Jake Lacy Joins 'The White Lotus,' Excited To Play An Asshole

 

CREDIT: BUILD Series/YouTube

HBO's dramedy The White Lotus has welcomed a new face, Jake Lacy, known through his career as playing the sweet, stable love interest, generally opposite messy, complicated female protagonists.

He is that known as a nice guy, that Vulture has made a list about it.

"It was never like, 'Hey let's chase those roles.' It just happened through a series of parts. A lot of the time, you get cast from a thing that somebody's seen you in, and if you filled that role well in one place, then they are more inclined to think of you for a similar thing later down the line. Oftentimes, I get close and then don't get cast as the 'guy with the gun,' because I've never been a guy with a gun. They hire a guy who - get this - has done roles where he has a gun." 

His character is The White Lotus shows his expansion into new degrees and it's very clear immediately, that he's no longer that nice guy.

He can be seen wearing bright pink frat bro shorts, and without his iconic Lacy grin. He even delivers lines such as "No offence? Leave me the fuck alone."

CREDIT: Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times

Lacy plays Shane Patton, one of the vacationers at the titular, exclusive resort in Hawaii. He is honeymooning with his new wife Rachel (played by Alexandra Daddario), and is very unhappy with his life. His biggest problem is that his hotel suite isn't as snazzy as the one his mother promised him.

Jake had the most fun playing the asshole of the series though. The best part being getting to navigate and drive his own narrative.

"It's mostly about getting to have fun with the ownership of that story, as opposed to being in the passenger seat to a story. Which is what I've done in the past."

Jake has previously had the chance to deal with his own, multilayered plot in Showtime's I'm Dying Up Here. He played Nick Beverly who was "a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, he's struggling with addiction, he's a stand-up, he's an unreliable friend, he's loyal to other people - it's a real mess of a story."

This was also the first time he got to be a part of the creative inputs for the role. "Getting to be along for that discussion really meant a lot."

CREDIT: Jim Spellman/WireImage

It was a similar experience behind the scenes of The White Lotus.

"After speaking with Mike [Mike White/Creator], I was like, 'I get the impression that Shane is a guy who knows he can be an asshole and is really trying to not be an asshole."

What excited Jake the most was the way the characters were written as equally likeable and unlikeable.

"There's no good guy, bad guy. It's just kind of a mess of what people think they need umping up against other people who need other things. And that is much more what life is than a true, like, Voldemort kind of thing, you know? That has its place in storytelling, but in our day-to-day interactions, it's much less a truly evil being and much more a person who wants something different from what we want, and we have to try to navigate that."

Jake believed that the role of Shane "seemed awesome" and he has joined alongside an outstanding cast including Jennifer Coolidge, Connie Britton, Steve Zahn, Natasha Rothwell, and Molly Shannon.

"Every once in a while you're like, 'Ooh, man, I hope that comes together for me."

Luckily for Jake and the rest of the watching, it did.