The career of Jennifer Coolidge is filled with memorable roles. But with "The White Lotus," she finally got some respect.
Jennifer Coolidge has a career full of memorable roles, from the “American Pie” franchise to the “Legally Blonde” series and the mock documentaries of Christopher Guest. But it wasn’t until her role in HBO’s hit “The White Lotus” that she finally earned critical respect. Today, Coolidge talks about her life and career — and what’s next. Read the full transcript here.
Hosts: Mark Olsen and Yvonne Villarreal
Guests: Jennifer Coolidge
More reading:
Jennifer Coolidge gets vulnerable
Jennifer Coolidge dreamed of being a dramatic actor. ‘White Lotus’ was her chance e-envelope-podcast
Gustavo: Hey, what’s up? It’s Gustavo Arellano, and you’re listening to The Times, essential news from the L.A. Times.
It’s Friday, August 5, 2022.
It’s Emmys season, and for the next couple of weeks, we’re featuring interviews with nominees from our sister podcast, The Envelope.
Today, we’re sharing a conversation with Jennifer Coolidge. For her role as Tanya McQuoid [MC-WAD] in “The White Lotus,” Coolidge is nominated for outstanding supporting actress in a limited series.
The show was awesome, and Tanya in particular was a great character. She’s this extremely wealthy woman who goes to the luxury resort to spread her mother’s ashes, but she ends up on a hilarious and heartbreaking journey. Mike White, the creator of the show, wrote this role with Coolidge in mind, and she definitely delivered on the social satire aspect of it all….
Envelope mux in
Hello, I'm Mark Olson. And I'm Yvonne. We're back with another episode of the envelope, the LA times podcast, where we dive in deep with your favorite stars in TV and film. And mark, you already know this from my slack messages, but I'm very excited about today's guests. You know, she's best known for her scene, stealing work in both sitcoms and in films.
And as I'm sure, you know, as of late, she's become a to sensation of sorts for the sheer volume of people imitating the unmistakable way that she can say something like,
hi, hi, I'm talking of course about Jennifer. Cool. I'm excited for this conversation, because I think Jennifer's one of those performers where we've seen her for so many years now. And yet she still is like revealing new parts of herself. You know, I think of the sort of absurdist energy that she brought to say promising young woman, where of course there's her roles in the Christopher guest films, like a mighty wind.
Or best in show where she played this poodle owner who was married to a much, much older man. I love the films that come to mind for you versus the ones that come to mind for me, I go straight to her role as Fiona Hillary Duff's evil stepmother in a Cinderella story. And of course my personal favorite Paulette, the lovable manicurist in legally blonde.
I mean, that may be her signature. Well today, Jennifer joins us to talk about her performance as Tanya McQuad McQuad McQuad McQuad McQuad McQuad right. are you Ms. McQuaid quad one syllable record? Well, two syllables, but the second part is syllable. Mac is it Gaelic? I dunno. I really don't know. Okay. It's Tanya McQuad in HBO's white Lotus.
You know, this is a show that's got this amazing cast. There's Connie Briton, Jake Lacey, Natasha Rothwell. But so many people are talking about Jennifer's performance as Tanya. You know, she plays this extremely wealthy woman grieving the recent death of her mother, and she goes to this luxury resort with plans to spread her ashes, but ends up on this hilarious.
And weird and heartbreaking journey. I mean, she wrenches so much patho instead of just trying to get other people to pronounce her name correctly. It's one of the things that's so great about Jennifer's performance in white Lotus is that it has everything that we sort of know her for and like her for, but then there's this emotional aspect to it that like we've never really seen.
Yeah. I mean, what's so interesting is that Jennifer didn't end up in this role by accident, her friend, Mike White, who's the creator writer and director of white Lotus wrote this role with her in mind. And. You know, I would venture to say she delivered. It's been a revelation to see the level of vulnerability that she brings to a social satire, especially one that's sort of meant to depict the darker side of wealth white Lotus.
