The Hilarious Reason Jake Lacy Was Told To Tone Himself Down While Filming The White Lotus

As far as modern-day satire goes, HBO Max's "The White Lotus" redefines the genre. The first season of Mike White's vacation destination series premiered in 2021 and received several Emmy Awards including outstanding supporting actor in a limited or anthology series and outstanding limited or anthology series. Season 1 of "The White Lotus" follows a group of obnoxious hotel guests at a luxury resort in Hawaii and the hotel workers forced to suffer through their nonsense. The guests encounter a series of outrageous occurrences involving drugs, sex, and murder. The star-studded cast includes Jennifer Coolidge, Murray Bartlett, Lukas Gage, Sydney Sweeney, Alexandra Daddario, Jake Lacy, Steve Zahn, and Connie Britton. 

"The White Lotus" Season 2, set to take place in Italy, will premiere on HBO Max in October 2022. Little is known about Season 2's plot, aside from the return of the fan-favorite Coolidge as Tanya Mcquoid-Hunt. Coolidge will be joined by Adam DiMarco, Sabrina Impacciatore, F. Murray Abraham, Beatrice Grannò, Theo James, Jon Gries, Simona Tabasco, and Aubrey Plaza (via IndieWire). While it isn't clear if any other characters from Season 1 will be returning to the world of "The White Lotus," we know that for some of the original cast, White's vision for the series took some getting used to.  

Murray Bartlett and Jake Lacy spoke to one another for The Hollywood Reporter and reflected on the ingenious first season of "The White Lotus." Bartlett took on the role of hotel manager Armond, who gets into quite a downward spiral on the show, while Lacy portrayed Shane, a stuck-up hotel guest with a trust fund. The two recalled the first scene they shot together when Shane arrived at the resort and was taken to the wrong room by Armond. Lacy trusted in White's process — which often involved doing one scene in many different ways (via The Hollywood Reporter). This proved effective in the post-production process when the editor flawlessly pieced together the best shots out of the hours of footage. 

While redoing the same scene, Lacy learned he was coming on a bit too intense. "[White] had to be like, 'Hey, you're just a guy on vacation. We'll get to you being an asshole in a bit. You don't need to come in guns blazing,'" Lacy explained. The idea was to build tension, so the nature of Lacy's character developed over time. Bartlett recalled the initial shoots where Lacy came in with a lot of over-the-top energy. "I do remember in our first scene together, you coming at me like a bull," Bartlett added.