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CTV News
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- CTV News
Charlotte Le Bon is focused on directing, but has ideas for a ‘White Lotus' return
Charlotte Le Bon is seen in season 3 of HBO's 'White Lotus' in this handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO - HBO TORONTO — Since her breakout role in season 3 of HBO's hit dramedy 'White Lotus,' acting offers have been pouring in for Charlotte Le Bon. But for now, the Montreal native is just not interested. 'Making films is my main focus more than acting, to be honest,' Le Bon said during a sit-down interview in Toronto Thursday. Le Bon recently returned from the Cannes Film Festival, where she held meetings in search of a financing partner for her sophomore feature — a still-untitled Montreal-shot drama exploring themes of loss. 'It's autobiographique,' says the bilingual actor, reluctant to reveal too much. 'It's a very, very personal movie and I think the goal is to try to make a very light-hearted movie on grief. It's a challenge, but that's what I'm aiming for.' The Montreal-based Le Bon was in town for Bell Media's 2025/26 programming showcase, where Etalk hosts interviewed her during a splashy event for media buyers about the last season of 'The White Lotus,' which streams on Crave. In Mike White's eat-the-rich anthology series she plays Chloe, a socially savvy French-Canadian expat living in Thailand with her much older boyfriend, and the series' main antagonist, Greg, who now goes by 'Gary.' She's seemingly unaware of Greg's history: in Season 2, he pulled off a plot to murder his wife Tanya, played by Jennifer Coolidge, in order to inherit her wealth. Le Bon says she was ready to take a hiatus from acting when she was offered the 'White Lotus' role. Though she'd built a successful career — with roles opposite Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the 2015 biographical drama 'The Walk' and Christian Bale in the 2016 war epic 'The Promise' — her passion had shifted to working behind the camera. Her 2023 horror-romance 'Falcon Lake,' which she directed and co-wrote, premiered at Cannes to strong critical acclaim. 'I was thinking about taking a break from acting because I was like, 'Oh, I don't know if I still like it.' I was just asking myself some questions about it... I sometimes played characters that were not really inspiring for me for some reason,' she says. 'And then 'White Lotus' arrived and I was like, 'There's no way I can not do this. It's just an amazing opportunity'... Between the moment where I sent the self-tape and the moment I was in the plane flying to Thailand, there were probably like 10 days.' Le Bon says the experience of being part of such a pop-culture juggernaut was hard to wrap her head around. 'It's kind of overwhelming when you're taking part in such an important thing in culture. Even when it started to come out, when I started to see memes on it on social media, it was really exciting,' she says. While acting isn't her current focus, Le Bon says she would be down to return for Season 4 — and has some ideas about how it could play out. 'If their relationship is based on true love, which I think it is, then maybe she'll come back with Greg, because Greg has to come back, for sure,' she says. Le Bon muses that Chloe could be Greg's accomplice or even the one who serves him his inevitable comeuppance. 'She could either become Greg's ally and they can be like a duo of villains, or she can maybe be the one who will create the karma for Greg. Maybe she'll give it to him,' she says. 'He has to get it at some point, so we'll see what happens.' While Chloe's relationship with Greg may seem transactional on the surface, Le Bon argues the two share a deeper 'understanding' of one another. 'I think what she likes in this relationship is she thinks she's found a way to be free… just by spending a lot of money and partying and having sex with whoever she wants,' Le Bon says. 'I think they find an agreement by the end of the season where it's clear that's her intention and maybe he can take part in this and have fun with it as well.' If that setup sounds peculiar, Le Bon says that's just the kind of thing that interests her. 'There needs to be a singular aspect to a part that really inspires me in order for me to move my butt and be an actress again,' she says. 'It needs to be weird.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 7, 2025. Alex Nino Gheciu, The Canadian Press
CBC
03-04-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
At Regard it's more than OK to be a 'little freak'
Le Bel Écran is a monthly column about Quebec's screen culture from a local perspective. If you've never been to the Regard Film Festival, it's difficult to explain its charm. Located in Saguenay, the festival is devoted specifically to short films and takes place every March. So while it officially takes place in spring, snowbanks can reach upwards of six feet high and a winter wind that descends from the fjords overlooking Saguenay and Chicoutimi rivers, plunges temperatures well below zero. Despite being six hours away from Montreal and three hours away from Quebec City, approximately 30,000 people now attend the festival annually. The energy is vibrant and playful; think sugar shack meets film festival vibes. It might be cold outside but it's not going to keep people from having a good time. Regard has been around for nearly thirty years now and has become one of North America's most important festivals for short films during that time. It is now an Oscar qualifying festival, meaning that films that win the Canadian Grand Prize are automatically eligible in the Academy Awards short film categories. They also run a professional film market: the only one in Canada devoted to short films, which features panels, master-classes and events that help promote young screenwriters. There are few places on earth where the joy and pleasure of short films are celebrated with the same enthusiasm and passion as Saguenay. While the selection of films runs internationally, there has always been strong local representation, and the festival has long highlighted the best of established and emerging filmmakers in Quebec. Filmmakers like Meryam Joubeur, whose short film Brotherhood screened at Regard and was eventually nominated for an Oscar, recently made the leap to feature-filmmaking with Who Do I Belong To. Her film built on her short film and is an impressionistic look at a family in rural Tunisia torn apart by the radicalization of one of their sons, premiered at the Berlinale last year and has won awards in festivals