Jake Lacy Played the Most Convincing Douchebag on The White Lotus —Here’s How He Did It

Jake Lacy and I are at a Tiki bar in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood that’s so aggressively committed to its tropical theme that the entire patio floor is covered in sand. It feels a bit more litter-box-y than beachy— this is New York City, after all. Who can even imagine what filth is mixed in with this sand?

But Lacy is so delightful to spend an afternoon with that I quickly stop caring about the horrors beneath my feet. I’ve selected the bar to honor his star turn in HBO’s smash hit The White Lotus, which follows a group of petulant and privileged hotel guests throughout their stay at a Hawaiian resort. So we order strawberry daiquiris (virgin for him; very much not virgin for me) and toast to his latest role: a man who’s such the human embodiment of Sperrys that one Twitter user recently declared, “I’ve never seen a more punchable character.”

When Lacy first began to develop Shane—a newlywed who’s been booked into the wrong suite and for the love of God cannot let it go—he reflected back on some of cinema’s all-time greatest douchebags. “Chevy Chase, this WASP buffoon who looks like he should have it all together and really does not, both in Caddyshack and National Lampoon’s Vacation,” the 36-year-old tells Glamour. “Bradley Cooper in Wedding Crashers, but [Cooper’s character] wants to be a douche. He likes to flex that power openly on people. Then there’s Jeremy Piven in Old School who’s so unnecessarily petty.” But what separates Shane from the pantheon of pricks before him is that he doesn’t want to be one. Or as Lacy puts it, “He’s like, ‘Let me reveal to you my inner pain.’ And the pain is, like, he was good at lacrosse. That’s the deep dark hurt that he has, ‘People don’t like me because of how good I have it.’ But somebody who genuinely believes they’re a victim with those circumstances is so much more fun than someone who’s just a dick.”

The role is a bit of a heel turn for Lacy, who’s long been known for portraying “the nice guy” in female-centric projects like High Fidelity, Girls, and Obvious Child. (So much so that Vulture once published a power ranking: “Which Jake Lacy Character Is the Nicest Nice Guy?”) And while I observe many “nice” tendencies in Lacy over our daiquiris—he dutifully refills my water glass; he reveals himself to be a bonafide “wife guy”—there’s still a teeny bit of Shane hovering beneath the surface of the New England–born actor.

He tells me, “Mike [White, the creator of White Lotus] wanted to have Shane read a book, and he was like, ‘Maybe Blink by Malcolm Gladwell.’ And I was like, ‘That’s a great book.’ He was like, ‘Yeah, it’s so great. It’s sort of what he would think is a really smart book.’ And I was like, ‘Oh no. I think that’s a really smart book.’”

Here, Lacy speaks to Glamour about the Bachelor, his Girls character, and the weirdest place he’s ever had sex in Brooklyn for the latest installment of Inappropriate Questions.

Glamour: Your character, Shane, thinks he’s a great partner to his new wife, but in reality he falls quite short. What are some of the ways you’ve fallen short in your relationship?

Jake Lacy: I can be very stubborn about my taste. When I was younger it was a lot of, “If you think this is cool, you must be an idiot because only an idiot would like those things.” Now I’m like, “It’s not for me, but if it’s for you, just enjoy. Go to town, man.”

Primarily with cultural things, or across the board?

Clothes, films, TV shows. I had a lot of judgment for multi-cam [shows]. I’d be like, “Who would watch that?” But now I’m like, “Who the fuck are you, Jake, to be like, ‘If it’s not The Wire then I don’t know why people watch it’?”

Have you eased up on your own personal taste?

I went down the Bachelor road for a couple of years, but then I was too grossed out and had to walk away. I used to listen to Neil Young all the time. Now I still listen to Neil Young, but I also listen to SZA and Doja Cat. There’s a whole breadth of things where I’m like, “Let’s investigate the rest of the world, Jake. Not just white guys with guitars in the early ’70s.”

Fill in this blank for me. I love when my partner…

Rubs my shoulders. I don’t ask for it because it’s annoying. But impromptu I’m like, “Man, that is so generous and so kind.”

What do you think is the sexiest thing about yourself?

Anyone who’s got an answer for that is immediately out of the running for sexy at all.

Where’s the weirdest place you’ve ever hooked up with somebody?

I hooked up with a girl who was staying with a friend and she forgot the keys to the place. I was leaving town the next day, she was leaving town. So we had sex in…you know how in New York you get buzzed into two doors? [It was in] the first door where all the mailboxes are. Not even into the stairs portion of the apartment. It was out in Bushwick. That was just like, “Well, this is happening here!”

You stop by a convenience store to pick up some things for a party. What are you buying?

Everything from the kids’ aisle. Not because it’s a kid party, but just, like, the spinners that shoot in the air, the bubbles, and probably ice cream. The Snickers ice cream bars; it’s fucked up that they exist.

What are you currently binge-watching?

I’m going back through Mad Men. Hot take, Mad Men’s good. Tonight I’ll be starting Ted Lasso season two. Gilmore Girls.

Team Jess or Dean?

Jess. All day. It has to be Jess.

Or better yet, marry, screw, kill: Jess, Logan, Dean?

Kill Dean. Sorry to the Dean-heads out there. I guess you’d fuck Jess and marry Logan, to be honest. You can still think about Jess, but it’s like, “How’s that poetry coming along, Jess? Are we ever going to be able to buy a house? My journalism career has tanked, I’m back in Stars Hollow running this paper, and you’ve got a book of poems coming out.”

Which celebrity do you first remember having a crush on?

Every girl on the original The Baby-Sitters Club. Brooke Burke played a big part….

Who’s that?

She’s a model who then hosted a late-night travel club-scene show. I’m telling you, ask any guy between the ages of 32 and 38 about Brooke Burke, and we’ll be like, “Ah, Brooke Burke.” She’s still doing her thing too. She’s got a line of clothes. Still killing it.

Do you have a type?

A little crazy, a little nuts. A little fiery. Without realizing that was my type. I guess “intense.”

On a scale from one to your former on-screen love interest, Girls’ Hannah Horvath, how crazy did you ever go?

Maybe just shy of that. [But my character] turns out to be a dick, just a quiet judgmental dick.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Samantha Leach is a freelance writer and Bustle’s entertainment editor at large. Follow her on Twitter.

Originally Appeared on Glamour