White Lotus…when I watched it, It was so clear to me how unaware rich people are of other people's suffering, but that it's not a conscious thing. Like, as sad as it is that, you know, a lot of wealthy people are just living off the grid in their sort of a, you know, they're a world that isn't very real. It was the first time where I wasn't judgmental of them because it's just their... All their self-centered fear and all their self-centered stuff really comes from the cocoon that they build, and it's all very unconscious. And so it made me sort of... I know this sounds weird, but sympathize.
CLIP: White Lotus - Tanya & Belinda at the spa 1
My mom passed away in June
I’m so sorry
Dealing with all of the logistics you know it was just exhausting. And I’m still dealing with it….
Yvonne: You know, you give a really layered and complex performance that is both hilarious and vulnerable, but particularly in scenes opposite Natasha Rothwell, who plays Belinda, the spa manager at the resort.
CLIP: White Lotus - Tanya & Belinda at the spa 2
Why do you think you’re so tired?
I think its cuz I’m so close to floor
Yvonne: Let's talk about that dynamic between them. Like what fascinated you about their relationship between Tanya and Belinda?
Jennifer: Tanya had been all over the world, and Tanya is incredibly wealthy. Like has insane money. she's buying her happiness with at least travel and spa and massage, and you know, and I feel like Tanya, out of all the characters in certain ways, had more empathy than any of them.
CLIP: White Lotus - Tanya & Belinda at the spa
I can’t rid of like this really empty feeling… I want someone to figure it out for me
//But// I felt like, you know, she really did like Belinda a lot and wanted to help her and really thought she was a genius because she, you know, had been all over the world and had fancy treatments from everybody and this woman had really figured something out.
and wanted to reward her for that and sort of set her up. But I liked that it was, uh, she had really strong feelings for her, for Belinda and was unable to fulfill all the incredibly generous ideas that, she so wanted to make happen.
Yvonne: Right.
Jennifer: And just got caught up.
CLIP: White Lotus - Tanya & Belinda at the spa 3
Feel the newness of each moment…
Yvonne: Both you and Natasha are known for these outlandish, you know, larger than life performances in your comedy, but like both of you too in this show are going deeper in your performances. what was it like doing that with someone like Natasha? Like, how did she help you navigate those scenes and vice versa?
Jennifer: I don't know if she and I discussed it that much. But I do think in some weird way, I feel like the... You know, certainly for me, the isolation of COVID, made it so much easier. and I don't know if I've ever had that advantage in my life where I was doing a job, where all I had to do was the job. You know what I mean? I didn't have to
///
…you know, it was like nine months of isolation at my house. And then leading up to just, you know, being in Hawaii, putting this bubble where you couldn't go outside the gates and you couldn't really go anywhere and you were just sort of forced to be your character. juggle a bunch of other things like, // I mean the world really sort of came to a halt. // You know, it was like it was like, you know. nine months of isolation at my house and then leading up to just, you know, being in Hawaii, put in this bubble where you couldn't go outside the gates and you were just sort of forced to be your character.
CLIP: White Lotus - Tanya Meltdown / “core of the onion”
somehow it was the most pure environment I've ever been able to have on an acting job.//
just for me, it was just a huge advantage. I don't know if I'll ever have that again.
Yvonne: Hmm. I mean.I really struggled at the beginning of the pandemic, like it was really hard for me. Like I thought everyone I loved was like, about to die, you know, I didn't know what to make of it. And it was just like anxiety all the time. Like how was how is the early days of the pandemic for you? And then to go back, like you said, into a different kind of isolation. But one that was like not as maybe gloom and doom.
MUSIC: Courtship from the White Lotus Soundtrack
Jennifer: I felt like, you know, being locked up during COVID was sort of like an acid trip or something, it was some sort of weird. I felt like I had taken some really weird drug because all of these scenes in my life were being played out. And I wasn't taking any drugs, I was just eating a lot. - I wasn't drinking, you know, I wasn't drinking alcohol. I just, I felt like each day was sort of like I was hallucinating because like my mother's death came up all of these things, and I think it was just because. You know, I didn't really think we were going to survive the COVID thing, I mean, I really didn't. I just thought. You know, I thought it was just a matter of time before it got all of us. And I felt like the moment was just lingering outside.
