In the LAND of the LOTUS EATERS

On the scorching set of HBO's red-hot satire

- JUDY BERMAN/NEW YORK CITY AND CHARLIE CAMPBELL/KOH SAMUI AND PHUKET

IT’S HOT, OR, AS MIKE WHITE, THE CREATOR OF The White Lotus puts it bluntly, “really f-cking hot.” Not that the 110°F scorch prevents Patrick Schwarzenegger, son of Arnold, from doing push-ups as the crew prepares for another take. As the scene’s cast clambers onto sun loungers by the Four Seasons Koh Samui infinity pool, three burly Thai guys in wide-brimmed straw hats and sodden neck towels wade into the water clutching towering reflectors. The cameras start rolling as Aimee Lou Wood, the English rising star of Sex Education, banters with Schwarzenegger while munching nonchalantly on an apple. A yell of “cut” emerges from a blacked-out poolside cabana, where White is glued to a monitor wearing headphones and a huge grin.

“Can you do that threesome line again?” he shouts. “Really throw it out there.”

Another meticulously carved apple is passed to Wood for continuity. Three takes later and White is satisfied, pumping arms skyward in a mini jig. “I like it,” he mutters. White, one of TV’s most sought-after producers, ambles over to Wood and Schwarzenegger to offer avuncular praise, though his untamed hair, threadbare shorts, and sweat-stained Kauai T-shirt smack more of a perennial drifter who’s wandered up from the beach to sell pot. The crew breaks for lunch, save for Wood, who’s got a stomachache 15 apples in.