One factor you’ll discover on the 4 Seasons Resort in Koh Samui is the monkeys. You possibly can lookup and see them sitting in or traipsing throughout the 800 coconut bushes on the sprawling property overlooking the Gulf of Thailand or showing in sculptures and statues across the resort. Nevertheless, any animal you see within the third season of Max’s “The White Lotus,” which used the 4 Seasons as its titular resort property, is far more than ornamental, defined manufacturing designer Cristina Onori. “There’s a clear distinction between the surroundings of Thailand, the place nature is continually current, and the environments the American characters come from, the place nature is confined to very managed areas,” she instructed IndieWire.
With the Mike White-created collection venturing from Italy to Thailand (aka the Land of Smiles) for Season 3, Emmy winner Onori had quite a lot of challenges. Right here, she tells IndieWire what she confronted and the way she labored by way of all of it.
The next interview has been edited for readability and conciseness.
IndieWire: Going from Italy in Season 2 to Thailand in Season 3, what have been some distinctive challenges you confronted within the manufacturing designs, given they’re such totally different locations?
Cristina Onori: It was actually a problem to design inside such a wealthy tradition like that of Thailand, particularly in striving to embrace its stunning and complicated symbolic and aesthetic language. Coming from Season 2 in Italy, a spot already deeply rooted in my cultural reminiscence the place designing felt extra fast and fluid, I positively had plenty of analysis to do.
It was vital to me to review Thai tradition and design earlier than constructing it within the manufacturing, and I used to be very targeted on remaining respectful and avoiding cliches whereas investigating and analyzing Thailand. A lot of my methodology was to begin with deep mental analysis in books and visible guides, after which shifting on to exploring Thailand firsthand within the bodily world. My very own expertise as an outsider allowed me to collaborate with the Thai workforce in a approach that helped us discover a shared strategy, in the end making a design that really resonated with Thailand as an entire.
What was your first impression of the 4 Seasons Koh Samui?
The 4 Seasons in Koh Samui is, in fact, such a surprising location with a lot promise. Not solely is it a phenomenal resort to remain in, however it’s also a beautiful baseline to construct from for our present, molding and including parts to emphasise Thai tradition inside our story.
The plush hillside was an ideal jumping-off level for my design — it’s such a first-rate location as a result of it’s so secluded, which allowed me to spotlight the privilege of the characters who’ve the chance to remain there. The luxurious items of the resort contribute to that feeling of wealth and standing. Residing on the 4 Seasons whereas filming was a privilege in itself and feeling the intimacy of the placement whereas virtually sequestering ourselves there was a panoramic expertise. Moreover, the truth that nature is so woven into the structure of the resort allowed me to intensify the significance of nature within the story. The crystal-clear sea and the plentiful greenery have been characters of their very own on this season of “The White Lotus.”
Actually, all of the places we shot in served as baselines that we expanded and modified. As a result of the 4 Seasons didn’t present sure visible parts important for our present, we needed to increase and hyperlink further lodges, even on totally different islands. Anantara Bo Phut in Samui served as our most important exterior entrance and reception space, Anantara Mai Khao in Phuket because the spa, and Rosewood Phuket because the dinner restaurant. Not solely have been the lodges tailored to suit the identical aesthetics, however we additionally constructed new constructions to increase the world of the story.
For instance, all of the bed room areas have been reconstructed and enlarged on a soundstage in Bangkok, the place we had extra space to play. With Mike, we got here up with particular colours for the furnishings and textiles that might relate to the totally different teams of characters. Reconstructing units within the studio allowed for higher inventive and technical freedom whereas staying true to what was filmed on location. Moreover, we constructed new units contained in the resorts themselves, typically repurposing areas for various makes use of to suit the story. As an illustration, we constructed the guard’s sales space on the resort entrance to suit the script.
What did you add to the bungalows/rooms to tie into the themes of the season or the characters?
All through this season, the luxurious decor, paintings, and structure lure the viewers and the characters into this world of unique alternative and entitlement, exposing their shallow wishes and dysfunctional relationships. The chosen artworks reveal hardships and cracks within the facades that these characters put as much as cover themselves from each other. Their relationships change into clearer by way of the artwork that follows them all through the resort.
The Buddhist frescoes characterize human archetypes, just like Greek myths in classical Western tradition. These photographs characterize the lifetime of Buddha, conveying the nation’s historical past and mythology whereas evoking common human experiences. Whereas visiting so many beautiful temples with Mike, we had the privilege of seeing these historical Buddhist murals. We felt it might be fascinating for “The White Lotus” to hyperlink every character to a particular part of these murals, creating a visible and narrative connection between the painted story and the character’s journey.