MUSIC fade out
I think that's what it isI got so in touch with what it would be like to exit the world and. Hopefully, all the people I see again, if I did, you know, pass away, so it was all those thoughts, and so I think it really for for a character that's sort of never recovered from someone's death, it was this perfect recipe for creating something.
MUSIC fade out
GUSTAVO: More with Jennifer Coolidge on “The Envelope,” after this break.
BREAK 1
GUSTAVO: Ok…. back to the Jennifer Coolidge’s interview on “The Envelope” podcast. Here’s host Yvonne VIllareal.
Yvonne: Well, you were just talking about grief, and there's a scene where you're giving a very uncomfortable yet painfully vulnerable eulogy for your dead mother during a boat ride with, you know, a bunch of strangers.
CLIP: White Lotus - Boat Scene
Yvonne: It felt so real and spur of the moment, and I know the boat ride itself was a challenge for you. I think you got seasick. What was it like for you playing that scene and like, did you do any improv during it?
Low Ambi - Boat Scene Ctd & Spreading Mother’s Ashes
Jennifer: The actual monologue that Mike wrote, the actual eulogy was 100 percent written by Mike White.
Jennifer: But The other parts on the boat, like, you know. All the throwing, the ashes and things like the stuff I added while throwing the ashes that was improv-ed, wrote. And I think it was just I think people sort of saw how maybe that I was // vulnerable and that reason why I was vulnerable was not actually my acting. It was because the people on the boat were very close to me. The boat was very small and all the actors were around me. They had nowhere to go and. I was throwing up into a bucket like, you know, two inches away from everybody. And there was nothing I could do because I was so seasick. And what happened was, It felt like I was having a gynecological exam in front of all the actors. I mean, it was just so...
Yvonne: Wow.
Jennifer: I've never felt more vulnerable because there was nothing I could do, but I couldn't hide the, you know, vomiting. And so I guess it sort of worked when I had to give the eulogy, it was just the same moment I had to like throw up and then give the eulogy and then throw up again. And by that point, I guess I was like, well, you guys have seen it all. You guys have just seen everything. Uh, that was a really rough, really rough day.
Yvonne: It sounds really rough. I mean, a huge, a huge part of why it resonated, like your depiction of grief, it just felt so raw and you touched on this earlier. But tell me more about what you were drawing from when playing Tanya.
MUSIC - Deliberation
Jennifer: I mean, I think maybe COVID felt like round two of something that I experienced in, my early 30s, which was, you know, the passing of my mother, it was very unexpected. She was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in like August or September and then was dead by... by November. It was a very quick thing and, you know, it's just one of those things that happens in your life where you're like just completely. I mean, I just that was sort of beyond what my little brain could handle. I think it was just just devastating, and I think what was most devastating about it was just, you know, you're so... I mean look, not everybody in the world, but I felt like I was so self-centered in my teenage years and my 20s, and then you're just starting to like, become a person in your thirties where you notice other people and you realize how cool your parents are and then you know, and then my mother, you know, as life was just cut short and... Yeah, I think it was very traumatic, I don't think I ever, you know, could really recover from it.
MUSIC out
Yvonne: You know, I lost my father almost five years ago, and, you know, I definitely obviously went through a hard time. Much like Tanya, I had a complicated relationship with him, but it was interesting because, you know, I went through the hard time, but it was it did resurface during COVID in ways like I didn't see coming. And that's why I think I connected with with the Tanya character because like I would just like cry out of nowhere for like no reason in particular. But it was in, like, thinking about my dad during COVID. It was just like all these weird... It was like I was processing it again because I was thinking. “Who can I lose next?” kind of thing like, did you find that that was sort of going through your head in a way?
Jennifer: Yes.
// Jennifer: I - for some reason, the COVID thing made it all feel very fresh. //
// But, you know //
// Jennifer: I’m really, I'm sorry to hear that about your dad.
