She is standing in front of the mirror in a dressing gown and pursing her lips, applying makeup to her cheeks. This seems to scream at Jennifer Coolidge (61). Then she takes a sip of champagne. She needs to sip the liquid in the glass to avoid smearing the lipstick. The intro to the first sex scene of the second season of The White Lotus, which just aired on Sky. It is set in Sicily and – like episode 1 – addresses the needs of guests and staff of a luxury resort. Jennifer Coolidge plays heiress Tanya McQuoid for the second time.
When Coolidge lets her husband ride on her at the start of season two and squeal like a guinea pig, she proves she’s known for giving her all for a joke. But actually watching him in front of the mirror is enough. The grimaces, grunts, and sighs that embody this depressed super-rich earned Coolidge an Emmy for Best Supporting Actress this year. She didn’t look good for her career for a very long time, she.
Mixture of shame and erotic attraction
Coolidge’s breakthrough role came in 1999 with her role as Stifler’s Mother in American Pie. The cult comedy is about a group of teenagers trying to lose their virginity before graduating from high school. One of them, 18-year-old Finch, has an affair with his friend Stifler’s mother. Coolidge, then in her late thirties, played this femme fatale with a fervor that evoked a mix of alien embarrassment and erotic adoration to moviegoers.
In the movie, a man refers to her as a milf (I want to fuck mom). The term also existed before “American Pie.” After that, it prevailed as the name of a porn genre. From today’s perspective, that’s disrespectful. And hardly anyone can laugh at a chubby middle-aged blonde in a movie affair with a pale 18-year-old girl.
I subscribed to the stupid role
The high trash factor in their debut meant Coolidge struggled to come out of the shadow of Stifler’s Mom. He graduated from the renowned American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York and was a member of the California comedy troupe The Groundlings, where he earned spurs from stars like Melissa McCarthy (52) and Will Ferrell (55). Still, Coolidge subscribed to the role of the idiot. In 2003’s “Legally Blonde 2” she played an inept manicurist employee for the second time alongside Reese Witherspoon (46). His last major role for now.
In an interview with Variety, he said that he went to the casting for ten years without finding a serious job. The end of this long dry period with “White Lotus” is thanks to the director of the series, Mike White (52). The former actor has been a fan of Coolidge since playing his girlfriend in the failed comedy Gentlemen Broncos. She wrote the role of Tanya McQuoid especially for her.
Now he’s playing a little by himself
Probably because Coolidge played it so convincingly. Because while McQuoid consoles himself with pills in the series about the death of his mother, who is also his best friend, there are parallels with Coolidge’s life. Her mother died of cancer when her daughter celebrated her early successes as an actress. In interviews, she spoke openly about her former cocaine addiction.
When White’s offer came along – he was in the middle of the pandemic – he was depressed and even needed to be persuaded to go, Coolidge told Variety. Now, apart from her husband in the series, she is the only actress to appear in the second episode of “White Lotus” of the first season. Other than that, things are going well: He was seen as a narcissistic broker in the hit Netflix horror series “The Watcher.”
Today, Coolidge can laugh at the rejection he endured over the years. Once you get used to losing, at some point you no longer fear it. “It gives a feeling of freedom.”