—pretty much anything Mike White has done,” Hechinger said. “He’s so incredible at capturing misery but also our desperate hunt for salvation. There’s so much searching in his work, and hope, in a way, even though he is sometimes dark. I felt so safe being in his world.”
“So many scenes are like, what happens if you just twist the cringe even further and really go there? That’s the loveliest feeling as an actor,” he went on, describing the nature of White’s work and referencing the dinner scenes in which his character often awkwardly observes his privileged family’s arguments about their wealth and their right to take leisure time. “Mike was getting a lot of stuff right.
Hechinger also pointed out that the realism of White’s portrait of ignorant privilege extended beyond the scope of the series.was shot on location at the Four Seasons Hotel in Maui during the Covid-19 pandemic . For the first month or so, the hotel was devoid of guests.
“I find I’m more moved by character and filmmaker or the group of actors than I am by genre,” Hechinger went on, adding that the question he asks himself when a project comes his way is, “Who’s the person that I get to play and who are the people I get to build this with?” But with genres like horror, Western, and historical drama under his belt, the actor still has his sights set on another corner of film.