The Family Plan’s Mark Wahlberg & Michelle Monaghan Talk Minivans & Their Go-To Karaoke Songs

Everyone has baggage they carry into relationships. For most of us, though, it doesn’t involve hiding a previous life as an elite government assassin tasked with eliminating the world’s deadliest threats. Well, that’s the hope anyway. But in Apple TV+’s new movie, The Family Plan, that’s precisely the baggage Dan Morgan (Mark Wahlberg) has to break to his unsuspecting wife Jessica (Michelle Monaghan) after it catches up to him.

Not surprisingly, the revelation doesn’t go over well. Also not a shock? You can’t ask for a much better duo onscreen than Monaghan and Wahlberg as good ole Mom and Dad. And while you could cut the tension between their characters with a knife more than once in The Family Plan, I’m happy to report that, in real life, there’s no bad blood between the pair. In fact, it’s their easy chemistry in part that makes the movie so much fun to watch.

Just ahead of the film’s release, Scary Mommy sat down with Monaghan and Wahlberg for a quick Zoom to uncover who’s the better minivan driver, their go-to car karaoke songs, and any secret skills.

Scary Mommy: As the parent of a tween and a young teen, I really related to this whole feeling of everyone being in their own little bubbles. Short of throwing phones out of windows, do you have any hacks at home for keeping everyone connected?

Mark Wahlberg: Good luck … You are on your own. (laughs) No, I think we just, my wife just makes it mandatory for us to do things together, myself included. She's like, ‘This is what we're doing. We're doing this at this time,’ and that's it, whether it be game night, dinner, movie night, whatever it is, going for a hike, bike ride, something. She's calling the shots.

Michelle Monaghan: Yep.

SM: God bless moms, right?

MW: Put the foot down. Drop the hammer.

SM: You two have a little carpool karaoke moment in the movie. If you’re in the car with your family and you want to simultaneously entertain and mortify your kids, what’s your go-to song?

MM: I was saying earlier, a little ‘Shook Me All Night Long,’ a little AC/DC. It's a good one.

MW: Could always go, if you want to mortify them, put on a little 2 Live Crew. That'll do the trick. But you can also just put on stuff that's on the radio right now. I could just do any one of my old songs.

MM: There you go. Or Adele. Mark is a big Adele fan.

MW: Adele's good.

SM: Listen, I feel like you can never go wrong with a little “Good Vibrations,” personally.

MM: There you go.

MW: If it does the trick, turn it up loud.

SM: Done! The movie clearly deals with secret pasts and hidden talents. What’s a secret skill you have that people would be surprised to learn about you?

MW: I can braid.

MM: That's good. Really?

MW: Yeah, I used to braid my daughter's hair … I learned to braid.

MM: I love that. I'm a very good baker. That is just something that I really love. I guess that's a skill, I suppose. I don't know.

SM: Definitely a skill — one I have yet to master.

MM: It's one of those things that I really love doing with my kids. My mom taught me how to bake, and it's something that I enjoy. I bring the kids into the kitchen, and we bake something together, and that's really special. It's like good quality time that I get to have with them.

MW: It's not as big a surprise as braiding, but...

MM: I'll say.

MW: Pretty generic. (both laugh)

MM: I guess I know who's doing my hair for the premiere.

SM: There’s some pretty ace driving in the film. Out of the two of you, who’s most likely to be a maverick behind the wheel of a minivan?

MW: I have a real minivan in real life.

SM: Do you have those moves in the minivan?

MW: Yes.

MM: Yes, he's got the moves.

MW: I do. That minivan is wanted in multiple states.

MM: I think I broke a front axle driving the camper... We spent a lot of time in the car together — he's definitely a good driver.

SM: Nice. Well, thanks, y’all, this has been fun.

MM: Thank you.

MW: Thank you so much. Good luck with the teen and the tween.

The Family Plan is now streaming on Apple TV+. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.