By self-admission, Sam Nivola has mastered the art of portraying a “teenage loser.” Whether it’s as the youngest of three brothers in Netflix’s unhinged family whodunnit, The Perfect Couple, or escaping an ‘airborne toxic event’ alongside Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig in Noah Baumbach’s absurdist adaptation of Don DeLillo’s novel White Noise, Nivola is no stranger to tapping into the unease and awkwardness of youth. The actor is now taking those characteristics into new territory with a role in the highly-anticipated third series of The White Lotus, stepping inside the dysfunctional world of the fictional resort opposite on-screen parents Parker Posey and Jason Isaacs. “This kid’s a motherfucking star!” says Nivola’s The Perfect Couple co-star and acclaimed actor, Eve Hewson.

Eve Hewson: Do you remember the first time we met? [both laugh]
Sam Nivola: I sort of only half remember it because I was really drunk.

EH: I don’t think you’re supposed to say that! [laughs]
SN: It was when we were at that bar in Chatham.

EH: We were all staying in that weird hotel with rooms next to each other. We jumped into the car and went to… The Shire?
SN: Something like that, it had all the license plates on the wall and that guy kept giving us fireball shots.

EH: That’s right.
SN: That was a blast, but I didn’t feel great the next day.

EH: Then we had our table read.
SN: Exactly. Need I say more? [laughs] We had a sick time. We hung out a bunch, went to the drag shows in P-Town and went whale watching.

EH: Vibe. How was your experience on The White Lotus? Was it the same kind of energy, or different?
SN: It was pretty similar. Although I think that there was something about the climate and vibe in Thailand, people didn’t really want to go crazy there. If you had one beer or were out past a certain hour, you would feel like shit because it’s 110 degrees and you’re just sweating and dehydrated. It was wholesome, we had a lot of movie nights and that kind of thing. We went a little bit more wild on The Perfect Couple, in a really fun way.

“We went a little bit more wild on The Perfect Couple, in a really fun way.”

EH: Susanne [Bier, director] created that environment for us, she wanted us to have a great experience. Is there anything you can say about your role on The White Lotus? I’m so excited to see it.
SN: I can say that I’m part of a family that is from the South and are really rich, and I’m sort of stuck between my older siblings, both of which have very different worldviews. I’m trying to navigate them and they each want me on their side, and I’m just a total naive loser who doesn’t know what he’s doing, or which way is the right way. Not too different from my role in The Perfect Couple.

EH: That’s true, actually. They say there’s always a certain thread in all of the characters that you play and you don’t know it for the first ten years but then you realise later.
SN: For me, it’s like every character I’ve played is a virgin. [Eve laughs] Typecasting of some sort.

EH: The chastity belt on you!
SN: Exactly. Every role I’ve played has been a teenage loser, and it’s been great. I’ve mastered it.

EH: It’s your superpower in a weird way. You’re so sweet and joyful, kind to be around and you’re also incredibly smart. I feel like people could underestimate you and then, deep down you’re the one who’s actually going to win.
SN: That’s the nicest thing I’ve ever heard. [laughs]

EH: I’ve been truly impressed with you and think you’re going to have a massive career. The first time I saw you on camera we’d worked together for a month or two, we had totally bonded and I was like, “This kid’s the best.” I just wanted to be with you all the time. Then I saw you on camera and you were sitting in between Jack [Reynor] and Billy [Howle], who are also fantastic actors, and you weren’t saying any- thing, and all I was doing was watching you.
SN: Aw!

EH: You were just sitting there doing weird little things. I think you were playing with a blind at one point, and you were just making these very bizarre choices. I was like, “This kid’s a motherfucking star!”
SN: You’re going to make me cry.

EH: And everybody loves you, you’ve got this wonderful reputation. I’m so excited to watch your career grow, and it’s going to pop off when The White Lotus comes out. Holy moly. You’re going to start getting a lot of rhythm in your career, is there one thing that you’re looking to do? A specific role or genre?
SN: I just want to do something really different. I would love to play a tough guy, you know what I mean? [both laugh] A guy who’s gruff and kind of a badass, because I’ve played very, timid, afraid characters. I don’t know if I could even gain 50 pounds of muscle, but I’d love to play a James Dean cool dude.

