One of my favorite scenes of the entire season is when she and Zion are negotiating with Greg, and she pulls this fake out, which does not seem like something that Belinda would have in her back pocket. Has that always been part of her character, and we’re finally getting to see it here?
Well, one, it’s my favorite scene also because I pitched that moment to Mike. We worked together on each of Belinda’s scenes, and I pitched ideas, and he’s just so collaborative, and I’m so grateful. And originally, that scene, Belinda didn’t say anything. She didn’t do anything. It was just Zion. He was just like, “I’ll handle this.” And he steps in and saves his mom. And I told Mike about the scene. I was just like, it would be amazing to give Belinda some agency in this moment to see her, for once, not lean on Tanya to save her dreams, not lean on her son to save her ass in this moment, but to see her realize her own agency in this moment. What if she jumps into the negotiation? He’s like, “Ooh, no, this is interesting. Let me work on this.” And he sent me pages afterwards, and it was the scene that we shot, and I was like, “This is so genius to show her playing chess while everyone’s playing checkers.” And we see that she sees in that moment, and John plays it so expertly, we shot a lot of coverage of that scene. And I would watch him as Zion’s talking, and I see him realizing he’s against the ropes, and that’s when Belinda realizes, oh, I can actually get this money here. Let’s roll. So I don’t think that it was her doing something that is outside of her character. I think she decided to lean into that part of her that plays people. I mean, she works at the White Lotus in Maui. She’s playing these guests constantly. She’s pretending that She’s this magical negro that’s going to rub the sadness out of their bodies and she’s good at reading people. And so in this moment, we see her poker face really shine, and I’m just so grateful that Mike was able to take that note and make it even better than I could dream of.
Has Mike said whether this is the end of Belinda’s story, or is it, listen five down a couple of years down the road, she might return? Does he even talk in those terms at all?
No, no. I’ve never heard him speak to me in those terms. I don’t know about the other actors, but I think that he’s way too present to do that much forethought in this moment. I think that once he gets into season four, he’ll figure that piece out, and Lord knows I will literally go wherever he wants me to go if he’s just like, “I need a cameo. Can you come to wherever, Timbuktu?” I’d be like, “Yes!” I just love working with someone who’s so giving and so smart and brings the best out of me. He’s just an amazing director and writer. And so I don’t know what the future holds for Belinda, but I did the same thing I did in season one as I say goodbye, because I never want to hold on to a character with the hope that someone might bring them back. I’m so grateful for her. And so I had a little moment, my last day on set, and I just said a quiet goodbye to her and wished her the best. But Mike writes this line for Belinda at the end. It’s just like, “We got to get out of here. I want to be hard to find.” So, there’s this ominous tone in it, so it’s just like, “Goodbye, Belinda, I love you, but keep your head on a swivel, look alive, girl. Look alive.”
When you read this, there are obviously scenes and storylines you were not part of, and unlike other shows, you’ve read everything ahead of time…
Weeks, months…
Was there one scene or one moment without Belinda that you were most curious about?
I mean, I was just like the sex scene with the brothers, I was just like, “Whoa.” And obviously, there’s privacy and coordinators and stuff, so I wasn’t asked for that. I would always be like, “How’s your head? How’s your heart?” And so that day, I think I definitely checked in with them, and yeah, I remember checking with Parker [Posey]. She and I got really close on set, and I asked her about walking in on when she does the brutal animalistic scream when she thinks that Tim has shot himself. And I was like, that had to have been heavy. And we’re shooting in the Four Seasons, and we’re also living there. So, I’m minding my own black business in my room, and I hear this animalistic scream because we’re shooting at the Cabana next door. So I’m like, “How did today go? Is everything O.K.? Do you need a drink? Let’s go down to the bar or something.” So, there are all these little moments that I just heard of, but I didn’t see them until I watched them with the audience. And so it was cool to see those moments and how powerful they were.
I feel like no one’s talked about this. I just assumed the resorts are so big, and maybe it was different in Hawaii, but was the set so contained that you’d get up in the morning and maybe you weren’t on the schedule that day, but everybody knows, “Hey, between nine and whatever, stay quiet, don’t be loud, don’t play music.” Were there rules like that?
Oh yeah, no, I am surprised people have it. No, there are moments where…this is a very funny one. They were shooting the final shootout scene with Walton [Goggins] and everyone, and I wasn’t in that scene. I was off that day, but my hotel room and the exit to the hotel were on opposite sides of where they were shooting. So, it was like me waiting, and as soon as they called cut, I was running through and there’s smoke and all this stuff and, as an actor, I don’t want to make eye contact with any of the other actors to take them out of their moment. So, I’m trying to walk through the scene, and they’ve got dummies in the water floating, and I’m like, “Sorry guys, I got to go get some pizza for lunch.” It’s so strange. But yeah, we shot at four or five, maybe six different hotels, honestly. So, depending on the location, you could hear what’s going on. I was the asshole that took over the spa all the time, so they knew, “Oh, we can’t get our massages at this hotel doing all the Natasha scenes today.” And so yeah, it’s all happening together. It’s beautifully chaotic because you’re just texting the DP or the anAD d just being like, “Can I walk through this way?” And “Yeah, no, you can do that, but we’re shooting something now, so you’re going to have to go around the long way”. And so I’d be like, great…”
So some of your co-stars have said that it was tougher than they thought, but you’d already gone through it. Do you think it was a tougher experience than they thought it would be?
