BOOKING a holiday to a White Lotus property anywhere around the world almost certainly guarantees the experience of a lifetime, as seen in HBO’s trippy social satire The White Lotus. Now into its second season on the streamer, the series features a new group of wealthy, eccentric guests exploring the gorgeous sights around the fictional hotel chain’s Sicilian property.
However, there’s trouble brewing in paradise, as the audience slowly learns that each guest is hiding some dark secrets – and that several of them may not make it back from the trip alive.
Despite this seemingly horror movie premise, The White Lotus is more of a black comedy, as series creator Mike White artfully crafts individual storylines that unveil the darker side of human nature, with a liberal sprinkling of biting social commentary.
One of the groups of guests visiting the White Lotus are three men from the Di Grasso family. Grandfather Bert (played by F. Murray Abraham) is there on a quest to rediscover his family’s Sicilian roots, while his son Dominic (Michael Imperioli) is in the midst of a divorce from his wife after she discovered evidence of his infidelity.
Also along for the trip is grandson Albie (Adam DiMarco) a shy but perceptive youth who begins a romance with Portia (Hayley Lu Richardson), secretary to the neurotic Tanya McQuoid (Jennifer Coolidge), the only returning character from season one.
While their journey starts out just like any normal family holiday, cracks soon begin to appear, as it is apparent that Albie is harbouring some resentment over his father’s indiscretions, and it becomes clear that the generational gap between the Di Grassos extends to their opinions about the relationships between men and women.
Dominic also proves to be pivotal in bringing two local Italian women into the hotel, who may yet prove to be new additions to the impending chaos in the otherwise serene atmosphere.
During a recent international press junket to promote The White Lotus, both Abraham and Imperioli offered some insight into their characters, and theSun got to find out whether they themselves had ever been on a similar journey to rediscover their roots.
Murray revealed: “I just did something like that [trip] a month ago in El Paso, Texas, which is where I’m from originally. They did a whole thing for me in my name, for a long weekend. My high school gathering got together and they did a big party and they interviewed me. And I discovered that the people I didn’t like then, I still didn’t like. It was a terrible discovery!”
Getting a little more serious, Abraham added that he was disappointed to find out that so many of his acquaintances had passed on.
“I’m of a certain age,” he said, “and I’m sure that kind of thing was in my mind when we were shooting this, in Sicily. Because there are many things you want to do before you die, and I think this is one of them – to discover one’s roots. I think this was a great journey for the three of them (the characters).”
Imperioli, who is of Italian descent, went on his own journey of discovery at age 26 when he travelled to Rome, where his family originated from. “There’s still family there,” he said. “I had the phone number of a cousin, and when I called them, in my very broken Italian, I told them who I was ... and they invited me to come over to eat.”
Upon arriving there, Imperioli was served some pasta with sauce, and he discovered that the sauce was exactly the same as the one made by his own family in New York.
“And that blew my mind,” he said. “The recipe travelled to America. When I realised that, something really profound happened. And then, 10 years later I took my kids to Rome to meet them, and we got to see the extended family, and that was really meaningful.”
Despite the fact that there is some tension between the characters they play, both actors said that they enjoyed acting with each other and also with DiMarco.
Abraham said: “There’s no way for me to separate the personal relationship I have with these two men (Imperioli and DiMarco) from the script, because we got along so well and we had such respect for each other. It was transferred from our private rehearsals that we conducted ourselves, because we cared so much, to the set. And what turned out to be three different men, turned out to be a unit, a family.
“I don’t want to [reveal] too much than that, except to tell you that it was a good, a fine thing from the very beginning. As individuals and as characters. Partly because of the excellent writing, and partly because of the artistry of the actors.”
Considering the potential for drama that The White Lotus has, it would be interesting to see how the family dynamic of the Di Grassos holds up as the season progresses.
You can catch new episodes of The White Lotus season 2 every Monday on HBO GO and HBO (Astro Ch 411).
