‘The White Lotus’: Beatrice Grannò Says She and Simona Tabasco Got to “Go Crazy” in Their Scenes with Michael Imperioli

One of the most decadent delights HBO‘s The White Lotus offers is the chance to laugh at the wretched rich. Creator and director Mike White depicts the wealthy guests at his fictional White Lotus resorts as vain, foolish, and completely blind to their own shortcomings. And in The White Lotus Season 2 Episode “Italian Dream” we get to watch one rich guest — Michael Imperioli‘s Dominic Di Grasso — fully shame himself all over what he thinks is a simple request. The scene where Dom struggles to get hotel manager Valentina (Sabrina Impacciatore) to give escort Lucia (Simona Tabasco) and her gal pal (Beatrice Grannò) full run of the resort is a glorious bit of cringe comedy.

We learned in The White Lotus Season 2 premiere that Hollywood exec Dominic Di Grasso is in the doghouse with his wife and daughter thanks to his infidelity. Dom is so in need of sex as a distraction that he books Lucia for a night before he even arrives in Sicily. She takes the job as a way to give her and her bestie Mia access to the luxurious lifestyle the White Lotus resort affords its guests. What’s the big deal? Hotel manager Valentina wants nothing to do with the girls. She not only kicks them out, but also refuses to look the other way when Dominic asks her to.

“You know you go to a place like this and you usually get exactly what you want and no questions asked, you know? What happens at the White Lotus stays at the White Lotus,” Michael Imperioli said of the scene. “But [Valentina]’s not having it.”

In an delightfully awkward power play, Valentina forces Dominic to add Lucia and Mia to his room and his father’s room as guests. However, the person who seems to be wielding the most power in the scene is Lucia.

“[Simona] actually the leader of that [scene] and I had to be much more like, ‘I don’t know what I’m doing. He’s very old, I don’t know what’s happening,” Beatrice Grannò laughed.

Simona Tabasco said, “That scene was the first that we shot with Michael. So, it was fun to shoot it…because we really, truly, we are truly finding the key for those scenes.”

The key to these scenes didn’t just magically sprout from the script. According to Michael Imperioli, he, Tabasco, Grannò, and Impacciatore spent time rehearsing it so they could lean into improvisation on the day.

“The four of us just sat in a room and read it a bunch of times and really worked on it. Because there’s a lot of interruption and interaction in that scene,” Imperioli said. “We all become really good friends, too, because we were living and working in this hotel and rehearsals were part of that bonding experience.”

“Michael is just the best,” Beatrice Grannò said. “We loved working with him. He’s the most incredible actor and person. And, we had so much fun. We got to, you know, go crazy.”

“There was a moment where we laughed a lot because we had to jump in the pool. And, for some reason, we decided to jump with our dresses on. I don’t know why and he did the same. So, we are all in the swimming pool in our clothes. It was like, ‘Is this because we are like…what are we doing?'”

You’re making The White Lotus. That’s what you’re doing.