Was Jennifer Coolidge the single inspiration behind ‘The White Lotus’
Jennifer Coolidge has perhaps made the biggest and most unexpected comeback of the last few years, with a wildly entertaining return to the screen as the character of Tanya Reynolds in Mike White’s luxurious satire, The White Lotus.
Coolidge plays an extremely wealthy woman who has become trapped by her own sense of freedom, stuck in a gilded cage as she wanders around expensive hotels in search of love and a sense of purpose. And while her story is inherently sad, Coolidge’s portrayal of Tanya makes it impossible not to laugh at the ridiculous quandaries and low-level tragedies that fill her holiday, whether it be an accidental suicide in the final season of the show, the extreme paranoia induced by the company of many gay men, or her reluctant acceptance of the hotel’s lack of Oreo cookie cake (which might be, my favourite throwaway line of recent times). As a result, Coolidge has become one of the show’s most loved characters, and the actor herself recently revealed an interesting backstory to the creation of Miss Reynolds.
For Coolidge and White, The White Lotus was not their first rodeo together after previously working together on the 2009 film Gentlemen Broncos. After the shoot, Coolidge was supposed to go on holiday with White and his partner to Africa. However, there was a small hitch in this plan, and White’s partner ended up not going, leaving the two of them alone on this extravagant holiday. This is all too similar to Tanya’s storyline in season two of The White Lotus, with her character being abandoned by her fiancée on holiday due to his ‘work commitments’, severely disrupting her plan to live like Monica Vicci and ride around on a moped with her betrothed.
Coolidge and White spent a fair bit of time alone together in Africa (which on its own would be a fantastic concept for a reality TV show), and Coolidge admitted that she let out her “unfiltered side”, which inadvertently became the inspiration for many of Tanya’s antics at the White Lotus hotel. White also observed on this trip that Coolidge was feeling a little sad about not being in a relationship, and she would watch wedding videos on her phone in the middle of the night.
Of course, this also mirrors her character’s arc in season one, with Tanya embarking on a mission to find love and find fulfilment outside of her wealth and eventually finding her fiancée at the Hawaiian branch of the hotel.
After Coolidge’s acceptance speech at the Golden Globes for her role in the show, many people drew parallels between herself and Tanya Reynolds, which isn’t so surprising after learning about her African holiday with the writer and director.
While Coolidge will not be in the third season of the show, who knows how many other anecdotes White has from the fabled trip that could be incorporated into the story and that maybe Coolidge’s legacy will continue to influence the characters of the other eccentric guests at the infamous White Lotus hotel.
