{"id":303173,"date":"2026-02-26T12:47:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T12:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/303173\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T12:47:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T12:47:10","slug":"mike-white-cites-jennifer-coolidge-as-inspiration-for-white-lotus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/303173\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike White Cites Jennifer Coolidge as Inspiration for ‘White Lotus’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tMike White<\/a> shared one of his original inspirations behind The White Lotus<\/a>. The TV series creator and writer appeared on The Tonight Show<\/a> to promote his appearance on the new season of Survivor and described a trip he took with Jennifer Coolidge<\/a> before penning the first episode. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cJennifer Coolidge and I\u2014we\u2019re friends,\u201d White told host Jimmy Fallon<\/a>. \u201cAnd we went on this safari and it was like two weeks and we slept in the same bed even. I spent two full weeks with her. It was awesome. She\u2019s so fun. She\u2019s the funniest person. But getting through life is a bit hard [for her]. There\u2019s a lot in the purse. There\u2019s a lot of stuff in her purse.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe continued, \u201cShe also veers a little on paranoid. So we\u2019d go out and she\u2019d be like, \u2018Wow, look at those pack of lions!\u2019 And then she\u2019d be like, \u2018Do you see how they\u2019re looking at us? I know that look! We got to get out of here! I\u2019m not kidding. We got to get out of here.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhite, who is currently working on the fourth season of The White Lotus, was creatively encouraged by the experience. \u201cI was like, \u2018Whatever I\u2019ve done in my life and I\u2019m here watching her freak out about these lions, I\u2019ve done something right,’\u201d White said. \u201cShe\u2019s an original character. She\u2019s amazing and I just [wanted to] give her a really meaty part that she could really sink her teeth into.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFallon quipped that White must not be able to leave the house for fear of actors accosting him asking to be on the show. \u201cYeah, going to Hollywood parties used to be more fun,\u201d White admitted. \u201cThing is when you have a show that people want to be on, which I feel, obviously, grateful, you feel you\u2019re rejecting everybody in town.\u201d He added that he hates rejecting people, noting, \u201cYou\u2019re just writing a story and trying to find the right people for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhite re-confirmed that the location for the upcoming season is France, which has previously been reported. \u201cWe\u2019ll be partying in Paris, but it\u2019s not necessarily Paris,\u201d he said. \u201cBut yeah I\u2019m stoked. I\u2019m going to be there for the next 10 months.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe explained that he does partially select the location based on a place that would be nice to spend a lot of time. \u201cIt\u2019s a life hack, man,\u201d White said. \u201cYou have these nice hotels and they give me a really nice room. And then in the room there\u2019s a White Lotus cake for me to eat and champagne.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe White Lotus Season 4 has announced several cast members<\/a> so far, including AJ Michalka, Alexander Ludwig, Steve Coogan, Helena Bonham Carter, and Chris Messina. Season 3<\/a> was shot in Thailand, following seasons in Sicily and Hawaii. <\/p>\n

\n\tCoolidge appeared in the first two seasons before her character was murdered at the end of Season 2. Last year, the actress appeared on<\/a> The Tonight Show and admitted that she missed being on the show. <\/p>\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019ve really missed myself,\u201d Coolidge admitted to host Jimmy Kimmel. \u201cI thought I\u2019d be cool with it, but, yeah, I\u2019m jealous. But\u00a0Mike White\u00a0is a genius and it\u2019s going really well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mike White shared one of his original inspirations behind The White Lotus. The TV series creator and writer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303174,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[156,23570,44039,17758,3343,111,139,69,39037,3344,437],"class_list":{"0":"post-303173","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-jennifer-coolidge","10":"tag-jimmy-fallon","11":"tag-late-night-tv","12":"tag-mike-white","13":"tag-new-zealand","14":"tag-newzealand","15":"tag-nz","16":"tag-the-tonight-show","17":"tag-the-white-lotus","18":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}