Jennifer Coolidge was spectacular in the latest episode of The White Lotus, but it turns out filming the boat scene was the “worst day” in her “entire career”.
We already thought Jennifer Coolidge deserved an Emmy for her spectacular role in The White Lotus.
And now the 59-year-old veteran actress has revealed intimate details about just how difficult it was for her to get into character in the latest episode, making her performance all the more admirable.
Episode three of the Mike White satire comedy, which hit streaming on Foxtel yesterday, saw Coolidge’s Tanya McQuoid charter a boat to spread her mother’s ashes into the ocean in Hawaii, where she’s on holiday.
Tanya was joined by unexpected guests, newlyweds Shane (Jake Lacy) and Rachel Patton (Alexandra Daddario), who thought they were having a private dinner but were now a part of a rather dramatic mourning ceremony with a complete stranger.
It turns out the scenes were just as dramatic when the cameras weren’t rolling, with a seasick Coolidge revealing it was “definitely one of the worst shooting days I’ve ever had in my entire acting career”.
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“I warned Mike (White) that I was seasick. I said I can’t even get on a paddleboard without getting really ill,” Coolidge says.
“He said, ‘We’re going to give you all these things and medicines and you can wear these [seasickness] wristbands’.
“I took it all. I had needles poking me … I did everything I possibly could do to not be sick. And then we got on the boat and it just went horribly wrong.”
The Legally Blonde actress, who said the boat scene involved a three to four-day shoot, revealed she was projectile vomiting into a bucket in between filming.
“The boat was so small so I couldn’t really go below to get sick so I had to just keep getting sick in front of the whole cast. It was so gross,” she said.
“I feel like I took off all of my clothes in front of everybody and just showed them everything.
“I felt like there wasn’t any mystery after that boat stuff.”
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Despite the experience, Coolidge thinks her seasickness and subsequent embarrassment helped her pull off the scene more convincingly.
“When you’re worried about throwing up while you’re saying your lines, I guess it must distract you so it comes out more natural,” Coolidge said.
“It was very important to Mike and he really wanted that in there.”
New episodes of The White Lotus air on Foxtel on Mondays at 11am