Yvonne: No, I mean, I'm sorry to hear about your mom, it's like that thing of I thought it would happen a lot later in life. You're never prepared, but yeah, it's life, I guess. You know what I mean?
Jennifer: Yeah. And I think it's also too like Because you feel like you're going to be around forever, I think what makes you the saddest is just the regrets that, you know, you're like, Oh my God, I didn't fly back to Massachusetts for that Thanksgiving that I missed with, you know, I mean, like, you think you have like, thirty more Thanksgivings with someone or 30 more, you know summer vacations to have with your parents or whatever like this, and then you then all of a sudden that doesn't, you know, that's very clear that that's not going to happen, and --
Yvonne: Yeah,
Jennifer: -- and then it makes you angry at yourself and wishing you had been, been able to see the future. You know //
//Yvonne: As you mentioned before, your mother died right before you landed your big gig on Seinfeld and I know you've said like the last thing she said to you was, I can't believe it. And I'm sort of curious like, what do you think she meant by that? And what do you think she'd have to say about the journey you've been on and the success that has happened since then?
Jennifer: Well, I think. You know, my mother was lucky in love and had this amazing, amazing love affair with my father and was madly in love with him, and he was in love with her and it was this great thing. But I think my mother's worry was that she wouldn't have any dreams outside of love, you know, because women back then didn't really, you know, it wasn't so career oriented. And I think my mother's fear was projecting onto me like, I mean, in other words, I think my mother was like. “Oh, my God.” When she says “I can't believe it,” I think she was thinking, “you'll get to have the experience I won't be able to have.”//
CLIP: Piano & applause from Shine
Jennifer: Geoffrey Rush at the end of this movie, was it. I think it was called it like Shine or something where he's the pianist? And I remember at the very end of the movie, he was sobbing whatever, and I remember I was watching that when I was younger and I remember thinking, like, how did he do that? How would you possibly be able to do that? And then what happens is. COVID happens and you’re in Hawaii, reliving your mother's death. And it all seems to be very easy. I mean, you don't. I mean, it wasn't. It was a time where we all had to feel our feelings and you can either completely block them out or you, you really have to feel them.
Yvonne: Mmhmm. And it can be like a slippery slope of like how not to stay in that state of mind, like how to pull yourself out of it.
Jennifer: Right, right.
Yvonne: Not easy.
(few second of music up)
GUSTAVO: We’ll be back in a minute.
BREAK 2
GUSTAVO: Welcome back to our re-run of Jennifer Coolidge’s conversation with Yvonne VIllareal on the Envelope. Let’s get back to it.
Yvonne: Well, we don't know much about you outside of the characters you usually play, and I I've always been curious like, can you tell me about the younger Jennifer Coolidge? Tell me about your childhood? Like what? What were you like?
Jennifer: Well. I think. I don’t know, I was kind of out to lunch, to be honest. I mean, and I'm not exaggerating that. Like I'm not just sort of -- that's not my observation of that I was out to lunch. My parents were extremely worried about who I was because would just I wasn't really present, I was always sort of, like, off in my head and staring out the window or not not listening to what anyone was saying. I was sort of inside my own mind, and so my parents kept. I lived in a little town outside of Boston, and my parents every year would, you know, since the age of like four or five, they would drive into Boston and have me tested.
to see if I was like. You know, not mentally retarded.
Yvonne: Hmm.
Jennifer: You know, they thought that I was retarded because. I wasn't really, you know, really. You know. Very present, I was sort of in my head and
Jennifer: and so what happened was like, you know, the tests that they give you are very basic things like that. It would be like, you know, put the mouse in the hole and, you know, put their, you know, draw draw the escape through the maze and Hmm. And what ends up happening is. I was able to because I had to go because my parents were testing me every year, I like memorized the test.
So I could. I mean, I had it, you know, I just knew where, you know, I knew all the answers. But I thought that was I think my parents were incredibly worried, I mean, I could I could hear them. They used to my
Yvonne: Huh.
