‘The White Lotus’ star reveals why her storyline can be triggering
“The White Lotus” star Michelle Monaghan talks to Ralphie Aversa about how the female friendship story line is so relatable and toxic.
Over the past seven weeks, characters on HBO’s Thailand season of “The White Lotus” have become highly dysfunctional family members for a besotted TV audience eagerly anticipating the show’s April 6 finale. So while it’s not a stretch to find that Patrick Schwarzenegger is playing smug jock-bro Saxon, discovering the international actors breaking out in wildly divergent roles can be downright shocking.
Take British actor Tayme Thapthimthong, who plays the noble-hearted, soft-edged security guard Gaitok to perfection. While the smiley Gaitok gets no respect from the hotel owner’s shady bodyguards, Thapthimthong, 35, is jacked and military. The actor rose to lieutenant in the Royal Thai Army’s counter-terrorism unit and worked as a nightclub bouncer. Ironically, before being cast in “White Lotus,” he was a bodyguard for the Thai-American hip-hop group Thaitanium.
“I kind of wanted to be a tough guy for my first big role,” Thapthimthong tells USA TODAY. “But, actually, this is how a security guard would act in a five-star resort in Thailand. There are some elements of Gaitok in me. But not the full me.”
Thapthimthong got so cut with his beloved bootcamp training that series creator Mike White had to nix his ritualistic gym visits during the extended Thailand shoot to keep Gaitok believably unthreatening, at least physically.
“Mike White told me not to go to the gym anymore. He said to maintain what I had, but please don’t get any bigger or more ripped,” says Thapthimthong. “I was staying at these amazing hotels with these great gyms I couldn’t use. But I did what he asked and didn’t really work out for seven months.”
With his professional background, Thapthimthong cringes over the scene in the fourth episode, when Gaitok leaves his new gun on the guard station table, only to have it stolen by Tim Ratliff (Jason Isaacs).
“Oh my God, that still hurts me,” he says. “Even in basic training, the instructors would look to take people’s weapons from them. If you just put it down and turned around, they would take it and you’d get beasted for the next two days.”
More surprising “White Lotus” power transformations ahead of Sunday’s Season 3 finale (HBO and Max, 9 ET/PT).
Lalisa Manobal as Mook has an ‘Alter Ego’: Lisa from Blackpink
Thapthimthong was kept in the dark about who would play Mook, the health mentor and lifelong neighborhood friend with whom Gaitok falls in love. The wildly curious Thapthimthong had to sign extensive non-disclosure agreements before learning the top-secret news that his acting partner was Lalisa Manobal, better known as Lisa, the singer and rapper in the K-pop band Blackpink.
“It was a big shock to me when I found out; I never thought it would be her,” he says. “I hadn’t listened to K-pop, but I know how the Thai people see her as a national treasure. She’s a superstar.”
Gen Z fans rave over Lisa, who performed at the Oscars and released her debut solo album with a title that sums up the rapper’s “White Lotus” endeavor: “Alter Ego.” The TV transformation to homegirl Mook in Manobal’s acting debut could be explained with the 28-year-old’s song, “New Woman,” in which Lisa sings, “Wanna crack these walls.”
Yuri Kolokolnikov makes fun as Vlad from Vladivostok. But actor has a wild ‘Game of Thrones’ past
Boisterous Vlad (Yuri Kolokolnikov), the Joey Chandler of the show’s childhood-friend trio from Vladivostok, Russia, is so hilarious that there’s a Reddit community devoted to Vlad’s “Art of Dialogue.” His alcohol-be-damned workout explanation of “flipping heavy ropes” had Carrie Coon’s Laurie cackling so hard that it seemed more than acting.
But Vlad, whose aunt broke a bottle over his head as a child, might be darker than he appears. The respected Russian actor Kolokolnikov, 44, has a murky TV past.
He played the fierce wilding Styr, the Magnar of Thenn, in HBO’s “Game of Thrones.” Styr memorably beat the heck out of Jon Snow (Kit Harington) in a hand-to-hand battle before Snow fatally placed his axe in Styr’s head. That was definitely not funny.
Fabian is played by Christian Friedel, who starred as Rudolph Höss in ‘Zone of Interest’
The White Lotus resort manager, Fabian, is played with sweaty-handed effectiveness by German actor Christian Friedel.
Fabian can’t hide his deeply shady side, but his obsessiveness about singing in front of the resort is disarming. Talk about range, the last unforgettable performance by Friedel, 46, was as disturbingly calm and ruthless Rudolf Höss, the German commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp in “The Zone of Interest.” The critically lauded, deeply disturbing 2023 drama received five Oscar nominations, including best picture, and won two awards, including best international feature.
