Côte d’Azur, France —
Kat Jamieson slid open the doors to her poolside hotel room in Saint-Tropez and was greeted with an unexpected sight: cameras and a film crew surrounding actor Laura Dern, who was holding court in front of the rippling blue water.
“She was wearing this fabulous Missoni caftan,” Jamieson tells CNN Travel.
Jamieson couldn’t believe it. Not only was she witnessing an Oscar-winning actor at work, but she’d also bought the exact same Missoni caftan the day before, in the hotel’s on-site boutique.
“I was going to plan on wearing it that day, and then I saw her wearing it by the pool, and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, we’re twins.’”
If the idea of a hotel gift store selling a $1,000 designer pool throwover feels surreal — let alone an actor casually filming a poolside scene as guests watch on — you’re obviously not familiar with the world of HBO’s “The White Lotus.”
Jamieson’s Laura Dern moment occurred while she was spending a week at Château de la Messardière, a 19th-century palatial home turned sprawling Côte d’Azur resort, run by exclusive French hotel company Airelles. The spectacular property is doubling up this summer as a functioning real-life hotel for the 1% and a principal filming location for the next season of the Emmy-winning, 1%-satirizing TV show, “The White Lotus.”
Rumors swirled for much of last year about season four’s potential filming location — only the Alps were ruled out because creator Mike White hates the cold. When White zeroed in on the French Riviera, there were reports of him staying at the picturesque Hotel Negresco on the promenade in Nice, France. Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat, a Four Seasons property in the exclusive Riviera community of Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, was repeatedly suggested as a potential player — given its grandeur and the franchise’s previous preference for Four Seasons properties.
Eventually, earlier this year, Airelles’ Château de la Messardière was confirmed as this season’s principal filming location. Cannes’ Art Deco Hotel Martinez was also nailed down, with HBO announcing the Cannes Film Festival will serve as the starry backdrop to this season. Reports suggest the Mandarin Oriental Lutetia in Paris is also set to star in the series, but HBO has maintained the action will remain set on the Riviera. (HBO is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of CNN.)
When the news broke about Château de la Messardière, Connecticut-based Jamieson already had her stay booked. As a longtime fan of the show, she was delighted. The fashion influencer, traveling with her investor relations adviser husband, assumed filming would be finished before they checked in. She never expected a scene to play out during her stay.
The change-up in question was Laura Dern replacing originally cast British star Helena Bonham Carter. The frenzied reporting around this news is illustrative of the buzz that continues to surround “The White Lotus,” which has settled on a perfectly enticing formula: an intriguing cast of industry stalwarts and up-and-comers, super fancy hotels, out-of-touch rich folks versus downtrodden hotel staff — oh, and murder.
Jamieson and her husband didn’t figure out too much about potential plot lines for season four, even though they “got to see the whole scene transpire around the pool.”
The filming was visible from their hotel room terrace.
“We could see the entire filming taking place and Laura Dern in her pool scene from our private patio,” says Jamieson.
Five Star Luxury
Much of the humor in “The White Lotus” comes from the rich guests’ entitlement, outrageous requests and out-of-touch perspectives on reality.
In the first season, there’s Jake Lacy’s character Shane, who becomes obsessed with the fact he’s missed out on the hotel’s coveted “Pineapple Suite” on his honeymoon. His obsession turns into a bitter feud with the hotel manager which spirals into comic tragedy.
While reporting in the French Riviera, CNN Travel overheard several conversations perfectly suited to the show. Take the Byblos residents casually discussing upcoming helicopter rides above Saint-Tropez — or a guest at chic new Saint-Tropez addition AREV, explaining to a hotel employee in painstaking detail exactly why he enjoyed the hotel’s Japanese toilets, while the waiter stood politely, listening diligently and nodding.
Meanwhile, at the Four Seasons Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat’s dreamy Club Dauphin — a restaurant built into the cliffs overlooking Cap-Ferrat’s infinity pool — two women ordered, then promptly rejected, glasses of local Provençal wine because “2022 was a terrible year for rosé.” (Cue this reporter frantically Googling “what went wrong with 2022 rosé?” under the table while continuing to happily sip said rosé.)
The service at these ultra-luxury properties is on another level. It’s common, for example, for guests to receive multiple gifts over the course of their stay. CNN Travel spotted sportswear-clad guests enjoying the extensive breakfast buffet at Grand-Hotel du Cap-Ferrat carrying Four Seasons-branded water bottles inside large, gifted straw beach bags. The bags are given their own designated seats at the terrace tables.
And these hotels aren’t giving out cheap freebies — think luxurious pajamas, scented candles, leather pouches, and glamorous straw hats. When Hauer proposed to Seputyte during their stay at Château de la Messardière, he says they returned to a hotel room filled with heart-shaped balloons, a bottle of 2015 Veuve Clicquot champagne, a cake and a framed photo of them post-proposal, snapped by staff that very lunchtime. He hadn’t given the hotel a heads-up, and couldn’t quite believe it.
The five-star Riviera lifestyle is an easy one to adapt to: suites with private pools, delicious fresh seafood, and beautiful views from secluded terraces. Everything is so stunning, and everything is so seamless. Consequently, when something doesn’t go entirely to plan, the mishap stands out far more than they would anywhere else.
