Throughout the first two seasons, The White Lotus has shocked audiences with its sexual escapades. The third season of The White Lotus is no different, as the recently released fifth and sixth episodes featured a rather shocking sex scene involving the brothers Lochlan and Saxon Ratliff, played by actors Sam Nivola and Patrick Schwarzenegger.
Following the explosive sex scene, Sam Nivola finds himself at the center of controversy for having violated his NDA with HBO. In a recent interview with Variety magazine, Nivola confessed to spilling the details of the scene and giving an advanced notice to his parents about it prior to the filming of the scene.
Here's everything that we know.
The White Lotus star Sam Nivola opens up about his first sex scene
The scene in question arrives in the fifth episode of The White Lotus season three when Lochlan and Saxon are seen partying hard with Chloe and Chelsea, popping pills and drowning themselves with drinks.
They then engage in a game of spinning the bottle which quickly translates into an intimate session involving all of them. Speaking about spilling the details of the scene and violating his NDA, Nivola revealed:
"I told my parents, but I haven’t told my sister. She’s bad at keeping secrets. I’m not supposed to have told anyone, because I’m under a lot of NDAs. But I told my girlfriend, because she was there while we were shooting it. That’s about it. I’m really scared about getting sued by HBO."
When asked about the time when he first came to known about the scene, Nivola recollected:
"When I got the part, I remember talking to Patrick Schwarzenegger, and one of his audition scenes was the scene with Chloe [Charlotte Le Bon] where she’s like, “Your brother jerked you off last night. You don’t remember?” And he’s like, “No, I totally blacked out.” So he told me that, and I was like, “Weird… I wonder what that’s all about.” Then we both had to sign in our contracts that we were comfortable with nude scenes on camera. Then we got the scripts about a week later, and I read all of them in one sitting, on the plane to Thailand."
Did Sam Nivola avail an intimacy co-ordinator on the sets of The White Lotus season 3?
Nivola admitted that they did indeed have an intimacy coordinator to guide them through the sex scene in question. He stated:
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"Yeah, we did. All love to her — she’s a really sweet, lovely person — but I just trust Mike so much. It’s funny the way intimacy coordinators talk. They’re always using anatomically correct vocabulary that feels stale and awkward. I’d be like, “I don’t know if I can grasp the shaft,” and then Mike would be like, “Just jerk him off.” And I’d be like, “OK, that I understand.” I do think intimacy coordinators are a great innovation. Both of my parents are actors, and they’ve told me stories of having to do that kind of stuff without someone who has your best interests at heart, with directors who are maybe less supportive and kind and caring as Mike White. I’m definitely happy they exist."
The White Lotus season 3 is exclusively available on HBO.
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