No, we didn’t ask Leo Woodall about the “scene” in “The White Lotus” season two. Maybe we should have. Maybe we should have remembered the fact Woodall’s character, Jack, was spotted by Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge), having, um, intercourse with his supposed “uncle,” Quentin (Tom Hollander). But frankly, it didn’t come up. Maybe we got a little sidetracked talking about the Coachella and Glastonbury music festivals instead.
READ MORE: Aubrey Plaza: “The goal is to make something people remember” [Interview]
You see, it’s been something of a whirlwind for the 26-year-old British actor. Woodall went from landing a career-defining gig on “The White Lotus” to being cast as the lead on the Netflix series “Day One.” Oh, and he’s shooting some secret series for a streamer in Reading, but he couldn’t talk about it (no, it’s not an MCU project). But Woodall wants to go to some music festivals. And, well, Glastonbury and Coachella are on the list. The good news is if his career trajectory continues, he’ll eventually be able to make his own time to fit them in. And we bet he will.
Over the course of our conversation, Woodall shares his incredible story on getting cast on the HBO phenomenon (hint: always check your E-mail on vacation), that pivotal scene with his co-star Haley Lu Richardson, how little background series creator and director Mike White gave him and much, much more.
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The Playlist: The most obvious question first: how did this role even come your way?
Leo Woodall: Gregory, I have no idea. I mean, it came the same way any auditions come, it’s an email from your agent. I’ve told this story a million times. If you’ve read any of the interviews, you would’ve heard it already because it’s one of the go-to stories is that I had it in my inbox for over a month and didn’t know about it because I was in lockdown over Christmas in Portugal in a hotel room. And it was a coincidence that I was recommended season one of “White Lotus” to watch. So I watched it, loved it, and finished it within 24 hours. And then two weeks later when I came out of that lockdown, I realized that I had an audition for season two. I did a tape. I put some sunglasses on my head. I made a fake mocktail, just went full Jack mode, and went full Essex. And a week later, my agent told me that Mike liked my tape. And that was pretty cool because I was a huge “School of Rock” fan, and I was now a huge “Lotus” fan. And then the week after that, I was meeting him on Zoom. And I mean, apparently, my wifi was terrible. The people couldn’t understand what I was saying, but then to be honest, all the viewers of season two couldn’t understand what I was saying half the time anyway. So it didn’t really matter, I guess. And yeah, it wasn’t that many days afterwards that I got the call to say, I got the gig.
Wait, take a step back. You got the email but then realized it was in your inbox for two weeks. When you finally read it, did you panic and think, “Oh, no, I’ve lost this opportunity because it’s been two weeks?”
No, luckily. Because it was longer. It was maybe three if not four. Nah, probably three. But I didn’t know at the time that this tape had to be in within the first week of January, but…
O.K. That makes more sense.
Oh my God, if I imagine my life in the last year not happening because I’d just not read my emails. I don’t know how I’d come back from that. Yeah, no, luckily I saw it in time.
I’m assuming they sent you sides when you did the self-tape. Did they describe Jack as an Essex-type guy, or did you just assume that in terms of what you read?
No, it was described as an Essex guy. I can’t remember the breakdown now. But no, it was there from the get-go. I mean, Mike obviously had maybe seen some of “The Only Way Is Essex” or maybe some of “Love Island” and thought he could make a character out of it.
How would you describe Essex to Americans who don’t understand the connotation or what it means?
I’m actually not even from Essex, so you probably have to ask an Essex person.
Sure, but how about what you assume the stereotype is?
Well, yeah, the stereotype of an Essex lad is very extroverted, often maybe a bit unfiltered, very confident, and very horny, very… just party time is sacred. [Laughs.] Any people in Essex, if you resent that, I’m sorry, but that’s the general stereotype of an “Essex lad.” You’d have to put that in quotation marks because it is a… Yeah, an Essex lad is an [negative] image.
I’ve heard that it’s similar to what we refer to as a New Jersey, Long Island stereotype here…
I’ve seen a bit of “Jersey Shore,” and, yeah, it’s maybe a bit of that.