I think there are a myriad of reasons. I think the weather, I am sure you’ve heard this from everyone, it’s just, and it bears repeating. It’s very hard to act in such brutal heat and try to maintain a modicum of decency when you’re sitting in a puddle of your own making and you’re trying to get through a scene and trying to keep your face from falling on your chest, and God bless her makeup artist. But yeah, I think there are a lot of things that made it difficult. Scenes would be interrupted because elephants would be roaring in the jungle for overnight scenes, and it was just a lot of coverage because in season one, I can’t remember the total headcount, but 19 people on screen needed coverage during those big dinner scenes. And that’s just brutal because you’re there and when you’re shooting and you’ve got your coverage going on, that’s great, but then you’re in the background for 18 other takes and so it’s just in the heat and it’s hot and it’s sticky and it’s just like, ‘”Yep.” And you’re constantly asking the AD, “Am I in the shot at all, or can I go run and get some air conditioning, please?” And there’s a lot of flexibility. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever done to work and to be in sleeping arrangements and play with the same people. You don’t do that. You don’t have this full life cycle with the people you act with. Usually there’s a little bit of a break, but everyone’s business who’s got diarrhea, the stomach issues, the curry’s bad. Great. Got it. You’re intimately involved with your co-stars, and that’s hard. It’s hard, but I think that we did it the best we could, and I wouldn’t have come back if I didn’t love it.
When you guys shot the first season, it was in COVID, and one of the appeals of it was everyone could be tested and be in a safe sort of group because of the bubble. Did you try to warn people at all before you went overseas, like, “Hey…”
Oh yeah, I sent a text out. It’s so funny. So the iconic arrival scene is one of the more brutal days because it’s a group scene, it’s on the water, we’re reliant on the boat, and it can be bedlam sometimes of just like we got to catch one. And so I sent this text out to all the actors, as Belinda being looking forward to your arrival at the Four Seasons. Remember to charge your devices because it’s going to be a long ass day, bring a granola bar, bring something to read. There’s a lot of hurry up and wait. And sure enough, the first day we went out to shoot the arrival scene, it was not typhoon, but the rainy season, so we had to scrap the day because the rain came and we were waiting in these cabanas for hours to see if the rain would clear. And I was so grateful that I’d send that text because everyone had a good disposition because it was a s**t day. You’re up in hair and makeup at the crack of dawn, and you’re waiting, and then you lose the day of the rain, and then you do it again, and it’s also just as chaotic. But we got through it, and so I tried to let people know that this is an adventure. It’s like adventure acting. It’s not your run-of-the-mill sort of like, “let me go wait in video village or wait in my trailer.” There were no trailers.
No trailers like an indie movie, but an HBO show.
And an HBO budget. So, it was very different.
Having now worked with Mike, gosh, you’ve now spent what, nine months with him?
Well, yeah, five and a half this one, and then for the other one, yeah, about nine months.
All these fans make all these guesses about where the next season would be and who should be cast, etc. Considering your experience with Mike, what would you tell them? Not what you think it’s going to be, but how would you suggest to them Mike creatively works to, I don’t know, I’m not trying to put words in your mouth, but I feel like people, fan cast in ways that I’m like, “No, he would never do that. It’s too obvious.” Am I wrong?
Yeah, I think he doesn’t cast, in my opinion, to meet some sort of public expectation or even studio obligation. He has an idea of the story that he’s telling, and he can envision who he wants to do it. I don’t think any other director of “White Lotus” would’ve cast me as Belinda in season one. I’m classically trained in drama and went to theater school, but I cut my teeth in comedy and had been doing a lot of comedy, and Belinda is so tender and had no jokes in season one. Tanya had that down pat. So, I think he saw in me what I have always seen in me, which is my capacity to do both. And it’s an unconventional casting choice, and I think that he’s always going to subvert expectations. So, I feel like audiences can throw spaghetti against the wall and hope something sticks. But I think ultimately, Mike is the cook. He’s going to make something delicious, just sit back and be entertained.
My last question for you is, and I do apologize, as someone who covers the movie business as my primary job and as an awards person, I have never seen a complete “Sonic the Hedgehog” movie. [Natasha laughs.] That is one of the biggest franchises out there. It’s made almost a billion dollars.
It is huge.
And listen, I know we live in LA, no one’s going to bug you when you go to the store or whatever, but when you go to other parts of the country, do you get recognized more for “Sonic” or for “White Lotus”?
Right now, “White Lotus,” it’s been kind of full on. Anywhere I go, people are “White Lotus,” but Sonic is surprising. I will have celebrities come up to me and say, “I have seen you a hundred times because I have a child who has watched ‘Sonic,’ and can I take a picture of you for my kid?” It has happened multiple times where it’s so funny to me, and I’m in all of them, but briefly, it’s not even my movie. It’s clearly Jim Carrey’s movie, and James Marsden and Tika Sumpter, and I’m there for fun. But I do what I think I usually do in films where I’m not the lead. I did it in “Love, Simon.” I make the small big. There are no small parts. Truly. I love being able to take on characters and make them pop on screen. I feel like it is one of my superpowers. And so yeah, I get people all the time, they’re just like, “I’m so sorry to stop you, but are you that woman who drove the golf cart and it exploded?” I’m like, “Yeah.” They’re like, “I love this so much.” The evening before parties for the Emmys parties is so funny. I get approached for ‘Sonic’ a lot there. A lot of people have kids who watch them.
In about seven years, maybe eight, maybe five, there will be a whole generation of 18-year-olds that every time they are randomly see you somewhere at an airport, they’re going to do a double-take because they didn’t watch “The White Lotus,” they saw you in the “Sonic” movies.
You’re right, you’re very right.
By the way. That’s not a bad thing for a career.
Listen, I am not complaining. I brought my nephew to the premiere. He’s 15 now, and at the time he was at 13, I think, and he’s now the most popular kid in his school.
That’s amazing. Well, I know another one’s coming, so I hope you get the call.
Me too. Me too
“The White Lotus” is available on MAX.
