Ricky Martin Understands Why We're All Obsessed with High Society Scammers

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Ricky Martin may be best known for his music career, but this month, the Puerto Rican pop star is making his foray into comedy.

On the new AppleTV+ series Palm Royale, which follows Maxine (Kristin Wiig), a woman desperate to enter the upper crust world of Palm Beach, Martin plays Robert, who works at the local club and is an aide to the ailing Norma (Carol Burnett). In this week's episode, "Maxine Rolls the Dice," Robert and Maxine get in a legal fight over who should have conservatorship of Norma.

Martin chatted with Town & Country all about what he learned from working with the legendary Burnett, why we can't get enough of high society scammers, and the key to understanding his character.

What drew you to play Robert in Palm Royale?

Oh, where do I start? What can I say, it all started at an Oscar after party and I was dancing next to the creator, Abe Sylvia, and I don't know what happened but a couple of days later, he reached out to my agent and then they sent me the script. And two weeks later, I was flying to L.A. to meet with Tate Taylor, who's also an executive producer and a director in the show. Obviously they told me who was attached to the project. [Sarcastically] And I'm like, 'Oh, let me see if I wanna work with these people!'

And of course, if you add to that the story and the fact that it was going to be my opportunity to jump into a little bit of comedy with the actresses that I was going to be working with. If, to that, we add the fact that it's a solid story where I can make people think—and it doesn't matter if it was in the '60s, '70s, the secrets that Robert, my character, was dealing with are very relevant to things that men from all walks of life go through today. So if I could shed some light into that aspect of my activism, why not? But I definitely think it's a project that can make anyone grow and for that, I will always be very grateful.

Stories about high society scammers like Maxine in Palm Royale have been having a moment recently—why do you think we’re so drawn to con people?

First of all, ours is the best one yet so far!

Because there are no perfect worlds; it might look perfect, it might look glamorous, it might look chic and everybody wants to be part of that cleanliness. But it's dark and it's very decadent. It's even more decadent than what you think. For example, these ladies were all oblivious about the fact that there was a war going on and they don't wanna think about it that their reproductive rights were being taken away and they didn't want to talk about it—denial, it's something that is there.

It doesn't matter where you come from, you will be able to relate to [the story] because everybody wants to belong. If you went through high school, you're gonna relate—you would understand what it is to have the need to belong in a group that is definitely not where you're supposed to be. That's how rich this story is.

In episode four, Robert and Maxine are fighting over conservatorship of the Dellacorte estate. “We’ve all heard stories of gold diggers who come to palm beach and bleed the elderly dry,” he says to the judge. What do you make of Robert’s motivations?

His concerns were legit. Part of the story that Abe Sylvia gave me for me to play with is that I come from a very wealthy family back in Puerto Rico. So, I can smell the people that come and use and abuse the elderly and that's why I was so protective of Norma. She shared with me her most intimate secrets and she told me about how lonely she would feel. There's one scene that we have in the restaurant of of the club where she said, 'Please sit down, I need company.'" And that really touched me and so that's why I'm so aggressive about taking care of her.

But I also look like another gold digger. At this point of the show, no one knows what kind of relationship we're having. We don't know if it's intimate or if I'm taking care of her.

How did thinking about Robert's wealthy background impact how you played him, in terms of his relationship with these Palm Beach ladies?

It gave me a better understanding of his motives and his agenda and the need to take care of her. But at the same time, because of his personal secrets and his identity issues, I understand why he needed to join the military, and go to the war to feel strong and good with himself, and prove to others that he is exactly what everybody's expecting him to be and even better.

So, he had a lot of self-esteem issues and he walked through life with a lot of shame. Once again, this is something that a lot of men are dealing with at the moment. It doesn't matter if he was in the '60s, I mean, here in America or any part of the world, there's a lot of men that deal with these issues. So for me to be able to talk about this with a little bit of sense of humor, it was very important.

This is your foray into comedy. Were you intimidated, or excited to work with these comedy greats like Kristen Wiig and Carol Burnett?

First of all, I'm always nervous! I'm always nervous to jump into anything, any new project. It doesn't matter if it's through music, that I've been doing forever, or acting, or entertaining: I always get nervous. That's something that every artist goes through, and we just have to accept it is what it is.

Then on top of that, you bring Carol Burnett, Kristen Wiig, Laura Dern, Allison Janney to the mix—yeah, I think I need to go to the spa after this and practice a little bit of yoga! What I mean by this is: it's what they represent. So what I did is, I walked in with a lot of humility. I brought my notepad and I started writing notes and learning from them. The moment you think you know it all, you lose. If you have maestros like them in front of you every day working and giving their best at their craft, it's nothing but a present.

The first four episodes of Palm Royale are now streaming on Apple TV+. Shop Now

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