Jennifer: My bedroom was not far from the kitchen. I could hear my parents talking about me and they were just like, “Oh my God, what are we going to do?” You know? “What's going to become of her?”
Yvonne: [00:44:14] What is the word when? How did you process that? [00:44:18][4.3]
Jennifer: [00:44:19] Well, yeah, you'd think that you know you should grow up thinking like you're something, there's something really wrong with you because they're, you know, your parents are testing you and then you're. And they weren't like, you know, it wasn't. It was out of concern. It wasn't like, you know, we hate our kid, but they were just, they thought, you know, and I was, you know, maybe autistic or something, you know, a retarded or, you know, mentally retarded something where I wasn't like. Really iving in the world? Not not, not really the sort of unreachable. And so I think, you know.
MUSIC - Just a Memory
Jennifer: Like, it's I'm I'm sad they're not alive, because then they could sort of see that you know, I'm not fully. You know, they can see that. You know, I I I've been able to support myself. I mean, my father actually got to witness and my father got to witness it.
You know, witness some some sort of, you know, where, you know, I sort of became, you know, self-sufficient and stuff.
But yeah, I mean, my beginning of my life was just sort of like completely in my head. And like I said, that's why I'm really happy about, you know? The arts, you know, because I think if you're kind of a weirdo, there's some sometimes ways to sort of work it out. In some sort of artistic way and an idea, you know? I don't I can't think of an occupation that I could have done well at. You know, another you know, I wasn't like, I was good at a lot of things.
that I could run fast, but I would never. That's all I. That's the only other good thing I had going for me. I could run fast, but. I don't know, I don't I don't see that. I didn't see it like a track and field. Future rate. [00:46:21][121.6]
Yvonne: [00:46:22] Wow. I'm impressed by that, I can't run fast, though at all. But before we move on, there's a little bit of background noise. I don't know if somebody is like shuffling papers or something. Do you think we could like ask them not to? [00:46:42][19.5]
Jennifer: [00:46:43] Oh, I think it was. It was like shuffling papers for like, maybe like two minutes ago. [00:46:48][5.2]
Yvonne: [00:46:48] OK, so we're good. OK. Just wanted to be sure. OK. Back to it, if
Yvonne: I've read in other interviews, you know, that before you made it in the arts, you described your toes as or you described yourself in your 20s as being a mess. You know, like many of us, You were working at a restaurant in New York, but you hardly worked your shifts.
Jennifer: Yeah.
Yvonne: Tell me more about that time in your life.
Jennifer: Well, those were the years that, like, you know, I was living in New York City and like you were, I was like telling people I was an actress, but I was really a waitress.
I mean, I really was like, you know? I auditioned a lot for commercials and things website. I auditioned for a lot of commercials and things like that, but. I really didn't get any. I did.
Jennifer: I - I’ve got very few jobs in my 20s and. You know, I did little shows around town at little sort of little tiny theaters and stuff. But, yeah, it was a mess, I was sort of, you know, going out every night and drinking and. drinking and drugging in my 20s and And then, you know, when I got to be 27, I ended up going into a drug rehab and then . And then sort of after that sort of got my act together.
MUSIC out
Yvonne: How... how do you make sense of that time in your 20s, you know, looking back on it like? And like, how did you pull yourself out of that? Like what was your rock bottom?
Jennifer: Well, I think, you know, if you're drinking. I don't know if you like, figure out you're an alcoholic til later like. Mm-Hmm. In other words, like drugs or in some weird way, a gift because your addiction is sped up so quickly that like. You know, you hit your bottom like I hit my bottom at 27, I was like at the bottom of the...
//Jennifer: You know, um...//
Jennifer: But thank God for, you know, uh. Thank God for cocaine. It all came to a head at 27 and I. And I sort of went to rehab, and then I actually was able to refocus my life and. You know. In some… some way my life became so simple.
Yvonne: What sort of reflection happened in your time in rehab?
Like, did you sort of set some goals for yourself while doing work on yourself in rehab?
