Why Jennifer Coolidge and Michael Imperioli had to check in for White Lotus season two

The compelling viewing of the White Lotus made it a huge hit last year, which is why Jennifer Coolidge and Michael Imperioli just had to check in.

Jennifer Coolidge and Michael Imperioli in a scene from the White Lotus season two.

It was one of the surprise hits of 2021 and nobody was more shocked at being booked for a return visit to The White Lotus than its star Jennifer Coolidge.

The actor, 61, says it was love at first sight for her character Tanya, the troubled billionaire who finds herself amid – and causing – chaos in the HBO dark comedy.

The first season, set in a luxury resort in Hawaii and co-starring Australian Murray Bartlett as explosive hotel manager Armond, was a runaway success and Tanya and new husband Greg, played by Jon Gries, 65, are back for another stay in The White Lotus, this time in a five-star hotel in Sicily.

Coolidge, speaking on Zoom from Los Angeles, says she is beyond grateful to have been given the role of Tanya, for which she won an Emmy.

“I’m thrilled. I didn’t know that would ever happen. And now, here we have The White Lotus 2 and this double gift of being able to do another one – it wasn’t supposed to be that way. Am I grateful? I can’t even convey to you my gratitude,” she says.

“Sometimes people offer you a part and you’re like, ‘I really don’t know if I’m going to do a good job on this’, but when Mike (White, the director) gave me Tanya, I just felt like I knew who she was,” the American Pie star says.

Jennifer Coolidge and Jon Gries in a scene from season two of The White Lotus.

“She wasn’t perfect. Deep down, I really love to play someone who’s kind of a mess, ripped apart inside. I think she’s someone who loves things too much. And eliminates her mystery. She’s just too much.”

She also has too much money – which, despite being a successful actor, is something Coolidge says she doesn’t aspire to.

“If anything, it isolates you more from what’s really going on. And you know, I’m not generalising rich people, I know some amazing rich people that are very evolved, but if you’re really rich, you don’t feel like you have to give it your all. It’s like you’ve already arrived.

“I think there’s a lot of rich people that think that money gets you out of dying.

“You know there’s no racks on a hearse, right?” says co-star Gries.

“That’s going to be Jon’s autobiography,” Coolidge adds, laughing.

In the show, Tanya is holidaying with Greg, who she met in the first series, but their honeymoon period is short. Gries says he adored acting alongside Coolidge. She has “an incredible sense of rhythm and timing,” he says, “It’s fun to watch and fun to work.”

Michael Imperioli, 56, who plays Dominic, a dad on an Italian family pilgrimage with his father Bert (F. Murray Abraham) and son Albie (Adam DiMarco), is also a Tanya fan.

“I can’t take my eyes off her. Jennifer’s not Tanya – she is very smart and very perceptive. And a lot of fun. There was one day I watched her do a scene and turn into Tanya and I was like, ‘Oh, there she is – there’s Tanya’,” he says. “Jennifer is the best actor.”

Michael Imperioli and F. Murray Abraham as father and son in season two of The White Lotus.

Imperioli, famous for his role as Christopher Moltisanti in The Sopranos, says he was determined to land the part when he saw the first season of The White Lotus.

“I really loved it right away,” he says. “I got sucked into it. It was extremely entertaining, compelling. The characters were very nuanced and it was really funny and touching. When they told me there was interest in me for the part, I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, I’ve got to do this. Let’s make it happen.’ And fortunately, it did.”

Like the first season, The White Lotus 2 sees an ensemble of characters who go on a personal journey as well as a physical one, and whose inner lives unravel along the way. Other stars include Sanditon’s Theo James, Criminal Minds’ Aubrey Plaza, Tom Hollander from Us, and Italian actor Sabrina Impacciatore, who takes on the hotel manager’s role.

Imperioli’s character is a cheating dad, navigating society’s changing attitudes to women, embodied by his unreconstructed father Bert on one side and metrosexual son Albie on the other.

“My character is in an interesting position, because he’s caught between these two different generational views,” says Imperioli. “He sees the flaws in Bert’s attitudes towards women and yet, also understands it. The same with Albie, he understands his being enlightened about the current state of relationships, with the post-#Me Too generation. Some things he thinks are good advancements and he also thinks some things have gone too far. He’s caught between both. It was a very interesting place to be caught.”

Haley Lu Richardson, Simona Tabasco, Meghann Fahy, Beatrice Granno, Jennifer Coolidge, Mike White, Will Sharpe, Sabrina Impacciatore, Michael Imperioli, F. Murray Abraham, and Adam DiMarco at the Season 2 Premiere of The White Lotus in Los Angeles last month. Picture: Amy Sussman/Getty Images

Mike White’s multi-layered approach to difficult topics was what attracted veteran actor F. Murray Abraham, 83. “I think it’s a tribute to the intellect of the writing of Mike White and the way he handles every situation,” Abraham says. “What turned out to be three, really different men, became a unit, we became a family. It was a good, fine thing from the very beginning.

“And all the relationships were very clear, partly because of the excellent writing, and partly because of the artistry of the actors. That intimacy also encouraged an intensity, morally, sexually and spiritually.

“Considering where we are, in the middle of this absolutely extravagantly beautiful setting, the contrast between the extraordinary beauty of the place, and the dark interiors of some of these characters, is a fabulous contrast. It’s a remarkable accomplishment.”

The White Lotus Season 2, Foxtel and Binge, Mondays