Entertainment
Jennifer Coolidge admits she had to be talked into The White Lotus role: ‘There was no way I wanted to be on film’
Jennifer Coolidge had to be convinced to star in The White Lotus (Picture: HBO)
Jennifer Coolidge said she had to be talked into starring in HBO original series, The White Lotus.
The comedy-drama revolves around the life of staff and guests at a tropical resort in Hawaii over the course of a week.
Jennifer, 59, plays Tanya, a wealthy woman grieving the loss of her mother.
However, the actress says she was ‘really affected by the pandemic,’ reading tragic news stories on a daily basis, convinced she wouldn’t be alive to work on another project.
Speaking with The Guardian, she said: ‘I knew people who lost their lives and was convinced we wouldn’t make it through. I wasn’t thinking about work, because I didn’t think we’d be alive.’
But when she got a call from White Lotus creator, Mike White, the American Pie star wasn’t ready to be seen on screen again yet.
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She continued: ‘His show about rich people on vacation had been picked up by HBO and he’d written a role with me in mind. I said: “OK, when are we doing it?” He said: “What do you mean? We just got green-lit. We’re doing it now. You need to get on a plane to Hawaii.”
‘That was an impossibility to my mind. I’d been gorging and self-destructing at home for months, eating pizza all day.
‘There was no way I wanted to be on film unless they shot me from the neck up. I’m sort of vain, so there was no f**king way.’
The actor says she would’ve regretted not taking the role having seen the series now (Picture: HBO)
So, how did Mike talk Jennifer into accepting the role?
Jennifer explained that he texted her at 2am one night, asking if she was afraid of the project, as if he sensed that she was trying to get out of it – with a friend later imploring her to ‘just do it’.
And she certainly doesn’t regret taking on the challenge, despite coming close to ‘ruining it’ for herself.
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She added: ‘I would’ve sat down to watch The White Lotus and said: “What the hell was I thinking? I’m an insane person.”’
The Legally Blonde star now admits to being pleasantly surprised with the positive reaction to her performance in the satire series, and reckons getting into character was helped by Tanya’s parallels to her personally.
Jennifer lost her own mother at an early age, as well as a family member during COVID and couldn’t hold a proper memorial.
The White Lotus is available on streaming service NOW and Sky Atlantic and has been renewed for a second season.
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