France wasn’t originally in the mix for season 4 of Mike White‘s hit anthology series “The White Lotus,” but it won the shoot in the most “White Lotus” way imaginable, with a perfectly “stereotypical” French waiter encounter in Cannes.
“Something happened, actually here in Cannes,” producer David Bernad said during a session at Cannes Series Festival, which White attended in 2021. “We went to dinner and we had a really specific experience with a waiter and a maître d’, and it was the stereotype. It was a very funny moment. And I think that it suddenly unlocked what the show is and the dynamics of the show.”
The epiphany was immediate. “We literally canceled all the other places we were going. We were like, okay, we’re shooting here,” he said.
That moment also matched the idea that White already had for this season, which was “about the arts and what it is to be an artist” — themes the city that hosts the world’s most prestigious film festival amplifies.
Bernad revealed that he had experienced the festival first-hand in his late 20s when he presented a film he had produced. “I’ll never forget coming here. It was the first time as a producer I felt people respected me,” he said. “There’s nowhere grander than the film festival for artists, it’s the biggest dream on Earth.”
While the plot details remains tightly under wraps, Bernard teased that season 4 centers on the loneliness and pain of being an artist — and “how fame can be corrosive and can dictate your choices in life.”
“Who are the people that can grab the world’s attention, who are the plus-one in a relationship, who’s the person who has that power, what are the things that satisfy us as people? Is it the love of an intimate partner? Is it the love of strangers? Is it the attention of the world?”
It’s White’s “most personal season,” he added, “and it’s the funniest season as well.”
Season 4 has been filming with a French crew at the Chateau de la Messardière in Saint-Tropez for roughly two weeks, and will soon head to the Martinez Hotel in Cannes during the May film festival, as well as Monaco and Paris, where it will shoot interiors during the summer .
News broke Friday that Helena Bonham Carter had departed the production as her role was being recast. During the panel, Bernad didn’t address Carter’s exit but spoke about French cast members Vincent Cassel and Nadia Tereszkiewicz. “The most exciting part so far has been working with them. It’s funny because I don’t speak French, but I’m sitting on set and those scenes are in French. And they’re so expressive, and they’re such incredible artists,” he said. The French cast also includes Laura Smet, who attended the funeral of her late mother, the actor Nathalie Baye, Friday in Paris.
Season 4 also stars Steve Coogan, Caleb Jonte Edwards, Dylan Ennis, Corentin Fila, Ari Graynor, Marissa Long, Alexander Ludwig, Chris Messina, AJ Michalka, Kumail Nanjiani; Chloe Bennet, Sandra Bernhard, Heather Graham, Max Greenfield, Frida Gustavsson, Charlie Hall, Jarrad Paul, Rosie Perez and Ben Schnetzer.
Leave a Reply