The White Lotus star says Jennifer Coolidge is a "very singular human being"
Tom Hollander was full of admiration for his co-star. **Warning: This article contains spoilers for The White Lotus season 2**
The cast of The White Lotus have been waxing lyrical about co-star Jenifer Coolidge, who plays melancholic heiress Tanya McQuoid in Mike White's satirical drama.
The series, which returned for season 2 last month, sees Coolidge's character - who is one of the few returning from the show's first season - embark on another holiday at the White Lotus Sicily.
Chatting to RadioTimes.com and other press about the actor, Leo Woodall (Jack) was full of praise, saying: "She's very funny. She's very warm and sweet. She's clearly a master of what she does, and incredibly humble and generous. She was lovely."
Tom Hollander (Quentin) echoed Woodall, adding: "She's a very singular human being, and being able to share some scenes with her in this character was a great thrill and privilege. She's very vulnerable as well as being hilarious and clever and beautiful. We had some good chats."
Woodall also revealed that Coolidge would "make up the most random lines at any point", adding: "She's so good. There was a dinner scene. It was the first scene we all had together and she started saying, 'I saw a squid on the beach today the size of a wheelbarrow.'
"It came out of nowhere [laughs]."
In the series's latest episode, Tanya stumbled upon Jack and Quentin having sex, which is concerning given the pair are supposedly uncle and nephew – "You'll have to see," White told Variety.
"There's a pleasure to me as a guy who is gay-ish to make gay sex transgressive again," he explained. "It's dirty… men are having sex and you have this 'Psycho' music underneath. It just amuses me."
He continued: "I just think transgressive sex is sexier. I guess I'm old school. There's this Gothic vibe of walking through a haunted hotel or haunted house and people are having sex behind closed doors."
Woodall said that he was "speechless for a while" when he first learned what was in store for his character, adding, "Anything that Mike White does with this show is kind of perfect, so there were no reservations about it. It felt like an incredibly 'wow' moment."
Hollander said that he was "excited" for viewers to see it, but he also had a "tiny bit of anxiety".
"I'm not quite sure what it's to do with — but mostly I'm excited."
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Authors
Abby Robinson is the Drama Editor for Radio Times, covering TV drama and comedy titles. She previously worked at Digital Spy as a TV writer, and as a content writer at Mumsnet. She possesses a postgraduate diploma and a degree in English Studies.
