Blackpink's Lisa tells us how she overcame her nervousness in her The White Lotus acting debut

The Emmy-winning drama series The White Lotus is back for a third round of hijinks and mysteries. Set in Thailand, this season features a new cast but plenty of familiar faces – in more ways than one. 

First, we have Natasha Rothwell reprising her role as Belinda Lindsey, the spa manager of the White Lotus Resort & Spa Maui from Season 1. This season, Belinda trades her towels for tequila as she becomes a guest at the White Lotus in Thailand, hoping to pick up a few new skills.

Then we have indie film legend Parker Posey joining the cast as Victoria Ratliff – the matriarch of a family with its own eccentricities.

And of course, we can’t mention The White Lotus Season 3 without highlighting the new cast member who also happens to be one of the biggest names on the planet right now: Blackpink's Lisa.

The 27-year-old member of the K-pop group, whose real name is Lalisa Manobal, makes her acting debut, starring as Mook – a health mentor at the White Lotus’ Thailand resort.

CNA Lifestyle recently spoke with Manobal and her fellow cast members Posey, Rothwell and Thai actor-singer Tayme Thapthimthong – who plays security guard Gaitok – to learn what it was like shooting in Thailand.

She’s a superstar who has conquered charts and stadiums around the world but Manobal admitted she “was really nervous” about making her acting debut in The White Lotus Season 3.

“I took some lessons before my first shoot,” recalled Manobal. “Everybody on set was helping me a lot.”

Looking towards Thapthimthong, she added: “I mean, even Tayme tried to calm me down on set – cheering me up.”

As if on cue, Thapthimthong proceeded to reenact his motivational speeches: “You can do this, you can do this. You’ve got nothing to be nervous about!”

As it turns out, the camaraderie between Manobal and Thapthimthong is a two-way street. 

Before landing the part of Gaitok – his first major Hollywood role – the London-born Thapthimthong had an illustrious CV which includes three years as a Royal Marine Cadet in the UK, being the runner-up in the 10th season of the Thai singing competition Academy Fantasia, and the personal bodyguard of a Thai rapper.

However, Thapthimthong admitted that his Thai was “not as good” as his English.

“When I was given the script to read in my own version of Thai, [the producers] were like ‘Ah, this is not how a Thai local would talk’,” said Thapthimthong.

Enter Manobal, who “helped a lot” with Thapthimthong’s dialogue.

“She helped me rearrange the sentences and made it more natural,” explained Thapthimthong, before facing Manobal and thanking her.

With their shared experience of being singers who’ve stepped into the acting world, Thapthimthong and Manobal noted that one of the challenges they faced was maintaining the mindset of their characters throughout a shoot.

“I feel like there is a degree of acting when I sing…But it's still different from ‘acting acting’ because in ‘acting acting’, you're jumping in the shoes of someone else for the duration of that whole shoot, instead of a three-minute song,” said Thapthimthong.

“You have to keep the same character. So there are definitely challenges in that. But there are ways [of overcoming them] like reminding oneself ‘Who are you?’, ‘What's happened in this scene?’ or ‘What's happened before this scene?’ so that you can make the energy and story continuous through your character.”

Manobal then chimed in, sharing her experience: “For me, the challenge was [thinking] if Mook was in this situation, how is she gonna react or [what is she going to] say to Gaitok – and not just [thinking about what] Lisa [would] usually say.”

“But we had our Thai director who helped us shape [the characters],” she added.

According to Manobal and Thapthimthong, this director would also ensure that Mook and Gaitok communicated using the right form of speech.

Quoting the director, Manobal recalled: “‘Mook is really close to Gaitok, so don't say ‘ka’ (a sentence-ending particle to indicate politeness in Thai). Please take it out.’ And I’m like ‘Oh yeah, I forgot.’”

She added: “Usually, I talk to [Thapthimthong] the polite way. So I always say ‘ka’ to him. But on set, I sometimes forgot that I'm Mook and he's Gaitok.”

As Thai artistes, Manobal and Thapthimthong both feel “honoured” that they get to represent their country on The White Lotus.

“I’m so grateful to have been chosen as one of the few Thai actors on the show,” said Thapthimthong. “It’s a worldwide show. I feel like they represent Thailand in such a beautiful way. Even though I’ve been in Thailand for the past 12 years, I’ve never seen Thailand quite in this spectacle.”

For Natasha Rothwell, “being able to breathe new life into Belinda” was what excited her the most about her return to The White Lotus.

“I felt like her story in Season 1 kind of ended on an ellipsis,” admitted Rothwell. “So being able to pick back up and continue to tell her story in new ways and to show different layers, as an actor, it's just a dream come true.”

Parker Posey, on the other hand, felt that her character Victoria Ratliff is coming into the story “with a lot of issues”. Describing the Ratliffs as “narcissistic”, Posey said that Victoria is “a mother who thinks she can control her children”.

“And it's all out of love and fear. But there's a there's a big catalyst of change that's going to happen within the show,” teased Posey.

“I loved playing this part because she seems very fragile, but she's also very strong.”

When asked about their experience filming in Thailand, Rothwell praised that she “had nothing to compare it to”.

“It is just an adventure when you shoot abroad, on location, and in beautiful, vibrant places,” said Rothwell.

“The culture is so different from ours in the States. I just surrendered to it and just really loved being able to have the same sort of experience Belinda was having…It's just sensory overload and I just loved it.”

For Parker Posey, The White Lotus Season 3 marked her first time ever in Asia.

“I think when you go to a place [with] a different culture, you feel the soul of the place. There's all this stuff that we as people pick up on, and I loved Asia immediately,” said Posey.

“I felt there were many things about the culture that was pure – the reciprocity, the give and take, the relationship to food. All these things that I really enjoy. Like it felt good for my soul.”

The White Lotus Season three is now available to stream on Max, with new episodes every Monday.