Beatrice Grannò On Mia Embracing Her Manipulative Side for ‘The White Lotus’

Beatrice Grannò leapt into the role of Mia wholeheartedly for Mike White’s second season of The White Lotus. We may never lose the images of her Mia and Sabrina Tabasco’s Lucia trotting down the streets of Sicily, and we don’t want them to go away. Grannò’s performance is subtle but affective. When we are so close to getting exactly what we want, we realize what we are capable of, and Mia surprises herself every step she takes towards that hotel piano.

When the season first begins, Lucia is very much in the driver’s seat. Mia is lovesick, and she cannot focus on much else. She is also in awe of Lucia’s sexuality and confidence, and Grannò reveals how these two friends can learn from one another as they set their sights on the guests of the lavish, Sicilian resort.

“I think Lucia and Mia affect each other in different ways,” Grannò says. “At the beginning of the season, Mia is definitely more blocked than her friend, and Lucia is more fearless. There is no fear of consequences, but Mia is much more timid and laid back. There is a moment where they exchange roles, so they take qualities from each other to get what they want. There is a moment when Mia leaves her shyness behind and changes her attitude. Lucia will steal Mia’s tenderness or vulnerability to get to Albie. It’s powerful that they can do that for one another. Lucia tells Mia, ‘I’ve created a monster’ when Mia tells her that she’s going to seduce the pianist. I love how they take and give to each other.”

Grannò and Tabasco have such natural chemistry that it makes us wonder how these two became close in the first place. Were they at school with one another? Did they have mutual friends in the same circle? Grannò admits that they didn’t color in all the details, but she has know Tabasco for many years. That initial friendship very much extends to their chemistry during this season.

“I knew Simona from before, and the experience of The White Lotus only brought us closer together,” she says with a smile. “We had that already, and we had things that we could use as these characters. When we were doing the scenes together, I could look at her in the eyes, we already had something to laugh at. We trust Mike White with everything, so it was very easy. We didn’t do a specific character backstory exactly, but it was important for these two women to be the motor to drive a lot of the story. We needed to have a very fast and energetic presence since we our characters were thrown into the hotel to break everyone apart so everything can be fixed.”

Playing a musician allowed Grannò to tap into the hustle Mia feels when she is so close to having any sort of break. Someone who isn’t familiar with music may not feel the pull as much as Grannò does, and it makes us root for her to succeed.

“Playing a character that is also a musician is one of my biggest dreams,” she says. “If you would’ve talked to me ten years ago, I would have told you that that was something that I always wanted to do.  Music has always been such a big part of my life, and it arrived before acting. Music was what always activated creativity to me, and it’s always been a starting point. The first day that we shot the first song at the piano with ‘The Best Things in Life Are Free,” and when they called action, it was one of the greatest moments of my career. It was Mia performing for the hotel, but it was also Beatrice performing. When you are also an actor, it’s hard to have two things at the same time, and I am very vulnerable when it comes to music. I feel like I am safer when I am acting, but I really let myself go when it comes to my music. The type of music that I do is very intimate so it’s always very personal, and to bring that outside for people to hear is very hard sometimes. It’s difficult to keep that secret life of a song. I’m not sure yet if I want to be a musician on the radio or to do big concerts–I am still deciding. I would love to be in a musical or be able to write the soundtrack to something. It always lives with me, because it is so important to me.”

One of the season’s biggest surprises comes when Mia seduces Valentina, the concierge who keeps everyone at a distance. Audiences wondered whether Mia was simply trying to get what she wanted or if there was respect involved. It’s a slippery scene, and Grannò is coy, cunning, and sweet all at once. It’s easy to see how Valentina could fall so easily under Mia’s spell, and it’s an example of how maybe Mia is channeling Lucia to get what she wants.

“It’s very Italian to offer give you something in order to get something back,” Grannò says. “I give you what you need and it’s very genuine, but I also get what I need. It’s the same thing with Jennifer Coolidge’s character–she’s given the best Italian life before she dies. I remember when I auditioned in Rome, Mike wanted me to do the scene where Mia seduces Valentina. I asked Mike where the line between being manipulative and genuine was, and he said, “it’s a little bit of both.” Mia wants to be a friend to her, but she knows what she’s doing. When we filmed the scene at the bar, he didn’t want Mia to be a femme fatale but much more like a friend. Mia is giving Valentina a gift, and we worked very hard to find a soft line between seduction, sweetness, and business. It was meant to be very tender, and I was very happy that it was so complicated.”

Audiences were shocked when they found out that the Lucia and Mia played Albie and his family so easily. With money in the bank, they can relax a little more, but I wondered what Mia would buy first with her money.

“Mia would buy a keyboard or maybe she would invest in her own recording studio,” she supposes. “That’s my instinct since I am also a musician. It would be her own space where she could practice and record.

The White Lotus is streaming now on Max.