie. This is now going back 12 or 13 years. It was just not the right time: it was expensive, the network was going through some changes, and the timing wasn't right. But these things all happen for a reason. You don't understand them at the moment. But looking back, of course, I'm grateful that we waited and I'm grateful that we're doing it now.

Do you remember what the plot was supposed to be?

It was called Mr. Monk For Mayor. And for Adrian Monk to solve a case, he had to run for mayor of San Francisco and get elected because, for some reason which I can't remember, only the mayor had access to certain information. The fun of that movie was he's so wholesome and honest that the town really did rally around him. Also, I think a town really would rally around him. He had solved 120 high profile homicides.

What was the calculus of doing a movie versus reviving it as a series? We’ve seen a few shows come back now—Frasier just did, for instance—so was there ever any talks about trying more Monk episodes?

No, we always talked about it as a feature film, because we wanted to justify coming back. We wanted to make it bigger than just “episode 126” would've been. We wanted to make it feel big and make the stakes high and spend some money on production values. If we were going to come back after 13 or 14 years, we wanted to do it right.

And you did get pretty much everyone in the original cast to come back. How’d you manage that?

Well, I was so flattered because they all agreed to come back before they read the script. So they gave me the benefit of the doubt. I hope they still feel that was a smart decision, but everyone was so enthusiastic. It was such an important part of all our lives and the fact that Randy [Zisk] just was going to be directing it and David Hoberman was going to be producing it and it was going to be NBC again, the creative team was all in place, which I think made everyone very comfortable.

How did you decide on the villain being a tech billionaire who was obsessed with going to space?

Well, of course you want a big threat if you want the stakes to be high. This is actually the formula that I stole from Columbo years ago. Columbo would go up against very, very powerful people, men and women who feel they can be reckless and get away with anything, and they just underestimate this little detective named Adrian Monk. So the more powerful and stronger the villain, the more fun it is for Monk to be bugging him and needling him and getting closer and closer to uncovering the crime.

When I’ve interviewed and written about Tony Shalhoub, each time I’ve had so many people coming out of the woodwork to share some lovely interaction they’ve had with him. And that clearly does not happen with everyone I interview. So what’s your best Tony Shalhoub story?

Well, if you look up the word “mensch,” I’m surprised you don't see a picture of this guy. What’s great about Tony Shalhoub is fame did not come to him as a young man early in his career. When Monk started, he was an actor's actor. He was not a household name, but actors knew him and he was, of course, well-known on Broadway. So I think that's the secret. I think if fame and stardom comes through later in life, your feet are already on the ground and you can handle it a lot better. I would also say, and I think he would agree, that his secret to being a mensch is his lovely wife, Brooke Adams. It's a wonderful marriage, and I wish on everybody else I know the same kind of partnership.

His wife, and multiple-time Monk guest star.

Yes. His wife has done three or four appearances as different characters. I think it's so sweet. Tony adores her and misses her when he is on set and always wants to find a way to bring her to the set.

I love that. Is there anything you think would surprise people about him, having worked with him for so many years now?

You might be interested to know that twice a year he travels out west to hunt other human beings for sport. People are surprised to hear that.

Great fun fact, thank you so much. So I was thinking the TV landscape has really changed a lot since Monk started. Do you think you could’ve made it today?

I have no idea. I'm so grateful it happened when it did. Timing is everything. And we got very, very lucky. Not only with the casting, obviously, but it was launched at a time when USA, the network needed a hit and they were redefining themselves. Monk became the flagship show for them. So everything fell into place 20 years ago for us. My advice to young writers is to be as lucky as you can be.

It does feel as if episodic TV is coming back.

Well, I could speak for myself. It may be because I was raised watching it, but I get very, very restless when I'm watching a seven or eight hour miniseries that could have been told in two hours. There's a lot of fat in the storytelling these days, so I hope it's an art form that comes back because it's something I love very, very much.

What were the reactions you got on a personal level when people heard that the movie was coming?

People were very excited. I did call the movie Mr. Monk's Last Case, and a lot of people were very concerned that the character might not survive my story. I had to reassure them that I'm going to make a lot of mistakes as a showrunner, but I will try not to make major mistakes. And that would've been a major mistake.

In the past 20 years, there have been so many new shows about a detective who has a sad backstory. Do you feel ahead of the curve in some ways?

Well, I can't take credit for it. I always said Monk was half Sherlock Holmes and half Charlie Brown. Arthur Conan Doyle was there in 1900 before any of us with a flawed, low-functioning, brilliant outsider detective. We all owe him a great debt.

From using “It's a Jungle Out There” for the series theme song to "I Think It's Going to Rain Today" in the film, what is it about the music of Randy Newman that captures the essence of Monk?

Newman was the “voice” of the original series. His music—troubled and somber—perfectly embodied Monk’s character. I was determined to include him somehow in the film.

A question for maybe just me, personally: I was surprised and delighted to learn that The Best Show duo Tom Scharpling and John Wurster used to write for Monk, which was a real crossover of worlds that I wasn't expecting. And then I realized that you also do a lot for WFMU and that connection runs pretty strong. Which came first?

I had a radio show on WFMU, and Tom famously had a much more successful popular show on WFMU. He was looking for a job and I offered him a job as my assistant. When we began our relationship, he was my assistant. But when Monk started, he very, very quickly became my right hand man. He was very, very important to the show. And when I look at the old shows, every third or fourth line that Monk says, I know it's a Tom Scharpling contribution. The hardest thing about writing this movie was I didn't have Tom in the room. I spoke to him yesterday and I told him I was kind of mad at him for not being in the room with me.

Originally Appeared on GQ

More Great Stories from GQ