In today’s newsletter, an interview with the writer who profiled the creator of “The White Lotus” for this week’s Anniversary Issue, and then:
Erin NeilNewsletter editor
Mike White is, by now, probably best known as the mind behind “The White Lotus,” the globe-trotting television show that follows the debauchery of posh guests at a fictional luxury hotel chain. The series has become one of HBO’s tentpole franchises, but White’s work has not always been so mainstream. Most of his career was defined by “projects that were cerebral and a little weird,” Kelefa Sanneh writes, in a Profile of the writer, director, producer, actor, and reality-TV-show contestant.
Sanneh looks at White’s early projects, from his first starring role in the indie film “Chuck & Buck,” about a man who can’t let go of his childhood best friend, to the broad success he found after writing “School of Rock,” in which Jack Black plays a penniless rocker who poses as a substitute teacher. He also explores how White’s appearance as a contestant on “Survivor” influenced “The White Lotus,” and why the show might make more sense in 2025 than when it first aired, in 2021. I recently spoke with Sanneh about why he wanted to write about White, and who he’d like to see check in at a White Lotus hotel. Our conversation has been edited and condensed.
Why Mike White? What makes him a compelling subject for you?
I was watching the first two seasons of “The White Lotus,” and I started to think about how the person who made them was the same person who wrote and starred in “Chuck & Buck,” which I loved, because it was such a peculiar and provocative movie. If you had seen it in 2000, you might not have guessed that one day this guy would make a big, fun, crowd-pleasing HBO show.
I wanted to write a piece that looked at White’s career and thought through how he got from there to here. It turns out it was a less unlikely trajectory than I would’ve thought, because just about everyone I talked to basically said that White has been a great storyteller since he was a kid. No one was surprised that his stories have found the kind of audience that they have.
Why do you think White chose to set the new season of “The White Lotus” in Thailand?
He’s always been really sharp on this idea of a spiritual quest, and this idea that there’s something beautiful about going on one—and ridiculous. It’s a very Mike White insight to realize that it can be both at once. I’ve got to think that that’s partly why he chose Thailand: people go to this place, some of them in order to get this spiritual thing. And maybe they end up getting it, but not in the way they expect.
If someone has never experienced the Mike White world, where should they start?
You can start chronologically, with “Chuck & Buck.” If you have the time, the two seasons of his first HBO series, “Enlightened,” about a woman rebuilding after a breakdown, are still really intense, really weird, and really personal. It’s easy to see why it was celebrated at the time.
One of the sleepers in his body of work is “Year of the Dog,” a provocative little movie about love and salvation. It starts out like it’s going to be a modest film, and in some ways it is, but it’s also sneakily ambitious.
You’ve profiled many people in your time working at The New Yorker. Who among them do you think would make the most fascinating guest at a White Lotus hotel?
Oh, come on. America needs Shane Gillis to check into the White Lotus.
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P.S. The Westminster Dog Show will crown its best in show tonight, at Madison Square Garden. “If your dog takes top honors at Westminster, you will go home with some trophies, a ribbon, and a picture frame,” Kathryn Schulz writes. “Your dog, meanwhile, might be invited to ring the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange, which is as close to serious money as it will ever bring you.” 🐶
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