Jason Isaacs is getting real about how much The White Lotus cast got paid for starring on one of the most popular shows on TV.
In an interview with Vulture published on Monday, June 16, Isaacs, 62, confirmed reports that he and his castmates had each earned $40,000 per episode.
“I didn’t know that was public knowledge,” the actor told the outlet. “That’s absolutely true. Generally actors don’t talk about pay in public because it’s ridiculously disproportionate to what we do — putting on makeup and funny voices — and just upsets the public.”
Isaacs continued, “But compared to what people normally get paid for big television shows, that’s a very low price. But the fact is, we would have paid to be in it. We probably would have given a body part.”
The veteran actor harbors no hard feelings about earning the same salary as costars with less experience.
“Do I mind that I wasn’t paid more than other people? I never work for money,” he said. “I mean, I’ve done all right. People will think I have huge stockpiles of money but sadly, what I’ve done rather immaturely is expand my outgoings to match my incomings and pretty much spent everything I’ve earned over the years.”
The third season of The White Lotus traveled to Thailand, with cast members that included Isaacs, Carrie Coon, Leslie Bibb, Parker Posey, Patrick Schwarzenegger and Natasha Rothwell.
“It’s a very gossipy set,” Isaacs revealed earlier this month during a Q&A at Soho House West Hollywood. “There’s a lot of people and there’s a lot of cliques [that] form, not just in the actors, but there’s makeup and hair and costume, and there’s the admin department as well.”
He suggested that filming abroad added to tension on the set of the HBO series.
“Thailand’s a long way from home for everybody,” Isaacs added. “A lot of people [were] there in the hotel, away from home for seven months. It’s hot. No one’s got their families with them.”
According to Isaacs, everyone would confide in him, sharing, “I’d sit there like Yoda. They would come to me. They would often go off and misbehave like children, and come back and want counsel. And I’d go, ‘When I was your age ….’”
Isaacs downplayed all the headlines about which actor was feuding with whom.
“There were online detectives trying to work out where the fault lines were between people,” he explained. “People made friends. People met people they weren’t so friendly with. All the normal stuff that happens when a group of people go away for a long time.”
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