Jennifer Coolidge discusses her success on The White Lotus and more

Jennifer Coolidge has been on quite the run during this latest award season, picking up awards left and right for her portrayal of Tanya McQuoid-Hunt in HBO’s The White Lotus.

She took home the Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild Award, back-to-back Critics Choice Awards and she could win back-to-back Emmy Awards as well, with the 2023 Emmy Award nominations set to be announced next month.

The 61-year-old actress – who was slated to host Saturday Night Live before the writers strike – sat down with The Bear star Jeremy Allen White as part of Variety’s Actors on Actors interview series that debuted on Monday.

The actress opened up about her success on The White Lotus, her keys to career longevity and her crush on White himself.

The interview began with White revealing that he’s been looking at her face every morning while getting ready for work on The Bear.

Interview: The 61-year-old actress – who was slated to host Saturday Night Live before the writers strike – sat down with The Bear star Jeremy Allen White as part of Variety’s Actors on Actors interview series that debuted on Monday

‘So I’ve been looking at your face every morning, because Ally, our hair person, has this candle in the hair-and-makeup trailer that’s reserved for saints — one of the tall ones. But hers has your face on it. So it’s nice to see you,’ White began.

‘Thank you. I just want you to know that I rigged that, because I have a crush on you and I sent that candle,’ Coolidge admitted.

When he asked if she ever had a plan going into her acting career to have the kind of longevity she’s had, Coolidge revealed that was not the case.

‘Now that I’m old enough to really look back at my life and certainly my mistakes, I see a lot of those. But I never had any strategy. I just went job to job,’ Coolidge added. 

‘I have to say I made the terrible mistake of not riding the wave that I had early on. It was sort of in the ’90s when I had Legally Blonde, Best in Show and American Pie. And then there was Cinderella Story and stuff like that. But there was a moment. There was a wave I really could have ridden but I got really distracted,’ she said.

When asked if she was trepidatious about it, she admitted, ‘I started pursuing guys. I wasn’t paying attention. I just thought I had my whole life. I did get some jobs, but I didn’t have a plan. And I think that was a fatal flaw of mine, because it took so long to get anything going later.’

Her character’s untimely (and hilarious) death in The White Lotus was one of the most talked-about TV in 2022, and Coolidge revealed she didn’t know much about the death going into the season.

‘Mike did tell me that I was going to have a horrible ending. But he said it more like, “I’m sorry, Jennifer, but you’re going to have to die,”‘ Coolidge said.

Jennifer and Jeremy: ‘So I’ve been looking at your face every morning, because Ally, our hair person, has this candle in the hair-and-makeup trailer that’s reserved for saints — one of the tall ones. But hers has your face on it. So it’s nice to see you,’ White began

Rigged: ‘Thank you. I just want you to know that I rigged that, because I have a crush on you and I sent that candle,’ Coolidge admitted

Plan: When he asked if she ever had a plan going into her acting career to have the kind of longevity she’s had, Coolidge revealed that was not the case

Mistakes: ‘Now that I’m old enough to really look back at my life and certainly my mistakes, I see a lot of those. But I never had any strategy. I just went job to job,’ Coolidge added

Death: ‘Mike did tell me that I was going to have a horrible ending. But he said it more like, “I’m sorry, Jennifer, but you’re going to have to die,”‘ Coolidge said

Yes Chef: Coolidge also asked about people coming up to White and saying, ‘Yes, Chef!’ on the street, which did happen and he didn’t expect it

‘It’s my awkwardness with the gun that I think really helped. We had to reshoot that a bunch of times. Where’s the gun? The inside of the bag is black. I can’t find it. But it all felt real. When you’re on a boat and you’re in the middle of the ocean and there is nowhere to go, what if your castmates hate you? They could just push you. Anyone can get rid of you on a boat,’ she said.

She added, ‘It’s the scariest thing to be on a boat. I’m never getting on a boat again. So I was creeped out, because we did shoot it in order, hanging out with the guys. It felt very real. I really did like killing them all.’

White asked about her now-iconic line – ‘These gays, they’re trying to murder me’ – and if people have said that to her on the street. 

‘There was a whole group of gay men in New Orleans that went out on Mardi Gras as Tanya. Some of them were on scooters, and they all had “These gays, they’re trying to murder me.” It’s happened in other cities — even in Boston when I did Hasty Pudding. So it really did somehow strike a chord,’ she said.

Coolidge also asked about people coming up to White and saying, ‘Yes, Chef!’ on the street, which did happen and he didn’t expect it.

‘It’s a lot. We didn’t expect the show to do as well as it did. We were in New York last summer, and so I was always just walking around. And it happened in a week. All of a sudden, people shouting, “Yes, Chef!”‘ he said.