Yeah, two brothers from opposite sides of the ocean. I’ve been told by your co-stars that everyone had the scripts beforehand. Did Mike tell you anything else about your character that wasn’t in the script? Did you need or want to know more?
No, not really, to be honest. My first day in Sicily, I had a meeting booked with Mike. I didn’t know what it was going to be about. I was obviously nervous. I’d prepared for it and whatever. And Mike being just the cool cat that he is, sat down and was like, “Yeah, dude, what do you want to know?” I was like, “I don’t know.” I can’t even remember what question I asked him, but he was just like, “Yeah, Jack is just a guy that… He’s from Essex, and he’s not got a lot of money, and now he’s got money.” And that was a gist that he gave me. And I thought, “O.K. that’s…” I don’t know whether he meant it to be a genius way or not. It was incredibly helpful because it just made me go, “O.K., do not overthink this guy at all because he doesn’t overthink anything.” i.e. Jack. And yeah, it is that simple. He’s how I pictured him and that little element of he didn’t have any money, and now he’s got loads of money, and now he just wants to play.
What I found interesting watching the show is I always felt that whether it was in the script, or in the direction, or how you were playing him, it felt like there was something tragic that had happened in Jack’s past that had put him in this position. But that’s not how you guys took it at all.
No, I mean that is there, but Mike didn’t lean into that.
Got it.
He definitely thought about it. He definitely did it for a reason, but he didn’t want me to plan ahead and think about the undertone of everything too much. I don’t know, I think he just wanted it to appear how it was supposed to appear. And that’s why when you suddenly see this underlayer to Jack, the underbelly of his soul that it comes as such a surprise.
I want to get to that scene in a second, but in the context of it all, did you play it as though Jack knows everything that’s going on, he knows their plan or is it just, “His ‘uncle’ wants him to hang out with this girl and get her out of the way, and I’m just going to deal with that and have fun”?
I mean, it was a bit of both sometimes. To Mike, it maybe didn’t matter too much because he knew what he was seeing, and he knew what he wanted. But for me, sometimes I thought about the plan. Sometimes I just thought, no, I just want to go and have fun with this girl, and that’s what I’m going to do right now. Because I think it can probably be a bit of a giveaway if, as an actor, you think about the subtext whether you are doing it purposefully or not, it can maybe shine through. And I didn’t want that. Mike didn’t want that, so, the goal was written.
Is Jack having a good time with Portia? Is he just like, “Oh, I’m having a blast?”
I still try and work it out sometimes. I think it’s fun, and it’s not the hardest job in the world for him. I think it is a bit of a blast for him. I don’t think he’s particularly calculated. I don’t think he’s a masterful manipulator. I just think he knew what he had to do and he went, “Yeah, all right. Sure.”
So you didn’t see this guy who’s like going to be involved in criminal endeavors in his life?
No, I don’t think so. I think Quentin [Tom Hollander] has that. I think Jack was a pawn but maybe knew he was a pawn and didn’t care until it gets really serious. And then he’s like, “No, do you know what? I’m out. This isn’t okay.”
One of the moments that always pops to me watching the season is the scene with you in the car with Haley Lu Richardson and there is this genuine tension over the fate of her character, Portia. It has been set up that maybe Jack is more dangerous than he might be, and you’re in the car, and the view is e worried for her that something horrible might happen before he drops her off. Is that how you saw that scene?
Shooting that scene, it was really interesting for me, and I’m maybe gathering, quite interesting for the audience too. [And this] maybe contradicts what I was saying earlier, I don’t know. But it suddenly felt like another side of Jack that was equally, if not more real, and authentic. Suddenly the whole plan was that he wasn’t in denial about it. He wasn’t blase about it. It was real. And I think… yeah, it was really interesting for me to go, “Oh, O.K., maybe this is what Jack is like most of the time. Or maybe this is just what he looks at in the mirror.” The guy that he sees in the mirror because it was the most authentic moment between Jack and Portia for sure. So, it was really interesting to just drop all of the facade, not the facade because I don’t think it was all a facade. I don’t think he’s an actor. Yeah, he let go of the plan, I guess.
