In HBO‘s official preview for The White Lotus Season 3 Episode 4 “Hide or Seek,” we can see that the Ratliff family make their way onto a yacht with the motley crew of Greg (Jon Gries), Chloe (Charlotte Le Bon), Rick (Walton Goggins), Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood), and more rich and powerful party people.
What could be more fun for an actor than shooting an episode of The White Lotus on a literal yacht? Well, a lot. When White Lotus star Jason Isaacs stopped by DECIDER HQ recently, he divulged that not only was the Episode 4 shoot “insanely hot,” but that he also “split” his head slamming into a glass door on the boat, forcing production to CGI out his scar on all future scenes.
The White Lotus Season 3 takes place in Thailand and introduces a new group of wealthy resort guests hurtling towards an inevitably violent conclusion. The Ratliff family are essentially North Carolinian royalty and patriarch Tim (Jason Isaacs) has secretly blown up the family’s entire existence. His wife Victoria (Parker Posey) and kids have no clue he’s being investigated stateside for his involvement with a money laundering scheme. Tim has hidden everyone’s phones and is currently swallowing Victoria’s lorazepam to cope with the stress.
Based on the official HBO teaser for tonight’s The White Lotus episode, we know the Ratliffs will be joining the boat ride Chloe mentioned over dinner in last week’s episode. While Chloe hypes it as “a lot of fun,” Isaacs detailed to DECIDER how the nightmarishly hot conditions led to his head injury.
“We’re out there under the blazing sun. There was one little air conditioned room that we all ran in between the takes,” Isaacs said, setting the scene. “You’re in clothes and makeup and hair and lacquer and, like, you can’t just jump in the sea and cool down.”
Isaacs revealed that while the boat was overtaken with film crew, the actual yacht’s crew had little to do besides polish the ship.
“The little room we had AC in had these clear glass doors and they were always polishing them. So they’re absolutely invisible,” Isaacs said. Disaster struck Isaacs when he was called on set.
“They were like, ‘Jason! Needed now!’” he said. “I just went boom into the door, split my head open.”
“Blood’s hemorrhaging everywhere. I knocked myself out. I was caught by the Second AD. I came to and I went, ‘Sorry, I got to go.’”
Because Isaacs couldn’t see how bad his injury was, he went straight to set, where everyone naturally stared and pointed out the cut.
“I go, ‘Oh, yeah. No, it’s fine. I’ll just play the scene like that,’” he said. “They went, ‘No, no, no, your head’s exploded. We could see the bone. It’s kind of this Y split.’”
Isaacs, “slightly hysterical with adrenaline,” suggested he just wear a hat to get through the scene, but the entire crew shut him down.
Isaacs said that eventually everything he shot for that scene and after had to be fixed in post with visual effects. “I think they CGI-ed out the scar,” he said. “That was a big split.”
It wasn’t all bad, though, Isaacs said. “The boat was gorgeous, but you have to remember, we were there for seven months. So it looks like we’re on holiday. We’re not on holiday. We were working.”
“So it wasn’t terrible. I mean, been in worse places.”
The White Lotus Season 3 Episode 4 “Hide or Seek” premieres on HBO and MAX tonight, March 9, at 9 PM ET.
