You’ve gotta hand it to Theo James: He found a way to turn his White Lotus character, Cameron — an abhorrent finance bro who cheats on his wife, never votes, and seduces the wife of one of his oldest friends — into a surprisingly charming antagonist. Perhaps that’s why audiences never fully turn against the minor monster even as he consistently wrongs his winning wife, Daphne, played by the effervescent Meghann Fahy, or defends some unnamed associate for whipping yogurt at his assistant’s face.
That’s not to say Cameron never gets knocked down: As viewers of The White Lotus season-two finale saw, a massive sea brawl between Cameron and Ethan (Will Sharpe) nearly kills them both. And, earlier in the episode, Cameron is reluctantly browbeaten by one of his small children — or at least a kid he thinks is his — into coming to the phone. (Yes, James has heard the theories about those little blond cuties.) And yet, it seems as if James hasn’t made up his mind about whether Cameron is inherently evil or merely insecure. “When you do a character, you have to find some way to identify with them,†he tells Vulture. “But then I even forgot about the yogurt, so when you just said that, I was like, Jesus Christ, he’s unapologetically such a bad person.â€
Let’s get the big question out of the way: What do you think happened between Harper and Cameron? There is some time unaccounted for.
I always read it as Harper says, pretty much. I think she feels oddly attracted to this monster that is Cameron, but she’s also trying to use the incident to wake Ethan from his existential and sexual reverie.
In terms of what specifically happened, though, it was probably more than she let on by half. Maybe not the most extreme version of that scenario, but there was something else.
What gives Cameron the confidence to do any of what he does, including coming on to Harper in front of his wife and his friend?
It’s a deep insecurity. He’s spiraling a bit. His place in the world is being fractured. His very basis is wealth and social and economic position, and now he’s in a place where, in his mind, doing less is a trend, just like having less confidence and social standing and prowess with women. Also now Ethan’s a very wealthy man, more wealthy and more successful than Cameron, so Cameron needs to reestablish his own identity.
When Mia and Lucia say, “It’s going to be expensive,†Cameron says, “I’ve got money. That’s the one thing I do have.†For Cameron, that’s a tiny admission but also quite an illuminating one. He believes there’s something lacking in him, so without money and power, he doesn’t know what he is. That’s why he’s trying to demean his friend. He’s trying to control him. He’s trying to own his friend and own his wife in a search for control.
Is that why Cameron was pushing Ethan to get with Mia and Lucia? Like, “If I can get him to sink to my level, that’s something.â€Â
That’s part of it. He does want to push Ethan into a rabbit hole where it’s going to be hard to extricate himself.
On the other hand, though, in a funny way, the best thing about Cameron is that he wants to be closer to Ethan. Although Cameron has elements of being controlling and domineering, he is also loving in his own way, which, for me, made him compelling. He does love his friend, even though he’s competitive with him and wants to dominate him, and he does love his wife. So it’s not only a quest for control and domination, but it’s also a quest to be closer. He thinks, If I can take you there, if I can rattle your cage, open you up, we’ll be closer.
When Ethan does confront Cameron about Harper, Cameron instantly denies anything. Why is he gaslighting Ethan?Â
Because he’s an arch-manipulator. He’s gaslighting at all times. That’s encapsulated at the end of episode seven, where he does the toast and says, “This has been a fucking great week, and I’ve gotten to know you both so much better.†He’s calling it out and then shying away from it. That lying is done through instinct. He thinks it’s okay, too. Like, Why would it matter? It was just a bit of heavy petting. Like, I’m trying to help you, man. I’m trying to wake you and your wife up.
Talk to me about shooting the big fight scene with Ethan.
It was a process. It changed and evolved a bit from its earliest conception, but because it was the season finale, Mike wanted you to think it was going one way, and then suddenly things go the other way. And then, in the end, it goes neither of those ways.
It does feel like you’re both goners for a second.
We did that scene toward the end of the shoot, and we did different versions. There was a version where Cameron was more obvious about what he did. He was more snide, but I found that to be too immediate and less interesting. It made the relationship less complex.
It’s a destructive situation. That’s why we ultimately wanted that fight to come from a place where Cameron gets confronted and is like, No, what the fuck? I love you. You’re going mad. Come on. Because you’re not 100 percent sure what happened between them, if anything at all. We wanted to make you think, Is it just a combination of Ethan’s paranoia and jealousy?
What do you think happens between Ethan and Daphne?Â
That’s deliberately opaque for a reason.
When Harper calls Cameron an idiot after the comment about the yogurt throwing, we don’t see him respond. What do you think he was thinking, or did he not think about it at all?
When you do a character, you have to find some way to identify with them. But then I even forgot about the yogurt, so when you just said that, I was like, Jesus Christ, he’s unapologetically such a bad person.
In a way, that nonresponse was Mike’s choice in the edit. I haven’t seen the episode yet, but Cameron doesn’t give a shit. He’s used to that style of flirtation with women thinking he’s crazy or too wild. It’s Harper’s tell that something happened between them because she’s clearly attracted to him animalistically, but existentially she’s repulsed by him as a person.
There’s a part of me that wonders just how he and Ethan became such friends in the first place. Although I suppose, as adults, we often have friends that make no sense, just because we’ve had them for a long time.
They lived in the same dorm room, so they were thrown together first. In the series, I think the bit that best illustrates their relationship is in the morning after they’ve had that wild night. They’re lying in bed together and they’re talking and joking. It’s a bit of university camaraderie.
They’ve evolved away from each other as friends and now have basically polar opposite visions of the world in front of them. But then, men being men, they can always find strange, common ground if they have history together.
There’s a theory floating around online that Daphne and Cameron’s kids aren’t his since they have blond hair and blue eyes just like Daphne’s trainer. What do you think about that assertion?Â
I think one of them is his kid.
You know, Meghann’s character is one of the most accepted characters on the show because of her warmth and bubbliness, her energy. She can go out and deliberately make friends, like when she’s initially against the ice wall that is Harper. At the same time, the way Daphne rectifies the situation is she does some pretty appalling things to feel a level of power over Cameron. Their relationship was born of love, but it’s fallen into a cycle of games and control.
There are videos making the rounds of you all dancing behind the scenes and generally having a good time. Is there a day or a memory that you really cherish from the shoot?
Michael Imperioli unwittingly started a tradition on the shoot. It was his birthday fairly early in March or something, and being the classic guy that he is, he put on a lunch for the cast and the crew. We had drinks and Italian food, and someone gave a very classy short speech. But then there were about six birthdays in the next month or so, and actors being actors, each time someone had a birthday, the person had to up the ante. We went from Michael’s nice and relaxed birthday to these full-on catered events with these long, incredible speeches.