Michelle Monaghan on the new season of The White Lotus, tenacity, and leaving the industry’s ‘boxes’ behind

MIGLĖ — I’m genuinely fascinated by the processes that actors use to step into their character mindset and build them outside the pages of the script. Playing an actor’s role as an actor yourself, what helped you to step into Jaclyn’s shoes?

MICHELLE — It was quite interesting because she’s an actress, so initially, that felt a little daunting. It felt a little close to home. I thought – ‘Oh gosh, that feels a little meta’. True to Mike White, and as he does every season, he created characters that are so complex, complicated and nuanced. For me, the process began when I had my initial meeting with him. I wanted to find out why did he feel compelled to write a character like Jaclyn, and what was it about the storyline that he wanted to examine on a deeper level. He told me that he was inspired by the female relationships he has witnessed in his life: the way they put unrealistic expectations on themselves and each other and also the way they judge each other.

People want to believe, I guess, that Jaclyn’s different or extraordinary, but even after they put someone like that on a pedestal, they’re later discovering the things that make her human. She’s just like the rest of us. The beauty of Mike’s writing is about finding the nuances and subtleties that make every character relatable. It was then talking to him about her story arc and finding those beats and moments that we wanted to use in pushing the idea that she’s this famous Hollywood actress and how she might use that to her benefit or privilege. We also explored these quieter moments where we start to understand and peel back the onion and see from the audience’s perspective that Jaclyn’s maybe a little bit lonely. She’s also not this person we put on a pedestal. She’s quite normal and flawed. To answer your question, my process was drawing from Mike’s inspiration and leaning into Jaclyn’s qualities and how they might inform the power dynamics of these women in her friendship circle.

MIGLĖ — In the first episodes, you can already see those cracks in that female friendship taking their shape. There’s a scene in episode two where your character is listening and, I believe, also overhearing the conversation that Leslie Bib’s and Carrie Coon’s characters are having. We see a close-up of your face, and your expression changes so subtly. It feels like something was broken or ruptured in that moment, and you know that there’s a different side of Jaclyn that we’re yet to see. It made me think that we might expect all the unexpected from her. She might be the dark horse of the season. I know you can’t disclose that, but these were my thoughts.

MICHELLE — And that’s why it’s so exciting working with someone like Mike. Aside from all of his brilliant words, he creates so many non-verbal moments. They’re such a joy to play as an actor and also very true to life. They’re equally as powerful and can provoke as much as saying anything and saying nothing at all. I feel that scene was one of the first scenes where we see Jaclyn on her own, and discover that there’s something deeper going on. We do unearth that there’s a lot more going on.

We shot all eight episodes at once. I think on day one, we were shooting episode one, and we were also shooting episode eight. Shooting out of sequence forces us to be very well prepared and clear on the emotional journey that the character is on. That scene of Jaclyn that you’ve mentioned, was shot on my last day. Actually, it was my very last scene after six or seven months in Thailand. So you have to track that, but the other benefit of working with Mike is that he’s the writer and the director. In addition to that, he’s also an actor. He understands an actor’s process and how challenging, lengthy and deep it can be. He doesn’t forget any of those moments. He’s also brilliant at pacing the show and the characters. I think I went off on a bit of a tangent, so I apologise. (Laughs)