‘The White Lotus’ Star Aimee Lou Wood Says Filming Drama Was Like Taking Part In “A Social Experiment”

The third season of The White Lotus is already drawing praise for Mike White’s latest exploration of how terribly privileged people can behave in a beautiful setting. Now one of its stars Aimee Lou Wood has shared that filming the show in a luxurious Thai resort was like participating in a “social experiment.”

Wood, whose breakthrough role came in Netflix drama Sex Education, told The Guardian newspaper that being ensconced in The Four Seasons hotel for seven months without a break wasn’t always good for her.

“Living in a hotel, that we also film in? It was like a social experiment.

“In a way I will never, ever forget. I will never have an experience like that again. It was so extreme. So the fun bits were unbelievable, so special. The ocean, the landscape, it was majestic. Mike [White, the director] is a genius. Everyone involved is amazing, it’s just the circumstances are quite extreme.”

She remembered: “One day, I was having my hair done and Miia [Kovero, the hair and makeup artist] was, like, ‘You need to go home. I don’t know who I’m talking to any more, Aimee or Chelsea.’ I’d completely abstracted. Everyone becomes their character to an extent, but I didn’t even know who I was.” 

Wood plays Chelsea, the sunny, yoga-teacher girlfriend to her older boyfriend played by Walton Goggins, and the British actress said of their barbed exchanges: “There’s something about Mike’s writing. Everyone always seems on the edge.”

Wood’s role in Sex Education of abused teenager Aimee Gibbs was her first role straight out drama school, but won her a BAFTA award for her performance. She told The Guardian: “We had no idea how big it was going to be.”