Jennifer: You know, in rehab, they told me I couldn't go out to clubs and I couldn't go out to bars anymore and all that stuff. And so, there was like six or eight hours I added to my life every day, you know what I mean? Because that's what I was doing with all my time and then.
Jennifer: You then have to fill -- and then you sort of do it with something constructive and what a concept, I'm know, I know a lot of people that that's how they live their life, but I didn't get that part.
Jennifer: This was sort of this is the weirdest thing. Like, you have these agents that like, don't give up on you. I felt bad for these agents I had because no matter how much I failed, they’d just keep submitting me for stuff. And, um, they really should have just fired me.
Yvonne: Hmm.
Yvonne: I mean, was there a time you doubted whether you'd make it in the industry?
Jennifer: Well. I don't know, I think you have to play. I think when you're an actress, you have to play all these tricks on yourself and. And I think. I don't know, I really didn't want to accept that thought of it not working out. And um. I don't know, I just think I think I really went into a very strong state of denial. Because it wasn't like, you know, like I said, I have all these friends, I have these amazing friends, really smart friends, and they're just so good at everything. They're good at acting, but there's they're good at a million other things they can do. They can play the piano like nobody's business and they're really smart. And they can like--
Yvonne: Right.
Jennifer: Take beautiful photographs. And they’re… I mean, some of my friends are so gifted and so those people are just wracked with... I mean, there just must be so confused all day, like which talent to pick from? And I think if you were going to say, like Jennifer Coolidge, like what? What is the greatest gift that you have going for you? And I would say it's just that my my limited abilities help me choose what I'm doing, because I just didn't have options, I wasn't really good at other stuff. ,And, you know, I felt like the acting thing was my only real option.
Yvonne: Hmm. Well, you've said publicly publicly before that you wanted to be a dramatic actress like Meryl Streep. How did you find your way into comedy?
Jennifer: Well, I was in this acting class by this brilliant acting teacher named Julie Bovasso. so She was a great theater actress in New York City and ended up. She was actually one of her. You know, she was played the mother in Saturday Night Fever with John Travolta. So she was a really -- she was a brilliant character actress.
CLIP: Saturday Night Fever
Jennifer: And I was in her class and um, and there was this. Very cool group of people that were in her class, but they were all and we were all trying to be these dramatic actors, and there was this one really beautiful girl in the class and. She would always cry in her scenes, no matter what was going on, she would cry. And she was the most beautiful cry crier I've ever seen. Like it was just very heartfelt and she was so pretty and she would sob and blow us all away in the class and everything. And... And then I started to really resent her.
Yvonne: Hmm.
Jennifer: And then after class, we all go out to dinner and then I started doing imitations of people doing their scenes. And trying to make everybody laugh, and then one day, my friend, this guy, John Williams, was his name. He he said to me, You know, I think you're in the wrong class, Jennifer. And he said, I want to take you somewhere on Saturday. I think it's where you belong, and I just want you to be willing to just take my advice, just just want you to come to this place and he. Showed up and picked me up at my apartment and took me to the New York City version of The Groundlings, the Gotham City Improv, and he made me audition. And I got in. and. And then that just started a whole other thing. And he was right, I should have been doing that. I just didn't know that existed. And that sort of was life changing because it was comedy, and I just it Didn't even write, it didn't even occur to me to do comedy, ever.
Yvonne: Did it feel more natural for you?
Jennifer: Yes, and I thought I had a shot. And look, I mean, look. You know. Let's see what your what that was like. You know, thirty something years later, I can I, you know. You know, you talk about me sobbing and White Lotus, but at that point, when I was at that class -- in Julie Bovasso’s class, I don't think I could have, I don't think I could have shown any emotion, cried or anything, I think. I think I was unable to tap into my emotions, and so comedy was sort of a great option for me.
