Ariana Grande Interviews Jennifer Coolidge: “Do You Remember The Best Dick You Got From Playing Stifler’s Mom?”
Although the second season of HBO’s The White Lotus featured a new cast and setting, shifting from a resort in Hawaii to one in Sicily, Jennifer Coolidge reprised her role as bumbling yet fabulous rich lady Tanya McQuaid, the role that won her an Emmy. In honor of the season finale airing last night — no spoilers here, but: great finale — Entertainment Weekly recruited Coolidge superfan Ariana Grande to interview the actress about her recent career resurgence and anoint her as Entertainer of the Year.
When Grande asked Coolidge about her favorite role, Coolidge replied like so:
Well, I think my favorite stuff is all of the recent stuff, just because I got to play more complicated people. But, I mean, [the 2000 comedy] Best In Show was a gift, and so much fun to make because [director and star] Christopher Guest lets you come up with everything. He gives you your name and a rough outline of who you are, but you get to come up with your look, you improv all the dialogue. And then Legally Blonde was really a gift from God. And American Pie was just — it helped my dating life in a way that I can’t ever explain. If I hadn’t had that movie, I don’t think… Well, let’s just say it would’ve been a very dull decade.
This led to Grande’s query, “Do you remember the best dick you got from playing Stifler’s mom?” which in turn set off a funny anecdote about Coolidge sleeping with a younger guy who then called his mom to find out where Coolidge could get a blow dry the next morning. Coolidge also credits Grande with kickstarting her career renaissance by casting her in the “thank u, next” video and doing her Coolidge impression on Fallon:
Yes, I got to do White Lotus, but I think it really started with you asking me to be in the “thank u, next” video. I mean, from there I got Promising Young Woman, and this whole thing. You were sort of the instigator. I really believe that. I think if you hadn’t put me in “thank u, next,” and done that imitation, I don’t think I would be here where I am.
The full interview is here.