The White Lotus has once again returned to the screens with its third season, and so far, things seem to be going as spectacularly bafflingly as ever. Of course, there are a lot of reasons behind this, though a particular one that recently caught fans off-guard was none other than Leslie Bibb’s husband Sam Rockwell, who pretty much stole the show with his debut.
In what was a really well-kept jaw-dropping surprise that had fans giving each other amusing stares, Rockwell gave a simple but crazy and nearly five-minute-long monologue about numerous issues. But as much as his cameo makes sense because of his real-life connection to Bibb, the actress claims she was scared about her husband’s casting for the same!
Leslie Bibb was scared about Sam Rockwell’s casting in The White Lotus
If you haven’t seen episode 5 of season 3, Full-Moon Party, of The White Lotus yet and intend to, we suggest you turn back from here. But if you have, then you know just how crazy that nearly five-minute-long monologue by Rick’s (played by Walton Goggins) friend Frank about being a s*x addict before finding his religion Buddhism, and discovering his true identity, which was delivered by Sam Rockwell, was.
Truly enough, the speech was one to catch viewers absolutely off-guard. But what poked at them about this well-kept cameo by Rockwell more was that it only made sense since the actor is the real-life romantic partner of Leslie Bibb, who stars as the Trump-supporting, toxic trio friend Kate in season 3. However, as surprising as it may be, the truth is that Bibb actually had nothing to do with her husband’s surprise casting in her show.
During a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, she talked about how the same came to be, revealing:
No, they came to me and they were like, ‘We’re going to offer this to Sam.’ I was on the treadmill and [producer] Dave Bernad came to me. But I was like, ‘Sam is wild as a buck. Listen, I don’t know what he’s going to do. He’s doing a movie in South Africa, he likes time to prep.’ And he was very nervous about that prep time.
Of course, giving a cameo performance as a character as complex as Frank—who goes from being a s*x addict who “always had a thing for Asian girls” to one who becomes a “ladyboy” before coming to the epiphany: “Guess I was trying to f— my way to the answer. Then I realized I’ve got to stop the drugs, the girls, trying to be a girl, I got into Buddhism.“—was not an easy task, and Rockwell would have to sincerely prepare for this WTF moment.
But what Bibb was scared of was if her husband refused and it resulted in the showrunners being mad at her. As she continued during the same interview:
That was a big arc to do that quickly. And [Rockwell] literally went from one [project] to the next, so I said [to producers], ‘You can’t get mad at me if he says no. What if he says no?’ I was so scared! Then [creator] Mike [White] was like, ‘No, no, no, we won’t get mad at you.’
Thankfully for her, while she already ensured she wouldn’t get into trouble in case her husband backed down from playing that jaw-dropping role, things ended up turning out in her favor as Rockwell seemed to welcome the role with open arms. To say the least, his performance was so absolutely epic that a lot of viewers are still dazed while trying to figure out how they even managed to pull off something as crazy as that!
Leslie Bibb also found it “really fun” to have her husband onboard
While she was initially scared that her husband might turn down the opportunity and it may get her into trouble, Leslie Bibb also confessed that having Sam Rockwell on board the same masterpiece show as her—even if it was for only a cameo role—was nothing short of a treat for her. In fact, despite the truncated experience as he shot for days and she for months, Bibb didn’t hesitate to say it was truly “really fun.”
It was really fun. We don’t have any scenes together, and he did all of his stuff in eight days. We were there for six months, Sam was there for eight days — Sam did not have the same experience in eight days. He got The White Lotus light. But it’s nice to be able to have a context to share, and I think he’s a great actor, and we’re lucky to have him, and I think he chewed up that character. Mike was really happy to have him too.
All in all, Bibb’s initial hesitation about Rockwell’s casting in the smash hit series that is currently ruling the screens proved unfounded, as her fears really took an epic shape with her husband stealing the show with his memorable cameo. To put it in a nutshell, in spite of her fears, her husband’s performance has become a highlight of the ongoing season 3, and Bibb can’t help but admit of being thrilled to have him on board.
The White Lotus can currently be streamed on HBO.
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