“Luxury problems,” says writer-director Mike White, appearing via Zoom from his house in Hawaii. He’s 10 minutes late because he totally forgot we were meeting. He’s hunting for his glasses which turn out to be on his head. This past week has been manic, what with the edit of season two of his HBO comedy The White Lotus, the premiere, the press calls and round tables. “I feel pulverised,” he declares and then promptly laughs at himself. Luxury problems, he knows, aren’t really problems at all. “Also, you don’t want to be the guy who complains because he has a hit show.”
Season one of The White Lotus made White an overnight star at the age of 52. His class-war satire scooped 10 awards at the Emmys last month. It’s his biggest (some say only) mainstream success since he wrote 2003’s School of Rock. White can’t explain it. He suspects it must be a blip. “I’ve done so much weird-ass stuff,” he says, shrugging. “This is only a little frozen moment in time.”
