In the new season of The White Lotus, Natasha Rothwell reprises her role of spa manager Belinda, a woman "on the precipice of change" as she straddles the line between guest and staffer. She spoke with Tonya Mosley about filming in Thailand, the cancellation of her show How to Die Alone, and getting cast as the hilarious Kelli on Insecure. Also, we remember Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman who died this week at age 95.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Chapter 1: What is Natasha Rothwell's role in 'The White Lotus' Season 3?
This is Fresh Air. I'm Tanya Mosley. This has been quite a year so far for my guest, Natasha Rothwell. She returns to the third season of the popular HBO show The White Lotus. And just this past weekend, her Hulu series How to Die Alone, which she created and starred in, won an Independent Spirit Award for Best Ensemble Cast and a new scripted series.
But that win is bittersweet because the show, which premiered last September, was canceled after just one season. While Rothwell's return to the White Lotus signals a deeper dive into the tension between entitlement and servitude, which has been present along with murder in every season of the show.
It follows the storyline of seemingly picture-perfect travelers with various dysfunctions who go to the White Lotus resort to escape. In the first season, Rothwell's character Belinda is a spa manager at the Hawaii location. She meets a wealthy visitor named Tanya, played by Jennifer Coolidge, and the two strike up a friendship. Belinda shares her dreams of opening up her own spa with Tanya.
Yeah.
Because rich people, they're the ones that, you know, f*** up the whole world.
Yeah, I mean, I know a lot of rich, white, f***ed up people. They could really use you. Have you ever thought about starting, like, your own business? Come on. Lucas, I would be down for funding something like that.
We watch as Tanya flakes on Belinda, never funding her dream to open a spa, instead running off with another guest who goes on to con and attempt to have Coolidge's character killed. Well, in this latest season in Thailand, Belinda experiences the other side of the guest staff dynamic as a visitor taking part in a White Lotus exchange program.
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Chapter 2: What themes are explored in 'The White Lotus'?
Natasha Rothwell is an award-winning actor, writer, and series creator. Her early start in comedy included a stint as a writer on Saturday Night Live during the 2014-15 season. She also starred in HBO's Insecure as Issa's hilarious and sexually liberated friend Kelly. She also served as a writer and supervising producer on the show. Natasha Rothwell, welcome to Fresh Air.
Thank you for having me.
First, let's talk a little bit about the White Lotus because fans of the White Lotus were very happy to see you return, intrigued because we know that your return means something pretty big. And this season, she's at the Thailand resort. So she's there to relax and, as I said, learn a few new things to bring back to the resort in Maui.
Well, in the clip I'm about to play, your character, Belinda, shares what she's been through to a wellness expert assigned to train her, Pon Chai. played by Dom Hedrickle. Let's listen.
So, you like Thailand?
Very much.
I am happy.
You know, before I got here, I was depressed. My friend... He was my boss, actually. He died in this freak accident at work. And this woman, this rich woman, she was supposed to help me open up my own spa, you know, so I could be my own boss. Something I've always wanted to do. And of course, she flakes. Runs off with some guy she just met.
Ah.
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Chapter 3: How did Natasha Rothwell's personal experiences influence her work?
Yeah. Mike jokingly said that season one was basically a Zoom TV show comparatively. You know, we were, you know, we had one location. We weren't permitted to leave because of the COVID protocols. You know, we were shooting.
You were shooting in Hawaii during COVID.
Yeah, pre-vaccination. So it was... And we were one of the first, if not the first, you know, production back and there was a lot of fear, you know, and fear is a really tough place to make anything creative, but Mike somehow created this environment that made us feel safe and Yeah, we were sold on a limited series. It was one and done.
And, you know, I watched season two with everyone from home excited and like there was really no expectation that I would come back. And I didn't have it. I didn't, you know, I'm not the type of, you know, creator or actor that fights for it because I have deference to the pen for sure. And so I watched and was excited.
And then when Mike asked me to be a part of season three, I was gagged, you know, because it's bigger. But I think. for me, what grounded me in the bigness of what the show has become are the people. And, you know, showing up on set, I'm seeing, you know, the same hair and makeup team. I'm seeing the same DP, the same AD. And, you know, it was just felt like returning home.
I was like, oh, yeah, like the heart and soul of the show is the same. It's the perception that's increased. So it felt very comforting to land in Thailand and remember that it is just at the end of the day, a group of people just trying to make some art, you know.
How long did you guys spend in Thailand to shoot?
It varied per actor. I was there for about five months.
Wow.
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Chapter 4: What is Natasha Rothwell's perspective on the word 'fat'?
Yeah, I think that is such a great question because I think that when you're talking about servitude specifically and Belinda being in a servile position but stepping out of that this season, I think it highlights code switching. It highlights sort of the – passport you'd need to sort of move between those two spaces.
I think she's often seen as sort of like this moral compass, moral center, which I think flirts with the idea of sort of the magical Negro that, you know, doesn't have that any problem. She's there to like make sense of white mess. Belinda serves as such an interesting ruler to measure the other characters against.
Natasha, it took you eight years to get this show made. And after it was announced that it was canceled, you said like, this is an undeniable hit. This is like a critical, creative, and award-winning show. Did you feel like executives gave up on it too soon?
Yeah. You know, I was pretty shocked. The landscape of Hollywood has been interesting, I think, in a post-strike world. But I think Even zooming farther out, I think television led by Black stars and shows that are centering marginalized voices aren't getting the support and placement that they need. I think it's unfortunate that
How to Die Alone didn't meet the metric that the studio was using to make their decision. But I'm so proud of what I've created. And I think for me, it just tells me that I'm just going to continue to fight harder. Yeah.
This was such an original show. It was also autobiographical in many ways. That's when she has this awakening. Like, you know, what am I doing in life? Like something similar happened to you.
Yeah. You know, I've been fat and black my whole life. But outside of those two, no, I was I had like this toothache and I'm very famously allergic to acetaminophen and and other NSAIDs at varying degrees. And I took one because it was just, I had this dental work and it's been so long. And I was like, how bad can it be? I'm sure I'm over it by now.
And so I think my pain took over common sense and I took some NSAIDs and just started swelling up like hitch and drove myself to the urgent care because it was an ambulance is an expensive thing in the States. And, you know, they... shot me with an EpiPen and reminded me not to take NSAIDs. And I was like, yeah, I know.
But I just remember being in that waiting room and being even seen in the back. They were just like, you know, you have to wait for this medicine to take effect. Who can take you home? And I didn't have anyone. And I was just like, this ain't, this ain't, this ain't it. So it's little moments like that.
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Chapter 5: How did Natasha Rothwell get started on SNL?
On the ThruLine podcast, the myth linking autism and vaccines was decades in the making and was a major moment for vaccine hesitancy in America, tapping into fears involving the pharmaceutical industry and the federal government.
No matter how many studies you do showing that this is not a problem, it's very hard to unring the bell.
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You auditioned for SNL. You ended up being a writer. Tell me a little bit about that audition and that time period, because this is, if I'm correct, this is like the time period when they were looking for a Black woman.
Yeah. Yeah, they had their mission pretty clear. Yeah, but I was in New York at the time, and Had been working at this high school as a theater teacher for about four years. As I landed in New York around 2009. And... At this point, I had, you know, left my job teaching and was just like pushing all the chips in on my career. Had so many gig jobs.
You were teaching theater to what age group?
Ninth, 10th, 11th, and 12th. Okay.
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