Sam Rockwell On That Much-Talked About Scene In ‘White Lotus’, His Emmy Nomination, And Life After Oscar – The Actor’s Side

When the third season of HBO’s The White Lotus began, there was no mention that Sam Rockwell was among the cast. That all changed in Episode 5, when Rick (Walton Goggins) travels to Bangkok and sees old friend Frank (Rockwell), who tells him in mesmerizing fashion about his sexual history in Thailand that all led to his conversion to Buddhism. It was a mind-bending surreal moment that immediately became major watercooler talk, and suddenly Rockwell stole the show and all the attention.

Because he appeared subsequently in enough later episodes to make him ineligible for an Emmy as a mere guest star, Rockwell qualified for the Supporting Actor in a Drama Series category instead and now is nominated for against White Lotus co-stars Goggins and Jason Isaacs, among actors from other shows.

Emmy and Tony nominee and Oscar winner Rockwell joins me for this week’s edition of my Deadline video series The Actor’s Side to talk about how this all came about, his process of developing the character of Frank and how he approached the monologue — working with Goggins — why The White Lotus holds such fascination for audiences and where he got that leopard print underwear (!)

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We also talk about his return as Mr. Wolf in the animated sequel The Bad Guys 2, as well as a slew of other new projects including Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die for director Gore Verbinski and reuniting with his Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri director Martin McDonagh in Wild Horse Nine, which also happens to co-star another White Lotus Emmy nominee, Parker Posey. It was his work in Three Billboards that catapulted Rockwell to even higher levels in his career by winning just about every award there was for Supporting Actor including Golden Globe, Critics Choice, BAFTA, SAG, and of course, the Oscar.

Rockwell always has been a favorite within the industry and is a staple of film, television and stage. He was previously was Emmy-nominated for playing Bob Fosse in 2019’s Fosse/Verdon, becoming one of the rare Oscar winners nominated for playing another Oscar winner. We talk about that, plus many of his movies including The Way Way Back, Seven Psychopaths, Moon, Vice (as George W. Bush) and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.

To watch our conversation and to get the “actor’s side” of things from Sam Rockwell, just click on the link above.

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