I’ve interviewed Mike White a handful of times over the years, way before “The White Lotus,” and back when he was a filmmaker. First thing you notice when you chat with White is how soft-spoken and shy of a person he is.
That’s why I’ve decided to tackle these developments, which had me in stitches. White has been on a no-filter rampage of late, and he’s attacking anyone who dares criticize the wildly divisive third season.
It all started when ‘White Lotus’ composer Cristóbal Tapia de Veer decided to announce his exit from the show the same day the Season 3 finale was set to air. The composer told the New York Times that he clashed with White about the Season 3 theme song, and that's why he’s decided to leave the show. Not just that, Tapia de Veer added that he did not tell White he’s quit the show and decided to wait until “just at the end for the shock.”
Now, White is fuming.
“I honestly don’t know what happened, except now I’m reading his interviews because he decides to do some PR campaign about him leaving the show,” White said during “The Howard Stern Show” (via THR). “I don’t think he respected me. He wants people to know that he’s edgy and dark and I’m…I don’t know, like, I watch reality TV. […] I was thrown that he would go to The New York Times to shit on me and the show three days before the finale. It was kind of a bitch move.”
“We never really even fought. He says we feuded. I don’t think I ever had a fight with him — except for maybe some emails,” White said. “It was basically me giving him notes. I don’t think he liked to go through the process of getting notes from me, or wanting revisions, because he didn’t respect me. I knew he wasn’t a team player and that he wanted to do it his way.”
White goes on to claim that before “The White Lotus,” Tapia de Veer’s work wasn’t on the rise, and that his show elevated the composer’s career to the point where it’s allegedly emboldened Tapia de Veer to mistreat him.
What matters is that this third ‘White Lotus’ season underwhelmed. There’s no other way to put it. If Cristóbal Tapia de Veer had his way, and ended up composing a masterful theme song, it would have still underwhelmed. It just meandered from episode to episode without much of a dramatic breakthrough.
White slammed detractors of this third season, implying that the slow pace was done deliberately and compared it to having good sex. lol.
There was complaining about how there’s no plot. That part I find weird. It never did… part of me is just like bro, this is the vibe. I’m world-building.I’m edging you. If you don’t want to be edged … get the f*ck out of my bed.
White has built a career out of the eccentric neurosis of his well-written characters. The filmmaker, and now showrunner, has a unique style and voice; some of his better efforts include HBO’s “Enlightened,” 2000’s indie sensation “Chuck and Buck, the screenplay for “The School of Rock,” and yes, the first two seasons of ‘White Lotus.’ Sadly, White is now only and all about ‘White Lotus’ as he’s currently working on the fourth season over at HBO.
Still no distributor for "Bucking Fastard," "Alpha Gang," "The Last Photograph," "Closing Night," and "The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd." The issue seems to be quality more than a lack of willingness to buy.