Posted in: ABC, HBO, TV | Tagged: Adrian Martinez, exclusive, Focus, interview, Only Murders in the Building, stumptown, Unfrosted

Stumptown: Adrian Martinez on Cancellation Regrets, CYE, OMITB & More

Adrian Martinez (Unfrosted) reflects on ABC's Stumptown and his appearances on Curb Your Enthusiasm, Only Murders in the Building & more.

Adrian Martinez is a classic Hollywood success story and testament to the idiom, "There are no small parts." The actor had his share of hit TV appearances throughout his career, from roles on NYPD Blue, The Sopranos, Sex and the City, the Law & Order franchise, Flight of the Conchords, Kick-Ass, Gotham, Inside Amy Schumer, The Blacklist franchise, Renfield, and Ghosts. While promoting his latest Netflix film, Jerry Seinfeld's Unfrosted, Martinez spoke to Bleeding Cool about his work, including working with Seinfeld's co-creator Larry David on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm (with Seinfeld making an appearance in the series finale); what he misses most about working on ABC's Stumptown, cancellation, and hope for a revival; Warner Bros' Focus, and his role on CBS' Ghosts.

Adrian Martinez Reflects His Career and Hopes for 'Stumptown'

Bleeding Cool: You also got to work with Jerry Seinfeld's creative counterpart on his NBC sitcom, Larry David 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' doing an episode of that show. How do you compare their minds?

Mr. David didn't direct the episode, but he was a curmudgeon, much more than Jerry. I can see why 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' is so hysterical because he's lovable, but he's also what I would call "a lovable grouch." He was very much that way on the day. He was cool. You don't get a script on that show. And we would get a basic overview, and I read the overview, and I improvised a few things. Some made the final cut, and when he said something he didn't like, he was the first to tell you. [Goes into a David impression], "Oh, no, I didn't do this," and we did something else. He's very much the star of that show; we all knew it and respect that, and it was a pleasure working.

You've kept busy on so many different projects with film and TV series one project that stood out to me was 'Stumptown.' What was your fondest memory of working on that show?

I love Stumptown; I miss it. If they put 'Stumptown' back to ABC, it would do well. We had about 10 million viewers every Friday night and usually, Friday nights are a death zone. When people were getting into that show, we got picked up for a second season and then canceled because of Covid concerns. Each episode was a feature. You had car chases, love scenes, and all this. It was a wonderful cast. I bonded with Cole Sibis, who played the mentally disabled character in the show. We became best friends and Michael Ealy was very cool and generous with us. I enjoyed making him laugh. All of them, Tantoo Cardinal, the American-Indian, Canadian Indian actress. She's such a soulful, beautiful person just down the line, everybody to our Cobie Smulders, the lead. I wish they would bring it back. We were working out of Burbank, nailing it, and finding our groove. We got picked up and then shut down and over Covid. It's like an itch I can't scratch or feel like everybody would go back to that show because we were developing a family, and I have fond memories of working on that.

Given your body of work, what have fans approached you most about?

It's interesting because ten years ago I did a movie called 'Focus' starring Margot Robbie and Will Smith, and I played Will's sidekick. The movie did okay at the box office, but it wasn't a big deal in terms of Hollywood standards, but now it's on Max. Whenever I go out, I get stopped by that movie; my character's name is Farhad. There's this sequence where I'm wearing number 55 on my football jersey and I do get people saying, "Hey, 55!" Which is fine. It's a good movie that deserved a better fate, but now, streaming, people are catching up to it. I also get people who recognize me, mainly from 'Only Murders in the Building' because I did an important guest star on that, and I have five guest starring roles coming out later this year.

I see you're an episode of 'Ghosts' [in 'The Traveling Agent']. What can you tell me about that?

That was shot up in Montreal. I play the ghost who makes you forget why you walked into an aisle at a store.

That's pretty inventive there because it happens to everyone.

So the next time you go down the aisle and you forget why, that's me.

Unfrosted, which also stars Melissa McCarthy, Amy Schumer, and an ensemble cast, is available to stream on Netflix.

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