Jennifer Coolidge Was Passed Over for Ryan Murphy ‘AHS’ Role but Scored an Emmy With Mike White’s ‘The White Lotus’
American Horror Story filmmaker Ryan Murphy may have passed on casting Jennifer Coolidge, even when he filmed the series outside her home, but it was The White Lotus creator Mike White who sent Coolidge’s star into orbit.
Coolidge has worked steadily, known for her breakout roles in Legally Blonde and American Pie 2. But she also had well-known roles on series like Seinfeld, Friends, and her role as Sophie Kachinsky in Two Broke Girls. Coolidge recently described how she yearned to be cast on American Horror Story, but Murphy passed on her – even after he used her home as a set location.
Ryan Murphy wouldn’t cast Jennifer Coolidge in ‘AHS’
Coolidge recalled when Murphy filmed AHS and he used her New Orleans home for a location but wouldn’t even let her be in the shot. “It was sort of a riveting thing that Ryan was asking me to do this. I never get offered these sort of scary parts,” she told IMDb. “He rented my house and used it for American Horror Story down in New Orleans, but even if I was in the yard… he somehow made sure he wasn’t around to give me a little part.”
Despite being passed over for AHS, Murphy cast her in a juicy role in his new thriller, The Watcher. “So here I am 10 years later, thrilled!” Coolidge said about her role as real estate agent Karen Calhoun in the Netflix series.
Jennifer Coolidge’s passed on Mike White’s offer to appear in ‘The White Lotus’
But Coolidge became a breakout star when she was cast to play Tanya McQuoid, a messy character with more money than she knows what to do with in The White Lotus Season 1. She arrived at The White Lotus hotel in Hawaii to scatter her mother’s ashes and ended up stringing along Belinda, a hopeful spa manager, with promises to help her create a business. But Tanya then gets distracted by Greg, a man in an adjacent room. They have an unlikely romance and Tanya ditches Belinda, shattering her dream of starting her own business.
Coolidge revealed that she passed on White’s initial offer to play Tanya. She said weight gain during the pandemic made her want to pass on the role at first. “I did say, ‘If we could just do this later,'” Coolidge told People. “And then [Mike] was sort of like, ‘No, we’re doing it now. I just got approved by HBO … October, we’re going to Hawaii and we’ve got the Four Seasons, we’re filming it there.'”
What changed Jennifer Coolidge’s mind about taking ‘The White Lotus’ role?
She struggled to make a decision, leaning toward not taking the role. “Thank God, I had a friend who said to me, ‘When are you going to Hawaii? I heard that’s starting right away,'” she recalled a conversation she had with a friend. “And I said, ‘Yeah, I’m not going.’ … She says, ‘How does Mike White [feel] about it?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I’m going to just tell him maybe a foot injury or something, but I’m not going.'”
“That girlfriend just gave me this [pep talk and said], ‘You are out of your mind. I don’t even think you know what this is. This is self-sabotage. I’ve been your friend all these years, this is incredible opportunity for you. Are you really going to f*** this up? Are you really going to f*** this up, Jennifer? This is the worst thing you could do to yourself. Just go, just f***ing go do it. Are you ever going to be in shape?””
“For once in my life, I listened,” she said. “Usually, I have my own thing in my head but I listened.”
Jennifer Coolidge won an Emmy for ‘The White Lotus’ (and maybe a Golden Globe)
Coolidge won the Emmy for her role as Tanya and her acceptance speech was very on-brand with her character. “What a night,” she said after telling the audience, “hey, hi!” She acknowledged her fellow nominees and added that she took a lavender bath that evening and “it made me swell up inside my dress.”
“And I’m having a hard time speaking,” she added as the audience laughed. She then fumbled with a speech she had on a small crumpled piece of paper, looking frazzled.
Coolidge alongside The White Lotus 2 costar Aubrey Plaza are nominated for a Golden Globe award. And award season is just beginning …