EH: Like a dude with a necktie.
SN: Exactly, but I need to grow the neck about three inches to fit the necktie. [both laugh]

EH: That kind of happens with actors, at a certain age you grow and it always changes. I started and was just this quiet, naive girl. Then I got older and I was the crazy bitch.
SN: You have such diversity. Everything I see you in, you’re completely different, which is the most impressive thing as an actor.

“I would love to play a tough guy, you know what I mean? [both laugh] A guy who’s gruff and kind of a badass.”

EH: I think that has to do with being a kid who travelled a lot and was put in lots of contrasting situations. I met so many different people from different walks of life and different parts of the world, it was easy for me to have different perspectives on things. I feel like you also have that because you’re American, Italian, and English, you’re such a kid of the world. You’ve seen so much more than just London or just New York.
SN: Sometimes, that can be sort of overwhelming – you’ve met so many different people, been in so many different places and you have so much to pull from. You’re sort of spoiled for choice in a scary way, do you know what I mean? I overthink things and have all these ideas about a character, then there’s too many and I get stressed out and I’m like, “Ah, fuck it, I’ll just figure it out on the day.”

EH: But one of those ideas will come in at the right moment, and then you’re so glad you had all those thoughts.
SN: That’s what they say. Did you ever do the Atlantic Theater Company?

EH: No, I did ETW [Experimental Theatre Wing, NYU] and Adler [Theatre].
SN: Oh, yeah. Anya at Atlantic coached me for this last pilot that I did and she’s so amazing. She was always saying, “I’m going to give you all these tools to work with and you pick which one you need to apply.” They make that overwhelming feeling so much better.

EH: I went to drama school and did so many acting classes and the best advice my acting teacher ever gave me was, “Eve, it’s whatever turns you on.” [both laugh]
SN: That’s amazing.

EH: I was like, “What?” And she was like, “Whatever turns you on about this character, just do that.” It should be yours, you should love and enjoy it and if you’re not enjoying playing that part, you have to find a way to fucking love it. You could do exercises or use a million different techniques but at the end of the day, it’s got to be fun for you.
SN: That’s so true. It makes it way better if your character is not a good person, too. If your character is an asshole and you think they’re an asshole, then they’re going to come off as a total asshole and there’s going be no subtlety.

EH: You did that so well in The Perfect Couple. The Winburys were dicks but you cared so much about all of them.
SN: The most amazing person was Jack because he was such a dick and also so lovable.

EH: But he also loved being a dick. He’s such a nice guy, but all of his characters are total dickheads.
SN: I know! It must be his outlet for dickheadery. [both laugh]

EH: Is there a specific genre that you desperately want to do or is there a genre that you definitely wouldn’t do?
SN: There’s no genre that I wouldn’t do, I think it would all be fun. I’d love to do a musical and just sing terribly.

EH: Because you can sing and play the guitar.
SN: I can, but I can’t sing very well. It would be a dumpster fire, but it would be fun. I’d love to do an action movie, get in the best shape of my life and look fucking sick for a few months.

EH: Do you remember how you first felt you wanted to start this crazy journey of acting? Because I had a very specific experience where I knew and from then on I was very committed to it.
SN: I don’t know if there is a specific moment. I got the first movie I auditioned for through my high school and I was mainly doing it because it was directed by Noah Baumbach. As someone who wants to be a director, I just wanted any excuse to be in the same room as this dude. That’s what was most exciting about that. Then I fell in love with acting afterwards. I do remember doing high school plays and being really intoxicated by the feeling of going off-stage afterwards and being like, “I did it, thank god.”

EH: I always have those euphoric moments after every single job. I get in the car after the wrap and I feel high as fuck, like I just climbed Mount Everest. So, your first audition was for White Noise?
SN: It was.

EH: Shut up!
SN: It was crazy because my parents didn’t want me to be an actor at all and so I did the first round of auditions without telling them. I got a callback and I was like, “You guys are going to be mad,” and they were like, “We are… but you do have a callback for a Noah Baumbach movie, which is huge!” I did nine more rounds of auditioning and I got it.

