Michelle Monaghan

The White Lotus Official Podcast

Ep. 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" with David Bernad and Michelle Monaghan

Your kids are gorgeous.

The White Lotus Official Podcast

Ep. 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" with David Bernad and Michelle Monaghan

You're beautiful homes. You're totally winning life. Well, look at you. Now you've found the man of your dreams. Oh, my God. Who would have ever thought, right?

The White Lotus Official Podcast

Ep. 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" with David Bernad and Michelle Monaghan

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Oh, my gosh. Just being here with the three of us, I'm in heaven. I would sleep in a tree.

The White Lotus Official Podcast

Ep. 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" with David Bernad and Michelle Monaghan

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Well, I'll tell you what, I don't know if there were any pleasures in reading that I was going to be playing someone that was famous, that's a television star. In fact, if anything, it felt like it hit a little too close to home. It felt a little confronting because I was like, wait, how do I play...

The White Lotus Official Podcast

Ep. 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" with David Bernad and Michelle Monaghan

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something that's that on paper appears so close to me in terms of the job right so the initial fear of like reading that that was my career i was like oh gosh this feels a little meta but after i got beyond the idea that she was this actress which of course i could relate to very much it was really just getting to kind of discover all of the you know the complexities of her which are obviously well beyond um you know who i am or anything like that yeah

The White Lotus Official Podcast

Ep. 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" with David Bernad and Michelle Monaghan

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I think that, you know, what was interesting to me was this idea that she... You know, she has these lifelong best friends and she wanted to take them on vacation, you know, and I feel like she kind of felt like she owes it to her girlfriends that maybe they're not in that position to be able to do that. And I think that...

The White Lotus Official Podcast

Ep. 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" with David Bernad and Michelle Monaghan

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At the same time, while she was excited to kind of foot the bill, to kind of fund this girl's trip, that maybe she secretly liked as well to have the upper hand and how she kind of manipulates that a little bit. And I think that's something that Mike obviously writes with such nuance and such subtext. But I think that he really wanted us to lean back

The White Lotus Official Podcast

Ep. 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" with David Bernad and Michelle Monaghan

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into that kind of that ever-evolving power dynamic. This idea that one's kind of the perpetrator, one's the peacemaker, one's the victim, and it's constantly shifting, right? And so kind of finding our respective roles in each of those dynamics and kind of how that plays out and that kind of shifts. And... I think that she, Jacqueline, likes to appear to be in control, you know?

The White Lotus Official Podcast

Ep. 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" with David Bernad and Michelle Monaghan

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But I think at the same time she really wants to just be reckless and um to kind of lose control so i think there's a real duality to her and definitely a duplicity that we start to see um we get to see in her as the show progresses and and it's that's the beautiful gray area of all the characters right is that they they all are a little bit duplicitous and

The White Lotus Official Podcast

Ep. 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" with David Bernad and Michelle Monaghan

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And certainly this season's theme, which is sort of spirituality and life and death, you really see every character being confronted with that existential kind of crisis of like, who am I? What am I doing here? But I think, you know, what's really relatable with The Three Ladies is this

The White Lotus Official Podcast

Ep. 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" with David Bernad and Michelle Monaghan

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The way that we explore, the way that we've been kind of conditioned as women to compare ourselves to one another, to judge ourselves, this thing that we're always confronted with our own life's choices and questioning our very lives based on other women's sort of experiences. failures or successes.

The White Lotus Official Podcast

Ep. 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" with David Bernad and Michelle Monaghan

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And so I really love that idea of that because even though it's heightened, of course, in White Lotus, I think it's something that we can all relate to as women specifically. Completely. The grass is always green. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We've all seen relationships like that. We've all been in situations like that.

The White Lotus Official Podcast

Ep. 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" with David Bernad and Michelle Monaghan

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Yeah, yeah. And I think that's what's so brilliant, what, you know, what Mike did. And I think in my conversations with him, kind of building out the characters and stuff, you know, his inspiration really was, you know, I think he was a sidekick to a vacation that he went on that he witnessed like a lot of this kind of behavior or just sort of these comparisons.