around the world. Other filmmakers like Charlotte Le Bon (who is also an actress and can currently be seen playing Chloe on The White Lotus), Annick Blanc and Jean-François Leblanc followed a similar trajectory, making award winning shorts that they eventually parlayed into their first feature. While Regard is certainly not the only reason for their success, it's certainly a large part of it. Among this year's highlights include Pidikwe, a new experimental short from Caroline Monnet, an ecstatic reimagining of the roaring 1920s which mixes indigenous traditional and contemporary dance as a means of exploring healing through community and art. Shot on 16mm on a darkened stage, lights halo around dancers that move with an infectious sense of freedom and self-possession. A clash of emotions and eras, the short film draws on Monnet's previous work of cultural amalgamation and also the figure of the indigenous woman's body as a battleground for violence but also healing. Another standout was Vincent René-Lortie's A Dying Tree. His previous short film, Invincible, was nominated for best live action short film at last year's Oscars. With his return to Regard, René-Lortie has challenged audiences with a genre-bending sensorial experience that is ostensibly about a worn-out office worker who encounters a chimpanzee which sets him on an irreversible path. Shot in textured black and white, the film dissolves the line between waking and dreaming life. By evoking early David Lynch with a touch of Leos Carax, the film draws on the logic of the subconscious to guide the audience through a thrilling but upsetting world of dance and deception. For filmmaker and curator Vincenzo Nappi, the 2025 Regard was his first experience at the festival. "I've been saying to everybody, it's been one of the most positive film experiences of my life," he says. "Everyone here seems to want to have a good time and there's people from all levels of the Quebec industry here from Oscar hopefuls to my little movie made for $1000." Nappi was born and raised in Laval, QC. He's also, in the words of our esteemed local government, a "historic anglophone." He's not only a filmmaker, but programs Canadian shorts at the Fantasia International Film Festival and curates a monthly screening series at Cinema Public called Enter the Videodrome focused on Canadian cinema. Nappi's film, Oh…Canada (not to be confused with the recent Paul Schrader film of almost the same name), premiered as part of the festival's Genre film block. A dark and comedic parody of educational films, the movie takes a look at the artifice and absurdities at the heart of the Canadian identity. "It's a musical-horror-comedy-political satire which is meant to emulate the Canadian PSAs of the 50s and 60s, you know, the type of thing you would see rolled in on a box TV in a classroom. It's questioning the Canadian or Federal branding of Canada and the contradictions that come with the Canadian identity," he says. "It's a goofy movie touching on very serious topics." As a festival programmer who also specialises in short films, Nappi sees it almost as a separate medium. Short film, for him, is a space where filmmakers are able to explore without the same market pressures that come with making a feature film. In other words, "you can get away with sort of being a little freak," Nappi laughs. He was impressed by how diverse the programming choices were at Regard, balancing relatively big budget short films with micro budget experiences, across all genres and sensibilities. Despite speaking English, Nappi has come around in recent years to identify more as a Quebecer. In part, his film explores that tension. "The anglo versus franco conversation is largely perpetuated by the government and I think intentionally so. When you look at what they're preaching, it doesn't really add up," he explains. "For a long time I didn't consider myself Quebecois because I'm anglophone, but I was born here, I was raised here. My mom's from here. Even if I speak English, it's my home." Even when it comes to Regard, Nappi had viewed it primarily as a French Festival but was surprised to find how open it was. "I was a bit nervous going into it, but everybody was super accommodating to the level of French I could speak, despite being here forever. It was just a bunch of anglophones and a bunch of francophones, all getting together and partying, so that was cool."
Buzz Feed
12-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
Here's Why Those "White Lotus" Yacht Scenes Were A *Lot* Less Glamorous To Shoot Than They Looked
If you watched the latest instalment of The White Lotus and found yourself feeling envious of the cast for getting to spend all that time in the sun aboard a fabulous super yacht – rest assured, it wasn't half as glamorous as it sounded. Since the new season of the award-winning anthology series premiered, the cast and crew have made no secret of the fact that the seven-month shoot in Thailand was anything but a holiday, largely down to the unbearable heat (and the fact air conditioning was too noisy to be used on set). And according to cast member Charlotte Le Bon – who plays party girl Chloe – this was definitely the case while filming on the yacht. 'It was so hot. It was the hottest I've ever been in my life, definitely,' she told Variety. 'Even the locals were suffering. 'We would leave the hotel, go to the port, and that would probably be a 35-minute ride, and then we would take a speed boat, and then we would have to do a 40-minute speed boat on waves [...] we were taking nausea pills, and then going on the boat.' Charlotte added that because director of photography Ben Kutchins 'was so precise with what he wanted in the background', the boat was constantly having to be turned around, which she described as 'the most nauseous thing ever'. As if all of that wasn't enough, Jason Isaacs then injured himself in a grisly accident that apparently left 'blood everywhere'. On Tuesday morning, Jason also recalled to Virgin Radio: 'We were on a billionaire's yacht – a super yacht – which by the way, only ever rented, apart from us, to oligarchs, big Russian gangsters essentially. 'I asked the crew, 'What's it like having us here?' They said, 'Well, it's nice not to have the gangsters and all the guns', and I said, 'Who else do you rent to?' And there was a kind of blank pause, and they went, 'No, that's all we do'.' Jason added that the crew then told him: 'The most terrifying thing about it is you don't want to clean their room because they have bags of millions of dollars in there, and they might accuse you of stealing. But they do tip well.'