MUSIC: Inquisitive Approach
I had so many bad work experiences working in restaurants and stuff that I got to write all of my horrible experiences in a comedic way and perform them on stage and all these horrible bosses that I had that abused me, I was able to play them and I got so it was just incredibly therapeutic and that was so healthy. You know, like it should be. I mean, if someone was like really rotten to me, like, you know, sometimes I babysat for people that weren't nice to me or whatever. There's just nothing better than just to write the weird things that they say to you and just write it all down. And then like, you know, I'd love to go to the vintage stores and like, put together an outfit that looked just like what they were wearing when they were talking to me like, you know, and and then, you know, I mean, and then somehow and then then you perform it and then you don't have a resentment because you've somehow gotten it all. You know, you some sort of therapeutic release that you... I don’t know. You get over it.
MUSIC out
Yvonne: Well, even in, in your comedic roles, you've played some, you know, incredibly iconic characters that have stolen the show. Obviously, American Pie comes to mind for your role as Stifler’s Mom.
Yvonne: Like, how did you learn to distinguish yourself in those types of supporting roles?
Jennifer: I mean, I think the way Stifler’s Mom was written had a lot to do with the success of that character just because, you know, people talked about her throughout the movie and you don't really see her to the end, but it was sure there was a build up.
Yvonne: Hmm.
Jennifer: And I don't know, I feel like I could have looked like Fred Flintstone and people would be like, I love Stifler’s Mom. Because the buildup was good.Yvonne: Well, I mean, knowing how talented you are and your abilities to play these really rich, complex characters like, I'm wondering for you, you know, having played, you know, supporting character after supporting character like. How did that shape what you felt you were capable of? Like, were you itching to be at the center?
Jennifer: I mean, at the time we filmed Legally Blonde, I didn't I didn't ever wish that I was Elle. You know, I felt like Reese was this like, she was this very petite girl that looked about like she was like 12 years old, and when I showed up for the Legally Blonde One, it was just so clear, like Reese knew the film business better than most people, she was like this very old precocious person. And so, of course, she should have been Elle in the lead and running the show, I mean, she was sort of like running the show. You know? You know, I think from the very beginning of who, you know, I mean, she was when we shot that movie, I don't know what was she in her twenties or something. I mean, she was really young and knew camera angles and where -- how things should be shot and how things should be handled. And so I didn't - I didn't want to be that, you know, I didn't want to be that. I liked that I was just like the best friend.
Jennifer: But I do have to say, you know, after doing White Lotus, I feel like, oh, you know. This is a cool part. I got her, I mean, I got a really cool part and um. You know, it isn't it didn't seem seem impossible to do that, and it was, you know, pretty, you know, pretty meaty part, so... But yeah, I don't have any regrets. about. Yeah. You know, like I said, My only regret was just how long I entertained, not doing that job. //
//And I mean, I still wasn't well when we started that, and I actually, you know, and I almost, you know, of course, I almost blew it. I didn't even take the job, you know, almost didn't take that job and how how bummed I would have been if I had stuck to my, you know, stupid way of thinking.
Jennifer: But, you know, but I really didn't want to do the job because I had eaten so many vegan pizzas over the over COVID.
Yvonne: Was it hard sort of getting out of your head about that?
Jennifer: Yeah, I was just naively - I was just so naive when when that phone call came in. , you know that Mike was like, “Jennifer, you know that thing I you know, I remember I told you about the. That script I was writing about, you know, the rich people on vacation,” and I said, “Yeah.” And he said, “Well, HBO wants to do it.” And then I was like, “Oh, oh, cool, cool.”
but I was just like, “Yeah I'm not doing that.” I mean, I didn’t tell him I was just like, “Yeah, I'm not doing it, I'm not doing that.”
Yvonne: You were going to find a way out.
Jennifer: I mean, was it no, it was just it was very clear not to do. It wasn't like I was debating to do it or anything. I was like, “I'm not doing that. I'm not going to Hawaii. I'm not going like this.” And I’m not going, you know, I'm out of shape and not mentally. And not mentally in shape for for a job.
Yvonne: Mmhmm. Well, since we're talking about White Lotus, I mean, it was recently announced that you'll be returning as Tanya for season two. Like, I'm I’m wondering about your personal attachments to the character, like how do you hope she continues to evolve next season?