The White Lotus Official Podcast

Ep. 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" with David Bernad and Michelle Monaghan

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And he was like, man, it's rough out there being a woman, you know, and like, no kidding, man. And so these women are all kind of mirrors to each other, right? You know, they have this shared history, right? The shared past. And then, of course, they grow up and their lives take very different directions and different paths. They live in different cities.

The White Lotus Official Podcast

Ep. 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" with David Bernad and Michelle Monaghan

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And then, you know, you can't help but look at like one path and go, God, that sounds like that looks pretty good. Right. It looks like she kind of just fucking nailed it. You know, she's got everything. She's got it all. That plays out really intensely in this dynamic, in this girl's trip. And that question of like trying to have it all or like, oh, no, no.

The White Lotus Official Podcast

Ep. 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" with David Bernad and Michelle Monaghan

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And I did this, this, this, this toxic positivity and this quest for perfectionism that we have as women. I'm nodding along. Except you, Jack, you look amazing. You look amazing. But you look incredible. You look incredible.

The White Lotus Official Podcast

Ep. 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" with David Bernad and Michelle Monaghan

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Yeah, I mean, I think we spoke a lot about that. I think Mike had some interesting inspiration, you know, as soon as he just tells it like it is. But, you know, he really wanted the ladies, and I say, this is a quote from Mike, to all look like a big blonde blob. Yeah. He really wanted us, like, baseline to really feel like we were kind of interchangeable, right?

The White Lotus Official Podcast

Ep. 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" with David Bernad and Michelle Monaghan

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Despite then the nuance that we all sort of developed in mind together. You know, initially, I would say that, you know, probably we all sort of looked the same when we were younger. And then all of a sudden, maybe Jacqueline was starting to be perceived as kind of this beautiful person. And then that kind of ruffled some feathers. And she...

The White Lotus Official Podcast

Ep. 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" with David Bernad and Michelle Monaghan

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started to be maybe put on a pedestal, you know, from probably junior high or high school and, you know, kind of went on to have this success as an actor. And for Jacqueline, I mean, I think she sort of She has a love-hate relationship with being put on a pedestal. But I suppose the only thing that could be worse than being on the pedestal is not being put on a pedestal.

The White Lotus Official Podcast

Ep. 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" with David Bernad and Michelle Monaghan

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I think that she has a real... She's very conflicted in the way that she wants attention and what drives her. And I'm sure that there was a lot of deep-rooted sort of things that kind of took place for all of them. I think... There were some things in high school that maybe Jacqueline did that they'll never forgive her for.

The White Lotus Official Podcast

Ep. 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" with David Bernad and Michelle Monaghan

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I think there are some things that maybe then those patterns continued to maybe rear their ugly head. But then I think one of the other things that's interesting that Mike delves into is the way that we remember things.

The White Lotus Official Podcast

Ep. 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" with David Bernad and Michelle Monaghan

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You know what this reminds me of? When we did that sketch in school and we were all one person. And Jacqueline, of course, was the face. And we hid behind you and I had my hands and some shoes and I was your feet and... And I was the arms.

The White Lotus Official Podcast

Ep. 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" with David Bernad and Michelle Monaghan

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Rick, the lady in the airport thought you were my dad, okay? You should get a gentleman's facial.

The White Lotus Official Podcast

Ep. 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" with David Bernad and Michelle Monaghan

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That's like, what are you talking about? Like, that's not at all how that happened. And then you're looking at the other one like, are you kidding me? No, it happened this way. And then we're all completely stumped because we don't know what the reality is. And I think that was really a great way that Mike was able to kind of infuse that kind of confusion and that

The White Lotus Official Podcast

Ep. 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" with David Bernad and Michelle Monaghan

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Like you don't know who to kind of even root for at that point. And so there's like some, everyone's bringing a little bit of their baggage. And so the way that Mike uses those conversations, but they're gossiping about one another and one leaves the room and whatever. It's so gooey and juicy and gossipy, but it's sort of that faux, that faux care, right?

