WHAT CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT SEASON 3 OF THE WHITE LOTUS ? As Mike said , it ’ ssupersized . We ’ ll do eight episodes , all overThailand . There ’ s alot more locations , alot more cast , and Ithink it ’ ll make for some people , like it has for me , areally very thoughtful introduction to aculture and way of life that is unique and lovely . And , of course , it ’ ll have alot of insensitive and oblivious wealthy Americans along for laughs and strife .
THE WHITE LOTUS : COURTESY OFFABIO LOVINO / HBO ; BOOK : COURTESY OF STEERFORTHPUBLISHING
IN GOOD COMPANY ( Above ) The White Lotus co-producer David Bernad , Jennifer Coolidge , Mark Kamine and Mike White take abreak ; ( below ) in On Locations , Kamine shares stories accrued from acareer working in TV and film .
HOW DID THE SOPRANOS CAST INTERACT WITHEACHOTHER ? They were , I think , very supportive , and that was led by James Gandolfini , who pretty much refused todopress and appearances without including the others , and who literally shared the wealth the show brought him , writing checks to abunch of the core cast when he got the big raise afew years in , buying the crew nice gifts every year , and having an enormous spread of sushi brought out to set every Friday night for the cast and crew . There was some joking around , and Ithink some close friendships formed . Jim and Michael Imperioli were close . And it crossed over into some of the crew . There were acouple of them who were part of Jim ’ s circle .
HOWDID YOUCOMETOBE EXECUTIVE PRODUCER OF THE WHITE
LOTUS ? Imet MikeWhite and his producing partner , David Bernad , in 2016 . And then Iwould talk to them pretty regularly after that about various projects , one of which was aconcept for aroving honeymoon show , which was at Amazon afew years before White Lotus started . They even sent Mike on this amazing trip around Asia to scout for alocation after which , the idea was , he would write the scripts . Itnever happened , but when HBO called him in August 2020 looking for something contained that might be shot during the pandemic , here-tooled the honeymoon show into the murder-mystery social satire the show became . Hewrote the first season in some incredibly brief period , partly when we were quarantining on Maui , locked in our hotel rooms with food dropped off at the door until we got the OK to leave .
IS IT CHALLENGING TO BE AWAY FROM HOME SO LONG ? For the last 17 years , since Ifinished Sopranos , I ’ ve almost never worked in New York . FaceTime helps , and my wife Tana comes along for weeks atatime , sometimes the entire shoot period . And taking alot of time off between jobs to catch up with home is pretty necessary at this stage .
YOU ’ VE WRITTEN BOOK REVIEWS FOR OUTLETS INCLUDING THE NEW YORK TIMES AND THE WALL STREET
JOURNAL , ASWELLASANOVEL CALLED NOT SO FAST . WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE READERS TO TAKE AWAY FROM ON LOCATIONS ? It ’ s the story of how someone ( me ) gets into the film business and figures out how to survive initand balance family life and friendships with ajob that demands long hours and applies its share of stress . Film work is like alot of other demanding careers . You need to manage your time , get along with or around the people who are above you , and figure out what ’ simportant to you and what isn ’ t . The added attraction in this case is having that happen during the making of agreat TV show and a few fine and not-so-fine movies and shows , with appearances and some thoughts on or stories about some very famous people .
JENNIFER COOLIDGE THANKED YOU WHEN SHE WON HER EMMY AWARD IN JANUARY . DID YOU INTERACT A LOTONLOCATION ? Agood amount , yes . Onthe set , always , because I ’ m pretty much always there and so whenever she was working , there was some pretty lively banter , and at dinners now and then . She ’ s ahoot , of course . She ’ s way smarter than she plays . That ’ s abenefit ( and , when the people are not so nice , adeficit ) ofthe producing job — alot more interaction with everyone across the production , cast and crew , about all the stuff that happens when you ’ re away from home for months at a time . Anyway , it was amazingly kind of her to mention me with Mike and Dave ( Bernad ). Iowe her ! n
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