On the second season ofWhite Lotus,Aubrey Plazastarred as Harper Spiller, a lawyer on an Italian vacation with her husband. The two seemed content on the outside, but viewers saw a troubled marriage as the season progressed, with Plaza portraying a fragile and sarcastic woman struggling with married life.White Lotuscreator Mike White wrote the role with Plaza in mind, and the actress gained praise for her portrayal. In a recent interview withVanity Fair, Plaza opened up about what drew her to Harper and other characters she’s played on-screen during her career.
“There’s something about Harper that feels like we tapped into a kind of vulnerability people wouldn’t expect from me,” Plaza says. “There’s an element of feeling misunderstood, and I gravitate towards those kinds of characters a lot—their defenses are up and they feel out of place.”
Plaza, whose father is Puerto Rican, also opened up about her desire to show a range of different Latina personalities. Following a skit with Jenna Ortega at this year’s SAG Awards, where the two dryly discussed hexing the show’s producers, the Los Angeles Times published the pieceLatinx Files: In Praise of Jenna Ortega, Aubrey Plaza and Moody, Deadpan Latinas. As she tells Vanity Fair, she was a fan of the article as it highlighted that there’s an array of Latina temperaments:
“I loved that. That shit is important to me, because that’s my whole thing. Even with April Ludgate, it was like, Come on. Sofia Vergara is not the only Latina personality. There’s other ones! A lot of the characters I play, even with White Lotus—it’s important to normalize that there’s all kinds of different Latina people,” Plaza says. “I mean, all my Puerto Rican cousins are, like, morbid. Morbid shit is going on over there!”
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Plaza rose to stardom portraying April Ludgate on NBC’s Parks and Recreation. During that time, Plaza became most known for her deadpan comedic style. After the hit series concluded in 2015, Plaza went on to appear in films likeMike and Dave Need Wedding Dates,Dirty Grandpa,Child’s Play,Happiest Season, and Guy Ritchie’s Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre,and the FX seriesLegion.Plaza has also starred and served as a producer onIngrid Goes West, Black Bear, Emily the Criminal,andThe Little Hours.
The actress and producer has several future projects in the works, including theWandaVisionspinoffAgatha: Coven of Chaosand Francis Ford Coppola’s star-studded passion projectMegalopolis.During her interview with Vanity Fair, the actress also teased an upcoming unnamed project: a script she wants to direct. Plaza called it “a big undertaking” before adding that she is going to “do some Garry Marshall shit.” While Marshall is best known for directingPretty Woman,Plaza previously hinted at a different direction, as she told GQ that she wanted to “fill the female Tim Burton slot.” This leads to a world of possibilities on what type of film her directorial feature will be.
