The truth is that, while Walton Goggins and Aimee Lou Wood were filming “The White Lotus,” they were basically never apart. After texting before traveling to Thailand, Goggins says that he extended an invite to Wood for lunch: “I think we were there for a day or two without meeting because I was so f**king in my head alone.” Wood, for her part, was intimidated; as she recalls, “I didn’t know what to order. I was like, ‘Can you pick for me?’ I was so nervous.”
“The minute she walked around the corner, I felt, ‘This is gonna work,'” Goggins said of their first meeting. “Two minutes into the conversation, it felt like I’ve known this person for 100 years.” This apparently resulted into the two frequently finding their own space while the rest of the cast, including Parker Posey, Carrie Coon, Michelle Monaghan, Leslie Bibb, and Jason Isaacs, just to name a few, mingled during meals. “I don’t mean to sound like an a**hole, it’s not method or anything, I just felt like I needed to stay in the space,” Goggins explained. “Both of us would get overwhelmed,” Wood added.
At the end of the day, Wood was a touchstone for Goggins. “I was alone purposely in this experience — not selfishly, not narcissistically,” he told Emily Longeretta. “Everyone has their process. Mine is being alone. But Aimee as Chelsea wouldn’t let me do that.” (Apparently, Wood would say to Goggins on set, “You’re going into the sad, parallel world. Stay in the real one.”)
I mentioned that Goggins refollowed Wood on Instagram, but he also made a comment about that very action. “It’s all so ridiculous,” he remarked. “It’s just a part of me just saying goodbye to this character so that now Aimee and I will be friends for f**king ever.” The two actors exchanged affectionate words before the interview and photoshoot ended and, according to Longeretta’s reporting, there was a lot of crying throughout. So, can we all accept that Goggins and Wood are just emotional, grown-up theater kids? There’s no drama. That’s just who they are!
“The White Lotus” season 3 is streaming on HBO Max now.
