White Lotus star apologises for 'shocking' scenes as he shares 'lonely' experience on set

White Lotus star Jason Isaacs has spoken about the controversial new series, apologising to fans for “shocking scenes” during an interview on This Morning.

Speaking to hosts Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley, Jason said: “I’m sorry for the shocking scenes in the show, remember it’s not for children,” at the end of his interview about the series. The White Lotus has become known for eyebrow raising nude scenes and other shocking moments, including Patrick Schwarzenegger’s full frontal in the first episode of the current series.

Earlier in the interview, Jason spoke about the positives and negatives of spending seven months filming the series in Thailand last year. The cast and crew took over the Four Seasons hotel in Koh Samui, which doubled for the fictitious White Lotus resort. His wife, Emma Hewitt, was able to join him for some of the time, and he noted: “It was the first time she came with me, for some reason she’s never wanted to visit the set before, but she came when it was a five star resort in Thailand!”

However, the actor did admit he was quite lonely before her arrival. “The older actors, we were all given gigantic villas,” he explained. “I had a mansion, a villa with a butler, and I did FaceTime my friends, showing off to them, but it was actually really lonely. It was spread out over a mountain, so the actors who played my kids, Sarah Catherine, Sam and Patrick, would come over every day and we’d play cards and watch telly and we spent a month together before my wife got there.”

Jason also revealed he struck up a special friendship with Patrick, who is the son of movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger, and plays Jason’s eldest son in the series. “I expected him to be this spoiled Hollywood prince and he turned out to be one of the most lovely people you’ve ever met in your life, really delightful and kind and compassionate and lovely to everybody, and game for anything,” Jason said.

“I’d get him to go climbing a mountain one morning and because we had lots of days off we’d take our bikes somewhere, we’d dive off a cliff, we’d go in these caves where you get a disease from bat poo, and he’d always go for it.”

Jason is not the only actor who has spoken out about how challenging it was to film the series. Aimee Lou Wood, who plays Chelsea, revealed it was an odd experience staying at the hotel where the series is set.

“The negative, which also makes it so good I think, is the claustrophobic nature of living where you’re filming,” she explained. “There’s no separation. Usually when you’re filming away, you get in a car at the end and you go home to your own space, whereas that is not the case with The White Lotus. It’s seven months of living on a set. It feels exactly like The Truman Show.”

She explained that while it makes filming something of a challenge, it is in keeping with show creator Mike White’s vision for the series. “Mike draws so much of his inspiration from reality TV and a lot of it leaks in. He loves that kind of documentary feel,” Aimee says. “I think it helps the show that everyone is in such close proximity and you can’t escape. It means you make the deepest connections.”

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