‘The White Lotus’ star Jason Isaacs on his transformative India trip: Saw massive wealth gap

New Delhi, Feb 20 (PTI) British star Jason Isaacs has vivid memories of filming his 2018 movie “Hotel Mumbai” in India where the massive wealth gap between the rich and the poor made him reflect on what material possessions mean.

The actor, known for his performances in films such as “The Patriot”, “Black Hawk Down”, “The Death of Stalin”, and the “Harry Potter” franchise, said the trip to India was quite transformative for him. “Hotel Mumbai” was based on the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

“I think about transformation a lot because I’m older… And I think probably the first time I really thought a lot about it was when I worked in India. Well, they made a film called ‘Hotel Mumbai’.

“We travelled around India a lot and we saw the highs and the lows and the massive wealth gap there. It does make you reflect on what material possessions mean… It’s something that I think about all the time,” Isaacs told PTI in a roundtable interview.

His new show “The White Lotus” focuses on a group of tourists and how their lives change during the course of an ultra luxury vacation and Isaacs said he had a similar experience in Thailand where the third season of the HBO show is set.

“I made some friends but also got to see a country where people live very differently with massive disparity. We’re actors, we’re endlessly curious about who people are, how they are, and choices they make. And also for me, different cultures, different politics, different attitudes to life and death… So, it was a very three-dimensional experience.”

“The White Lotus”, which currently streams on JioHotstar, is created by Mike White. Each season of the show revolves around the dynamics between rich guests and employees of a fictional resort chain, called White Lotus. The first season was set in Hawaii and the second season was shot in Sicily, Italy.

“Mike chose Thailand for a reason because people go there for a spiritual odyssey as well as for all the normally entertaining things. He wanted to make the series have more resonance and he achieved it in spades,” the 61-year-old actor said.

Isaacs plays the role of Timothy Ratliff, a US-based financier, who visits the resort with his family — wife Victoria (Parker Posey), sons Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger), Lochlan (Sam Nivola) and daughter Piper (Sarah Catherine Hook).

While on vacation, Ratliff gets to know that his business is in serious trouble.

“I had some big acting to do. I mean, there’s some extreme emotions. There’s a pressure cooker which is exploding… His entire life and future. And along with all the other sex, drugs, and tofu that Mike writes about, this series has questions of identity and what is the self,” he said about the new season.

According to Isaacs, the USP of White’s writing is that it can’t be slotted into easy categories.

“There are no cliches here. What he does so brilliantly is that you meet the characters and you think you understand who they are. Sometimes you can even make comparisons with previous characters in the show, but he’s far too sophisticated for that.

“So how does it compare? Timothy is Timothy, and there’s no one like him specifically, and his particular dilemma has never been seen before,” he added.

In his long career, Isaacs has played some of the most compelling characters whether it is Lucius Malfoy from the “Harry Potter” movies, Colonel William Tavington in “The Patriot” or Georgy Zhukov in “The Death of Stalin”.

Asked about his fascination for morally complex characters, the actor said they are the most interesting parts.

“The last thing I want to do, if I get the choice, is to be in something that finishes and people go, ‘That was good. What should we eat?’ I’d rather have it finished and people have a discussion. The discussion starts when the credits roll. And that’s what Mike Wight writes,” he added.

Season three of “The White Lotus” also features Leslie Bibb, Carrie Coon, Walton Goggins, Michelle Monaghan, Lek Patravadi, Lalisa Manobal, Tayme Thapthimthong and Aimee Lou Wood.

White serves as the writer, creator and director of “The White Lotus”. He also executive produces the show alongside David Bernad and Mark Kamine.