Bad Boys: Ride or Die is living up to the premise, “Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?” The “they” in this scenario are the U.S. Marshals, led by Judy Howard, who is played by Rhea Seehorn. The fourth film in the action-comedy series is currently enjoying a round of success as it becomes one of the bigger hits of the summer in a year where most large releases are failing to live up to expectations. While the Bad Boys series is usually a show for the duo of Martin Lawrence and Will Smith, this new installment splits the focus on some of the supporting characters — one being Captain Howard’s daughter.
Seehorn is not only riding high by being in one of the summer’s hits, but she also re-teams with Better Call Saul‘s Vince Gilligan for a new untitled AppleTV+ show. The Hollywood Reporter caught up with Seehorn as she talks about both projects and how it was Better Call Saul that got her the part in Bad Boys: Ride or Die. It was revealed that Bad Boys directors Adil and Bilall had worked through their Batgirl drama by binge-watching her AMC show. She stated, “There was a part of me that was like, ‘Do they know me from anything?’ (Laughs.) But I pretty much assume that of anybody; it wasn’t really specific to them. So I think it was Bilall who was like, ‘Kim Wexler!’ And I was like, ‘Hi!’ (Laughs.) But yeah, they are both huge fans. They’re filmmakers who love studying film and other filmmakers, and so they’re huge fans of Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould’s work.”
She continued, “So I loved that they knew my work and that they weren’t meeting me cold, as a suggestion. They had really given some thought to what they thought I could bring to the Judy role, and I was extremely flattered.” Seehorn also revealed that the duo directors had her develop her role by watching Tommy Lee Jones’ U.S. Marshal character from The Fugitive as well as studying Joe Pantoliano‘s Captain Howard from the past films.
Seehorn explained, “Well, Adil and Bilall, because they’re film buffs, they brought up a lot of references, and they actually told me to take a look at The Fugitive. But, by no means did they say to do an impression of Tommy Lee, and thank God, because I would’ve failed miserably. (Laughs.) […] So I watched all the Bad Boys films again, and then they edited just Captain Conrad Howard’s [Pantoliano] scenes into a reel for me. I then watched that a lot, and then I was like, ‘Can we do a little bit of the comedy?’ So I don’t know if you can see it, but in the Fugitive-looking scene where Judy comes in [at the start of the manhunt], she is popping Pepto Bismol, which was a reference to him [and his reliance on it in Bad Boys for Life].”