'The White Lotus' Recreates Dramatic Cannes Closing Night - Variety

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After wrapping its Saint-Tropez leg at the posh Chateau de la Messardiere, the production of Mike White’s hit anthology series " The White Lotus " Season 4 has moved to Cannes, where it has taken over the Palais des Festivals for what appears to be some of the season's most pivotal scenes.

The production has been shooting at the iconic venue since Monday, setting up camp a day after the 79th edition of the Cannes Film Festival wrapped. Filming is running through Thursday — and shooting into the wee hours. As Variety previously reported, the plot of this season revolves around two rival film teams that come to the festival with movies in competition, with one staying at the Hôtel Martinez (rebranded White Lotus Cannes) and the other at a luxurious hilltop hideaway (White Lotus du Cap — which actually filmed in Saint-Tropez).

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On Tuesday, Laura Dern and actress Marissa Long were spotted on the famous Palais steps, with Dern turning heads in a long strapless black gown with pink feathers. Dern, who took over from Helena Bonham Carter, is believed to play a washed-out star chasing a comeback, and is part of the "White Lotus du Cap" film team. She was filming a tense sequence in which she storms out of a screening visibly furious.

Then on Wednesday, a different group descended on the Palais for what appears to be an even more explosive scene set against the chaos of the festival's closing night. Ari Graynor, Steve Coogan, Max Greenfield and Kumail Nanjiani were seen exiting the theater while filming what sources describe as a fight sequence.

The scenes align with what producer David Bernad described earlier this year as a season delivering a satire on the film industry, and charting "the ups and downs of the festival and the pain of being here and the love and excitement of being here." If the closing-night setting holds for the finale, the Palais scenes being shot this week may well rank among the most dramatic moments of the season.

As in previous seasons (set in Hawaii, Sicily and Thailand), comedy will be fueled by cultural friction involving demanding American guests and stubborn French hotel staff, but there will also be some sexy hookups between guests and workers, according to sources.

Once the Cannes shoot wraps, production will move to Paris for the month of June, filming interiors at the storied Lutetia Hotel, a Parisian landmark built in 1910, before shifting to a studio. After the summer, the crew is expected to return to the South of France to continue filming. Boasting a budget of around $120 million, Season 4 is shaping up to be the most ambitious shoot ever to use the festival as its central setting.

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