Moreover, I targeted on including dimension to the resort rooms by utilizing pure supplies, like native teak wooden, within the wood panels that stand in every of the resort rooms, impressed by northern Thai structure, in addition to rosewood furnishings and mango wood frames and screens. All these parts have been designed and created particularly for the present in collaboration with Letizia Santucci, the set decorator.
The frequent rooms for every resort room have been all redesigned utilizing Thai craftsmanship reinterpreted in a contemporary approach by new artists. And far of the furnishings was particularly designed and constructed for this particular mission. For instance, the bar in one of many frequent rooms, an vital factor for the narrative, was delivered to life by reinterpreting conventional Thai design in a contemporary type, each by way of supplies and stylistic parts. Within the bedrooms, benches have been constructed and positioned on the foot of the beds, and extra vintage furnishings items and objects have been added each as references to spirituality and to Thai structure.
I beloved the restaurant the place the characters eat breakfast and dinner. What did you do with that house, which seemed nice within the episodes I’ve seen?
The breakfast restaurant and the dinner restaurant have been filmed in fully totally different places, one within the 4 Seasons Koh Samui and one on the Rosewood in Phuket, so the problem was to make them appear to be they belong in the identical resort. As a result of the breakfast restaurant was on the highest of a hill and the dinner restaurant was subsequent to the ocean, we linked them by way of crops and greenery to ensure the 2 eating places adopted a path down that hill. Moreover, we tied them along with the identical decor, utilizing related colours and textures to remind the viewers that that is one resort.
The dinner restaurant is on extra of a flat outside house, so we wished to create quantity and new paths to counterpoint the placement and make it extra of a feast for the eyes. For instance, we added a pond with lotus flowers to the restaurant, in addition to a big stage flanked with fireplace pits and statues to serve the performances and the script. On the partitions, we added a metallic/neon paintings signal as a reference to Thai shadow puppetry — we reinterpreted the varieties to include a darker presence, a demon, on this fashionable restaurant scene. The dinner restaurant was additionally an evening shoot, so we used lighting rigs to form the pathways and emphasize the entrances and exits of the characters.
In all, it was extraordinarily vital to make it a singular expertise whereas additionally recognizable. We couldn’t lose what defines “The White Lotus” look/fashion, however we additionally received to reinvent items of it.
Animals like birds, monitor lizards, snakes, and monkeys are seen all through. Did you lean into any of these animals in your manufacturing design?
Taking inspiration from historical traditions, crops and animals grew to become symbols and motifs this season — every group of characters within the story is represented by specific animals. On this approach, the animals you see all through the season are usually not simply ornamental. A part of the story attracts energy from the truth that these characters are immersed in nature and in such shut proximity to animals for what looks like the primary time, which provokes varied feelings in them—concern, unease, and suffocation, to call just a few. The animals within the design convey out a deeper resonance within the components of the story that decision upon the pure world to propel the characters towards battle and emotion.
What have been some stuff you added to any of the filming areas that evoked Buddhism or the religious theme that Mike White wrote about this season?
Whereas touring throughout Thailand, I used to be struck by the spirit homes, or san phra phum, that you’ll find anyplace, from properties to sidewalks to spiritual websites. The custom of spirit homes dates again centuries, lengthy earlier than the arrival of Buddhism in Thailand, and is expounded to animism, the idea that spirits inhabit all parts of the pure world—mountains, bushes, rivers, and so on. These shrines have been added into every villa within the resort set, as they function a house for spirits who guard the land.
Moreover, whereas visiting so many beautiful temples with Mike, we had the privilege of seeing many historical Buddhist murals. I used this paintings within the resort foyer and within the bedrooms in every resort suite. We felt it might be fascinating for “The White Lotus” to hyperlink every character to a particular part of these murals, creating a visible and narrative connection between the painted story and the character’s journey.
The colour orange can also be woven by way of your complete season. This coloration palette was impressed by Thai monks’ robes in all their totally different variations, primarily based on monks’ rating and construction. I wished to mix previous and current right into a cohesive aesthetic that spoke to this nation’s lush cultural and creative historical past, such that this coloration is just not solely ornamental on the units we constructed but additionally a religious factor.
Lastly, one other notably enjoyable piece of this course of was the creation of a floating movable island with an enormous statue of Buddha in the course of a pond for one in every of our units. As a result of it was so huge, we positively needed to put within the work to make it come to life, nevertheless it all got here collectively to speak a phenomenal theme of spirituality and the significance of steadiness — it virtually grew to become a logo of my very own expertise engaged on this season. I felt at peace realizing that each one the work we did would create a spot that was each new and thrilling whereas remaining unmistakably “White Lotus.”
“The White Lotus” airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on Max.