Many of your cast members say that it was such a great time, and you guys got to have fun offset. Are they exaggerating, or was it actually really a blast?
Mate, it was the best summer of my life. It’s depressing actually, because I don’t think my summers will get any better than that.
Do you have one memory offset that you remember the most?
There was one day in particular… Oh, there was a few days, to be fair. There was one day where a bunch of us cast went to the beach, and just had a whole day, and then did a dinner thing. There was another day with Meg [Fahy] where just me and her went to the beach and then we had an hour or two with F. Murray [Abraham]. There was a horse racing thing; that’s a whole story. And then we went for a dinner thing, and I don’t know, there wasn’t a big “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” day where you put the whole thing into a movie, but there were just day-to-day good times.
Listen, I know that for season three, it’s been announced that Mike is bringing one character back from the first season. Did he ever tease that we might see more of Jack in the future, or is that just wishful dreaming from you and everyone on the team?
To me, I wish he had. No, I haven’t heard anything about a return of Jack, but I’ve said before, and I’ll say again, I’ll drop everything to get back into Jack’s white sneaks.
You’ve done movies and television before, but this is clearly the biggest show you’ve been on so far. Has your life changed? Can you walk down the street in Reading or London without getting looks from strangers?
Reading, I can be a bit more inconspicuous. London, not as much. Yeah, a lot of my life has changed for sure. It changed my life, and my career; there’s no dancing around that. It was an unbelievable break, and I’m eternally grateful to Mr. White.
One last question about “White Lotus.” When you finally watched the final product what surprised you the most? Even knowing all the twists.
I think seeing everyone’s dynamics with their storylines surprised me the most because you read it, sure, but it’s not often that you see what happens in those hotel rooms. I got to spend all night during a night shoot [behind] a monitor to watch the foursome and Murray, and Imperioli work all night, but in general, you don’t get to see how all these characters’ storylines and they’re their dynamics with each other. And then on top of that, how it creates this mosaic that is “The White Lotus.” That was a surprise to me because obviously, I loved the first season, but I wasn’t part of it. But in season two, I was a part of it, and I watched every scene where they’re walking down the corridor, I’m like, “We walked down that corridor for freaking three months.” But it’s now all in the realms of the story. And that was a really incredible thing to see.
Before I let you go, I have to ask you, are you still shooting “One Day?”
No, we wrapped. We wrapped at the beginning of the year. At the end of January.
The novel is set over 20 years. Is the show set over 20 years as well? Are you undergoing old-age makeup?
[Publicist interrupts]: He can’t say too much more. I’m sorry.
O.K.
I’m sorry. I didn’t know what I can say about that, but, [publicist’s name], what can I say about that?
Can you just talk about the experience?
It was incredible. It was a seven-month shoot, David Nichols, the novelist was on set a lot of the time. He was one of the execs, and the writers, and [co-star] Nicole Taylor was great. It was incredible. I went straight to that from “Lotus.” I was auditioning during “Lotus” and then started it as I was finishing “Lotus.” So it was a very different experience, good and bad. But yeah, I broke my back during that job, not literally, but it was very demanding but incredibly fulfilling as well.
Now I’m even more curious than I was before, but I got to ask, what are you shooting in Reading? Can you say?
[My publicist] is probably going to chime in on this.
[Publicist:] Uh, uh. No.
Oh, no.
I’m doing a series for a streamer.
It’s something for a streamer.
[Publicist] Yeah, that’s about as vague as we can get.
Wow. All right, O.K.
[Publicist] Stay tuned, Greg.
I haven’t read anything else that you might be doing, but if you’re in MCU now, welcome.
I’m not. [Laughs.]
Well, enjoy Reading. Enjoy the rest of your summer, and “White Lotus” is going to get a ton of Emmy nominations. And I hope you are lucky enough to be part of the crew that gets one. And seriously, get tickets for Coachella if you’re free. It’s the best.
I will.
“The White Lotus” is available on HBO and Max.