HBO’s satire comedy-drama anthology The White Lotus premiered its second season over the weekend. After Hawaii and Sicily, stars Jennifer Coolidge and Jon Gries teased Bali as a possible destination for future seasons.
The series follows a week in the life of the guests and employees of White Lotus, a fictional resort chain. As the story progresses, the darker complexities of the picture-perfect vacationers and the employees begin to unravel.
According to Rotten Tomatoes’ critics’ consensus following the second season’s premiere, “The White Lotus remains a cookie full of arsenic that goes down smooth.”
In an interview recently, actor Jon Gries, who plays a White Lotus guest who connects with Tanya, played by Jennifer Coolidge AKA Stifler’s mom, mentioned Bali as one destination he would be interested in for The White Lotus.
“Or Bali, because there’s surfing, you know,” said Gries in the interview, after mentioning Maldives.
Coolidge, who was also in the interview, immediately responded, “Oh that’s good!”
Coolidge also mentioned that she and series creator Mike White were on a trip to Africa several years ago and she would love to see a White Lotus chain there.
Bali already has some clout in Hollywood, especially since Eat, Pray, Love starring Julia Roberts. Earlier this year, Roberts “returned” to Bali, this time with George Clooney, for the drama-comedy Ticket to Paradise. We put quotation marks there because they actually filmed the movie in Australia due to complexities in shooting a film amid pandemic restrictions in Bali.
All in all, with Bali’s tourism more or less back in full swing, one may wonder if the island will provide the setting for future movies and TV shows. As for The White Lotus, it would be interesting to see the show satirize wealthy patrons in a Bali resort.
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