Beatrice Grannò has one word for the season 2 finale of The White Lotus: “genius.”
Like the first season, White Lotus season two will air its finale on Dec. 11, and over the course of a week, a group of tourists, employees and locals end with deaths at a fictional White Lotus luxury resort in Sicily. One (or more) characters. Grano stars as Mia, an aspiring local singer who, along with her friend Lucia, infiltrates the White Lotus Church, where they steal food, drink, clothes and rooms from unsuspecting guests for free. But, like the other characters in “The White Lotus,” all is not what it seems, and behind Mia and Lucia’s crimes lie real needs beyond the physical.
“What I love about Mia is that she starts off as a completely different person. She’s so clogged. She has this little top and denim skirt. She’s very scared,” Grano said at her Rome venue a week before the final. Tell StyleCaster via Zoom call from home. “Then she found her strength, not just in her body, but in the way she managed herself. She was young and she made mistakes. She was clumsy. It was soft and strong.”
Beforehand, Grannò spoke with StyleCaster about her appearance in “White Lotus” season 2, the actors she’s known for over 10 years, and her reaction to the “shocking” finale.
What was your impression of White Lotus’s audition?
I watched the first season and thought it was good. When I got the audition for the second season, I watched it again. I remember thinking, ‘This is impossible! I love this show. “The first audition was self-recorded. I sent it in. It’s been a whole year. Then, after Christmas, in January, Mike White arrives in Rome. He picks some actors he wants to meet and I’m one of them. One. I auditioned again and I had to sing a song. I brought the ukulele because I wanted my own instrument. Then I did a scene and that was it. Ten minutes. I walked away. Two days later My agent called me and said Mike White and HBO really wanted me on the show. I was so excited and happy. I was on set in a week. It happened so fast, I got the script and I read With it, I knew I had all the songs played. I started working on my music and playing the piano every day. I also brought the keyboard to Taormina, it was in my room so I could practice.
It’s a very messy show. I love that it’s set in Italy because Italy can be very messy.
What song did you sing at your audition?
The audition sang “That’s Love”, and the self-recorded sang “That’s Amore”. You chose her for me. I laughed because I thought, “Yeah, sure. I’m Italian and I sing ‘That’s Amore.’” But it made sense. The White Lotus Sect is about American tourists and wealthy Americans going to this place. So in Italy, that’s what they want to hear. “That’s Amore.” It’s a traditional Italian image.
Many of Mia’s scenes feature Lucia, played by Simona Tobasco. Do you remember when you first met?
I first met Simone 10 years ago. We auditioned for the same drama school and we had two first steps. The third time we were in school for a month auditioning before we were accepted. We are all young. She’s the funniest girl I’ve ever met. We laughed a lot. She went crazy and then I failed the exam, but she did. So I moved to London and went to drama school in London. We have been separated for four years. But then I went back to Italy and we met again in the Italian series. Then we are getting closer and closer to the White Lotus Sect. I remember the first time I saw her was at school, I met her in the toilet. She told me, “Beatrice, for this audition, I wanted to do a scene that made me cry because I love being a theater actress.
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