EH: That’s so crazy, because I did not book my first audition. I was so bad at auditioning. I was so nervous, I remember the pages shaking in my hand.
SN: I remember you telling me about your Tisch [School of the Arts] audition, it sounded like you nailed that.

EH: That one I did, I was doing my monologue in my sleep. I was completely determined.
SN: Was that when you found out that you wanted to act after you got in, or was it before?

EH: No, it was before. I did a movie with my tutor who was a filmmaker, and her dad was the steadicam operator for Stanley Kubrick.
SN: What?!

EH: She grew up in the film industry and she’s super smart. She was like, “Hey, come shoot this thing,” and we shot a short film in Central Park when I was fourteen. Then she put me in her movie when I was fifteen. That was the moment I fell completely in love with it. But back to you, how was your first day acting on a set – on a Noah Baumbach movie?
SN: Oh, it was so terrifying because it was also right when I became… I think I told you about this, but during Covid I became an incredibly anxious person. I was in high school at the time and was in my house for two years. I got all this weird claustrophobia and agoraphobia. I was shitting bricks every time I left my house. So it was really scary because the first time I’d left my house in a year was to shoot my first movie and it was this big deal. But it’s always like the first day of school every day, you know what I mean?

EH: Do you remember your first take?
SN: I do, Noah said something. It was one of those scenes in White Noise where we’re all walking around the kitchen and it’s all choreographed. I think I was just being so frantic, I was like, OK, energy! Noah was like, “Sam, just so you know, you’re not on camera for this one.” I was like, “Totally, totally.”

EH: [laughs] Yeah, shit. I always black out and don’t remember my first take.
SN: Me too! Do you still get that now?

EH: The first day is always tragic. [both laugh] I always forget like, how to pick up a coffee cup. I just did a pilot with Murray Bartlett and I literally could not open a door for the first three days. It became this running joke. I feel like all actors get painfully nervous, but it’s part of the search. Let’s talk about your directing. What kind of movies do you want to make? Are there directors who have the kind of career that you would want?
SN: Well OK, two kinds of movies that I like are American comedies – I think they are so brilliant, Swingers is my favourite movie of all time. If I could have made Swingers instead of Jon Favreau, I would die happy. It’s the most perfect movie. But then this more pretentious side of me would say that I want to make movies like Leos Carax. That’s, actually a signed picture of him there, that’s how much I love him. Have you seen Babygirl yet?

EH: I’ve seen it twice.
SN: I fucking love Babygirl.

EH: I love that you love Babygirl. I literally watched it twice in three days.
SN: I was so impressed. The two movies I’ve seen like that so far this year are Babygirl and The Brutalist – I felt like they were really new. Specifically Babygirl, no one’s ever made a movie like that. The way the sound design works is crazy, the way the characters interact is just so different and unique, the way Harris Dickinson’s lines are written so creepily. I would love to make a movie like that.

EH: The first time I watched it, I felt like Harris’ character had maybe done this before and it was his kink. Then the second time I watched it, I was like, “Oh, he’s actually just finding this with her.” It’s the mark of a movie that will stand the test of time. It isn’t her fucking this young guy, it’s about her sexual liberation. I would love to see you direct an American comedy, there aren’t enough good ones out there any more.
SN: There aren’t enough good ones. I want to write one with my friends, I think it would be so fun to do a big ensemble comedy with a bunch of improv.

“If I could have made Swingers instead of Jon Favreau, I would die happy. It’s the most perfect movie.”

EH: How do you feel about being super young and also super successful? I feel like you have the world at your feet right now, but you’re also a young New York kid who needs to live their life and have your own personal life. How are you balancing both? I’m terrible with that, I just work and have to stop myself like, “You need to be a human!”
SN: Take a breather, yeah. I just love acting, working and being on set – that makes me happy. The thing that has helped me have a healthy social life is that I have a little production company with two of my best friends who I’ve known since I was a kid. Those relationships are really grounding. But I also feel like the nature of my career has been very gradual, it’s not like I’ve had some meteoric rise where suddenly I can’t walk down the street. I’m taking baby steps and my life doesn’t feel that different. It’s like lifting weights, every few reps you add a pound, you know?

Feature originally published inside HERO 33

Grooming by ADAM MARKARIAN