Buzz Feed
25-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
11 Famous Roles That Were Recast ASAP Because The Original Star Was Fired, Quit, And Just Couldn't Do It Anymore
It might be hard to fathom, but some major roles in your most beloved movies and TV shows weren't always in the hands of the actors who made them famous. For a thousand different reasons, actors can find themselves taking over (and successfully making their own) a role initially attached to a different performer. So here are just 11 memorable times that come to mind: 1. Charlotte Le Bon: Chloe in The White Lotus In Season 3 of The White Lotus, Charlotte Le Bon stars as Greg (Jon Gries)'s girlfriend Chloe. She's an ex-model from Quebec. The role was initially set for Francesca Corney. No official reason was made for the recasting, though Deadline reported producers wanted an actor "who played older." 2. Julian Kostov: An unnamed (for now) Russian character in The White Lotus Though we haven't seen him pop up yet on The White Lotus, Julian Kostov is set to play a character only described so far as Russian. Miloš Biković was tapped initially for the character. However, Deadline reported the actor exited the series following "criticism from Ukraine" over his casting. 3. Vanessa Williams: Wilhelmina Slater in Ugly Betty As America Ferrera revealed on her Ugly Betty co-stars Michael Urie and Becki Newton's new rewatch podcast Still Ugly, Vanessa Williams was a last-minute replacement. She was brought in after another actor had completed two table reads but had been let go when filming began. In fact, Vanessa joined after they started shooting. The actor who previously played Wilhelmina wasn't named. 4. Jodie Foster: Meg Altman in Panic Room In Panic Room, Jodie Foster played a mom who hid herself and her daughter in their home's safe room. Nicole Kidman was cast but dropped out after a previous injury prevented her from filming intense action scenes. Nicole thanked Jodie in a 2024 Hollywood Reporter interview for taking over the role. "I was in a really bad way. I was like, 'I'm having a breakdown.' And Jodie took over, thank the Lord," Nicole said. The Tell Me Lies star is set to play Amanda Knox in an upcoming limited series at Hulu. She's replacing Margaret Qualley, who left the show last year due to scheduling conflicts. 6. Ben Whishaw: Paddington in Paddington It might be hard to think of anyone voicing the marmalade-loving Paddington beside Ben Whishaw. For a moment, though, the role was Colin Firth's for the taking. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the casting change occurred because they needed a "slightly more open, and younger, voice" for the talking bear. 7. Mark-Paul Gosselaar: Paul Johnson in Mixed-ish Mark-Paul Gosselaar starred as Bow Johnson's father in this prequel to Black-ish. Anders Holm originally played the role in the pilot, but Mark-Paul took over the role when the series received an entire Season 1 order. No reason was given for the recasting, though it's not unheard of for actors to be replaced after the pilot episode. 8. Vanessa Kirby: Empress Josephine in Napoleon Vanessa Kirby played Napoleon Bonaparte's first wife, Empress Josephine, in the 2023 biopic that starred Joaquin Phoenix as the French empower. Initially, the role went to Jodie Comer, who left the movie due to scheduling conflicts with her play Prime Facie. "I'm so happy for her and I wish her all the success with that movie," Jodie told the Hollywood Reporter. "A lot of this industry is sliding doors, and I do feel like I was always supposed to do that play. So I was happy with my decision." 9. Ana de Armas: Sadie Rhodes in Ghosted Ana de Armas starred alongside Chris Evans in the 2023 action rom-com Ghosted. Before she joined, Scarlett Johansson was initially set for the role, though no reason was given for her departure. 10. Salma Hayek: Maxandra Mendoza in Magic Mike's Last Dance Salma Hayek joined Channing Tatum's final ride with Magic Mike in the 2023 film Magic Mike's Last Dance. She did so in a role set for Thandiwe Newton. No reason was given for Thandiwe's departure from playing a socialite with her eye on Mike. 11. Finally, Giancarlo Esposito: A.B. Wynter in The Residence Giancarlo Esposito stars alongside Uzo Aduba in Shonda Rhimes's new series The Residence. The show is a whodunnit set in the White House during a state dinner, and Andre Braugher was initially cast in the role of the White House chief usher. Following Andre's death in 2023, Giancarlo replaced him in the role.
