Niki Cruz
In the third season of The White Lotus, actress Leslie Bibb plays Kate, a well-off 40-something who visits Thailand for a 6-day stay at The White Lotus Resort & Spa with her two best friends from high school, Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan) and Laurie (Carrie Coon).
The most revealing parts of Kate’s character arc are on display in a few must-watch table conversations among the best friends that are so gossipy and rich in dialogue I could’ve easily watched a spin-off show all about these three ladies and the very different lives they lead. At times, Kate’s biggest moments aren’t in big confessionals, but they’re in the little moments from the perfectly styled outfits that are just-so, suggesting that she’s very much an A-type, to her always present smile and sunny disposition, which infers she’s wound a little too tight.
On how she approached Kate in a large ensemble, Bibb credits conversations with creator/writer/director Mike White:
“We talked about Kate’s perfectionism, which was always sort of my take off point with her, and my foundation for her, and then I just had to answer why.”
“So much of her is seen through her watching other people, and her processing other people, and how to respond to them. It’s happening in real-time with her. She doesn’t wear her heart on her sleeve. I think she’s a wonderful friend, but she’s got her foibles. But I love her. She cares a lot and she’s incredibly insecure.”
One of the highlights of The White Lotus this season is witnessing the chemistry Leslie Bibb, Carrie Coon, and Michelle Monaghan have with each other. Bibb said there wasn’t much time to form a bond, but the trio formed their foundation before filming began in Thailand:
“We started a text thread in the beginning where we started sharing all these childhood photos of ourselves, which was really helpful. We all aligned [and discussed], where did we grow up? How old were we when we met? So that our back story felt similar, and we all had the same sort of pool we were swimming in.
I lived with Carrie, and then Michelle [Monaghan] and Parker Posey lived in a villa right below us, so we spent time [together]. There’s something, if you wake up and someone is sitting in your living room and you’re having coffee in the morning. I think part of it was luck, and we did our job trying to create a good foundation, but it just happened, you know, that’s the thing with chemistry, you just never know if it’s gonna work.”
Part of why the best friends are so interesting to watch is because they’re archetypes that resonate and stay with you. Most girl groups can say they have a perfectionist “Kate,” or a restless with life “Laurie,” or an effortlessly cool “Jaclyn.” Actress Leslie Bibb recognizes herself in Kate. “I do recognize my own insecurities and my own perfectionism. I think what I’ve taken from this experience is I realized how important vulnerability is. In a way, that’s very profound for me.”
Watch the rest of our interview as we discuss Sam Rockwell‘s scene-stealing moment as Frank, Leslie’s collaboration with Mike White, and more below:
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