The White Lotus producer David Bernad made it clear why Woody Harrelson passed on a breakout role in the show’s third season during this week’s episode of The Daily Beast Podcast.
“He would’ve been amazing in the part,” Bernad told The Daily Beast’s chief content and creative officer Joanna Coles, co-host Samantha Bee, and The Daily Beast’s senior entertainment editor Kevin Fallon of Harrelson. “Just to make sure it’s clear, we had a closed deal with Woody. We were doing it with Woody,” he continued.
But then the show’s shooting schedule “moved twice.”
“Woody had a birthday party that he had moved twice, that was his family, great friends, and it was in Europe,” Bernad explained. “And it got to the point where basically he’s like, ‘All these people have moved their lives twice and I’m so sorry, but I just can’t do this to them again and I can’t do this show.’ So that’s why it didn’t work out with Woody.”
Bernad’s comments come after The Hollywood Reporter’s oral history of the show broke the news that Harrelson had very nearly joined its third season. The actor’s reps subsequently told The Daily Beast the reason he didn’t join the show was “not about money,” despite THR citing sources that claimed Harrelson had tried to increase his pay before dropping out. Harrelson also clarified with his own statement that he had a “pre-planned” family vacation that became a conflict.
Earlier this week, White addressed Harrelson’s exit during an interview on The Howard Stern Show, quipping that the star had “very White Lotus bougie” plans for his “huge destination birthday.”
Harrelson’s reps also told The Daily Beast that he was first considered for Walton Goggins’ character (the revenge-driven Rick Hatchett). Though THR reported that bit as well, Bernad and Mike White both said Harrelson was only considered for Sam Rockwell’s smaller role, as a friend of Hatchett’s with an also-checkered past.
Rockwell’s take on the character has been universally lauded—that monologue especially; Bernad said Rockwell—who is notably the longtime partner of one of the show’s other stars, Leslie Bibb—“was our first idea,” as “soon as we knew that Woody couldn’t do it.”
“Sam is someone who really loves to prepare and he won’t do anything half-a–ed,” Bernad said, explaining why Rockwell initially passed on the role. “He read it and then he sends this long voice note to Mike and I, and he’s like, ‘Love it, blah, blah, blah… But I don’t think there’s enough time, so I don’t think I can do it.‘”
“Eventually, I think that monologue and that character got so in his head that he’s like, ‘OK, I have to do it,‘” he added. “To Sam’s credit, I think he went out of his comfort zone in terms of having the time to prepare. I think there was only like a week or two between finishing that movie and coming to Thailand.”
Bernad concluded, “We love Sam and he’s brilliant in that scene.”
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