Natasha Rothwell, the star of the third season of HBO’s hit black comedy series The White Lotus, has a first-hand understanding of how powerful it can be expressed in a luxurious travel space.
The 44-year-old actress, who recently spoke to NPR, shared that her obsession with a black trip began long before her character arrived at The White Lotus.
“I’m obsessed with black travel. I remember traveling when I was the real thing. I remember seeing a real broken black person sitting in first class on my way to coach. And it unconsciously informed me that I should be able to do it, that I could do it, that I belonged to that space,” Rothwell pointed out.
Rothwell’s character Belinda has her own similar experience on the show this season. She is eating one night when she sees a black couple at another table.
“When I was talking about that moment (show creator Mike White), and pitching it, I just wanted Belinda to have an interaction to see the possibilities of what she could do,” explained the “How to Die alone,” the star. “You know, she does workshops, so she flirts about being a guest anyway and does classes every day, but she really cosplays what it’s like to be in that space.
She said, “And it’s exciting to see black people traveling. I think that luxury travel is something that I don’t often see on TV, so much of what I want and want to do is the result of expression.”
Rothwell cited late actress Nell Carter in the show “Gimmie a Break!” As one of her inspirations.
“I, oh, she was like a greasy buddy. She’s on this show and she’s running s. I want to do that,” she said. “I didn’t know I was aiming for it if I hadn’t seen her, and I feel like travel is doing the same thing in real life.”
Taking that into consideration, Rothwell said the scene with the black couple was “pleasant” to the show, although the scene was long at first.
“I had a longer scene with them, so it definitely truncated at a glance – and this is Mike’s genius – because the scene did more than ever before,” she pointed out.
Also, Rothwell, who appeared in his first season, has returned to the third season of the anthology show, which follows both the guests and staff of fictional luxury hotel chains, and not so good, not so good. This time the show is set at White Lotus Resort in Thailand. Rothwell’s character Belinda embraces the energy of the protagonist this season.
“She’s taking classes and will be her first guest despite it being a work trip,” Rothwell said in an interview before the season premiere. “She’s staying in a hotel, but this is something she’s never done before, so you can see her toes really soaking on the other side of her life, on the white lotus 2nd floor/downstairs.”
“The White Lotus” will air the stream on HBO on Sundays at 9pm and HBO Max.