Jennifer: Well, I hope she's less sad. You know, and I hope, uh. I hope she has some. Some. Love and sex and stuff.
Jennifer: I hope she gets all kinds of, you know, male attention.
Yvonne: Me too. Do you think she reconnects with Belinda?
Jennifer: I, you know, look, I was very sad when I read that that scene with Belinda and I really hope I get to make it, make it up to her in some in some way, I hope. You know, Mike White, I remember saying like, “really, do you have to do that, Mike, do you really have to do that?” And Mike said, “Jennifer, I. I'm not writing a fairy tale, I'm writing reality.”
Yvonne: It's sad, but true. I mean, is starting out in Hollywood or even like later in your career, have you had somebody that you know where it was empty promises?
Jennifer: I don't think there's many women in this world that haven't had empty promises. I think, yeah, I think that I think. I think that's goes along with living a life, but, uh... I think I'm kind of gullible, so I think I think I I don't know, I think or wishful thinking, I think sometimes like maybe I'm more delusional. And so like I, I believe people more than I should or I don't know, but you know, real. You know, I think if you grow up in a small town and there's not a lot to obsess about in your childhood, so I guess you you have unrealistic dreams about romance. And I think I think my I think my views of romance are unrealistic. I think a lot of stuff doesn't work out in this lifetime and. Look, I love it when you run into a couple and they're just madly in love and you find out they've been together for a really long time, and I just I, I love those stories and I love to witness them firsthand. But there's a lot of other stories out there that aren't so good and. If you gave me the choice of either one. I prefer the, the one that works out, but I don't know how you control that, I don't know how you. I don't think you can. I think you just sort of a luck of the draw. I mean, you Typekit. You know, guess well and choose well, but, you know, nobody really knows. But
//But uh// I have I'm a hopeless romantic, and so I do hope that uh, you know there that it is, is that it is out there.
Yvonne: I'm sure it is now more than ever I want like 10 romantic comedies starring Jennifer Coolidge, so maybe we could get Mike White to write that, please. But has the success of White Lotus, like, got you thinking about how you can continue broader broadening your horizons either professionally or personally? Like, has it just, like, unlocked something in you?
Jennifer: Has it? I don't know if it's unlocked something in me, but it's definitely, I mean, I feel like I feel kind of like, I feel like this. I I feel like I'm the same person. But what I do like is that, you know, It does open doors to me, Mike, but you know, you know, people that, you know, doors that have been closed forever have opened and actors that you would never, you know, probably never give me the time of day, have, you know, reached out and. You know, like. You know, I don't want to get into that name dropping.
Yvonne: Give me the names, Jennifer
Jennifer: but I do like, you know, I mean, like when it's someone you really admire and then, you know, they come up to you and say, you know, I'd like to work, work together, whatever. It's so fun because you're like, you know, like I said, this white lotus thing wasn't supposed to be anything, really. I mean, I look, I think Mike White is a genius, but I didn't think it was going to be like this incredibly this wave that, you know, you can ride for, you know. Mm hmm. This wave we can ride and get these, you know, these opportunities that just. Keep showing up for just my mind is blown.
BREAK 3
Gustavo: Gustavo: And that’s it for this episode of THE TIMES, essential news from the LA Times. …if you liked this episode, you should find and follow “The Envelope” on Spotify…Apple…wherever you listen.
The Envelope is a Los Angeles Times production hosted by Yvonne Villarreal and Mark Olsen. This episode was produced by Asal Ehsanipour and edited by Heba Elorbany. Sound design and mixing by Mike Heflin.
The Times is produced by Shannon Lin, Denise Guerra, Kasia Brousalian, David Toledo and Ashlea Brown. Our editorial assistant is Madalyn Amato. Our intern is Surya Hendry. Our engineers are Mario Diaz, Mark Nieto and Mike Heflin. Our editor is Kinsee Morlan. Our executive producers are Jazmin Aguilera and Shani Hilton. And our theme music is by Andrew Eapen.
I'm Gustavo Arellano. We'll be back next week with all the news and desmadre. Gracias