The White Lotus’ Jon Gries Based His Role on Killer Robert Durst
The White Lotus star Jon Gries revealed that he used inspiration from real life killer Robert Durst to concoct his character Gary’s backstory for season 3.
As Jimmy Kimmel previously said, Jon’s role went from “a nice guy named Greg who turned into a bad guy named Gary,” which is why the Napoleon Dynamite star had to revise some of his previous thoughts about his character. When White Lotus creator Mike White described Gary as “very sinister,” Jon found inspiration in some unlikely sources, like HBO’s documentary The Jinx, which is about Durst and his crimes.
Jon said that he noticed Durst’s “kind of seemingly even keel personality” during an interview with CNN published on Friday, March 28. He said he used that as a foundation for Gary in season 3 as someone “who doesn’t really show a great deal of emotion, doesn’t seem to get too angry, just gets a little bit irritated and is dangerous.”
“There’s a bridled rage underneath. And those kind of people I find – at least with respect to Gary, Greg, Gary – fascinating,” Jon added.
Durst, a real estate heir, was convicted of killing his friend Susan Berman in 2000. He died at the age of 78 in January 2022 while still in prison.
When fans first met Gary in season 1 of The White Lotus, he pretended to be seriously ill, and that was something Jon took into consideration while getting into character.
“In the beginning, I totally played him for a guy who was, you know, on his last legs,” Jon told the outlet. “When you play a character, you want to find his empathetic side, and you want to understand where they came from, and what got them to where they are.”
Fans saw Gary play a part in his wife Tanya McQuoid’s death in season 2. However, the Lost alum admitted that he didn’t realize just how unhinged Gary was until recently during an interview with The Wrap on March 9.
“I somehow equivocated that Greg was remotely involved, but not as deeply involved. But definitely upon looking at season 2 over again, I’m like, ‘Where did I ever come up with that idea?’” Jon explained to the publication at the time. “Mike was walking briskly to get to set … and I saw him, and I ran up to him, and I said, ‘Hey, Greg — psychopath or not?’ And he goes, ‘psychopath’ and walked away. And I went right back into my room and spent the next four hours just writing the story and changing things, and it really gave me something to work with.”
Gary certainly hasn’t redeemed himself in The White Lotus season 3 so far, and many fans are hoping that the character meets a brutal end this season.
One Redditor wrote, “I hope Greg gets a Mortal Kombat fatality level gruesome death and all of my perfect angels get kissed on the forehead and tucked into bed for a good night’s sleep.”
However, when Jon sat down for an interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live, he teased the possibility that Gary might live to see another day after all.
“I hope he …I hope he …you know, has a good ending for me somewhere,” Jon told the late night host. “I dunno, maybe this year, you never know.”
New episodes of The White Lotus premiere on Sunday nights at 9:00 p.m. ET on HBO and Max.