The White Lotus Official Podcast

Ep. 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" with David Bernad and Michelle Monaghan

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That faux, like that, that toxic positivity. You're like, oh my gosh, I must love her so much.

The White Lotus Official Podcast

Ep. 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" with David Bernad and Michelle Monaghan

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And once he gets an idea in his head, you can't argue with him. Isn't that right, babe?

The White Lotus Official Podcast

Ep. 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" with David Bernad and Michelle Monaghan

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It's so good. I mean, I remember reading those lines, and it was so wild.

The White Lotus Official Podcast

Ep. 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" with David Bernad and Michelle Monaghan

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Actually, that scene, I think, was in our audition. For the show. And I remember, you know, we got three scenes and he asked me to specifically audition for the role of Jacqueline and Leslie for Kate. And then, of course, Carrie for Lori. However, he had a really unique way of auditioning. of auditioning, he had me say a lot of Kate and Lori lines.

The White Lotus Official Podcast

Ep. 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" with David Bernad and Michelle Monaghan

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And then he had them actually say a lot of like Jacqueline and Kate lines. And then like, you know, he mixed it all up because he wanted us all to kind of share the same qualities again. Like it was such a unique. And so when we got the role, I was like, we all kind of got the material and we were all like, oh, we're so confused, Mike. We thought...

The White Lotus Official Podcast

Ep. 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" with David Bernad and Michelle Monaghan

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We thought, you know, Jacqueline was saying this line. We thought this was a good Kate storyline. And he was like, no, I just wanted to see you all like this.

The White Lotus Official Podcast

Ep. 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" with David Bernad and Michelle Monaghan

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And I was like, oh, my gosh. You know, there's such a method to his madness. That's incredible.

The White Lotus Official Podcast

Ep. 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" with David Bernad and Michelle Monaghan

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Yeah. His process is so wild. It's so cool.

The White Lotus Official Podcast

Ep. 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" with David Bernad and Michelle Monaghan

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It's like I'm looking in a mirror. That's right. I look at you too. It's like I'm looking in a mirror.

The White Lotus Official Podcast

Ep. 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" with David Bernad and Michelle Monaghan

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There is. So it's really funny. Mike really, you know, everybody kind of wanted to know what that what it was. Is she a lawyer with Alzheimer's?

The White Lotus Official Podcast

Ep. 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" with David Bernad and Michelle Monaghan

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Like, is it 24? No, it's so funny. Like, Mike made a conscious choice, like, not to decide what it was. And he didn't want me to decide what it was either.

The White Lotus Official Podcast

Ep. 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" with David Bernad and Michelle Monaghan

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Which I was like, wow, yeah. And it was a question that I got from all of the cast, I think, at one point. Like, which show is Jacqueline on, you know? Because it's obviously everybody recognizes from the show.

The White Lotus Official Podcast

Ep. 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" with David Bernad and Michelle Monaghan

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And I was like...

The White Lotus Official Podcast

Ep. 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" with David Bernad and Michelle Monaghan

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doesn't matter does it like but it didn't matter like you were able to let it be a blob you didn't know she was you know and that's exactly exactly you know and i think that sort of helps to being an actress where it's like i get people that come up to me all the time and they're like are you on that that what is that and i can i can look them up and down in a split second it'll be like

The White Lotus Official Podcast

Ep. 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" with David Bernad and Michelle Monaghan

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I'll be like, Bait of Honor, right? And they'll be like, you know, they're like, yes, yes. And I'll be like, Source Code. They're like, yes, I love that movie. You know, I think of that kind of action where they kind of can't put their finger on it, what it was. But you can read them. But I can read them.

The White Lotus Official Podcast

Ep. 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" with David Bernad and Michelle Monaghan

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You know, it's sort of kind of interesting. Yeah, so that wasn't really imperative. So maybe it'll reveal itself. But I remember finally, you know, I asked Mike towards the end because the cast wouldn't give up on it. And he was like,