Men and women are courting each other in Sicily. If you watch the opening credits of The White Lotus Season 2, you will see a lot of these scenes.
This all-new title sequence begins as a frescoed Italian dream before descending into madness like The White Lotus Season 2 itself. It's a perfect example of the show's themes and it came to us from the studio Plains of Yonder.
The title sequence of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power was created by Bashore and Crawford.
In a video call with Mashable, Bashore, and Crawford dug into the secrets of the Season 2 main title sequence, from its early inspiration, to the technical aspects of its creation, to the layers of meanings on the title cards.
This sequence is on fire... literally. Credit: Plains of Yonder
In the third episode of the second season, guests from the White Lotus Resort stay in a palazzo in the Sicilian town of Noto. The frescoes are examples of the painting tradition of trompe-l'oeil, which uses an optical illusion to trick us into thinking we're looking at 3D pastoral scenes through broken stone walls.
You will see elements from the title sequence when you look closely at the frescoes. The opening credits of the episode were inspired by the real-life Villa Tasca in Palermo.
Crawford photographed the frescoes for the sequence. She and Bashore created their own paintings and hybridized frescoes to serve The White Lotus Season 2's story beats.
Bashore said that almost every shot has been changed. We made several paintings that are completely new, or maybe they contain a frame from the villa, but the painting inside we did ourselves." It's a complete mix.
Almost every shot has been altered in some way.
The theme song's blend of classical and techno dance music is complemented by a mixture of frescoes that are centuries old and newer.
The paintings are 60 days old. Hopefully you can not tell the difference.
Crawford used the title card of Plaza as an example of how to create new images. Plaza's name is accompanied by an image of a bird attacking another bird in the Villa Tasca's frescoes.
These birds weren't originally fighting. Credit: Plains of Yonder
Crawford said that the paintings of birds in the villa were not in the credits. They traveled their own way. The background image from one painting in the villa was taken by Bashore and Crawford. The creative team made the birds interact by changing their positions and adding falling feathers to the background. The birds are a simpler example as other credit-specific frescoes required even more alterations.
A fresco of a fisherman overlooking the sea was one of the more intense alterations. The main draw of the image is that the castle is on fire. Bashore said that they changed the focus of the painting.
The cherubs have a special significance. Credit: Plains of Yonder
The White Lotus title sequence gave Bashore and Crawford a chance to tell a story. Every time an actor's name is shown, the fresco speaks to their character.
We came up with 10 storylines that would work for each character. There are some cut storylines. A hot tub scene is similar to the one in the second episode of the show.
There are many layers of meaning in the storylines and images that are still around. Take the names of the cherubs that show up. "Meghann gets the cherubs because they're like her babies who she's obsessed with, but they're also these mischievous creatures in mythology that are wreaking havoc and playing games, which is also sort of characteristic of her."
The title sequence is based on mythology in other places. In the myth of Leda and the swan, Zeus rapes a woman in his swan form. The season's discussion of sexuality is reflected in the image.
The credits reference Leda and the swan. Credit: Plains of Yonder
In a nod to myth and art history, Bashore and Crawford included dolphins in key moments of the opening sequence. dolphins are used to represent rashness or making crazy, impulsive decisions, but they're also associated with romance. Crawford said they are associated with the Roman goddess of love. Think of Raphael's famous 1512 fresco The Triumph of Galatea, a depiction of the water nymph on a dolphin-drawn chariot and painted for the Villa Farnesina in Rome. The dreaminess of the opening adds to the Mediterranean setting.
Bashore and Crawford used animals to tell their stories. Bashore said that half of the animals you see in the title sequence are new additions to the frescoes.
A sweet little lamb is next to Haley Lu Richardson's name. Richardson is playing a young woman stuck in Sicily with her boss. Crawford described the character as lost.
She doesn't know what is going on. She's in a nice place, but she's not moving.
Is Cameron the dog, the statue, or both? Credit: Plains of Yonder
One of my favorites is a small dog that pees on a statue of a naked man. Like the other frescoes, the dog and statue show up with Theo James's name. The statue is believed to represent James's character. He's a wealthy jerk who puts himself on a pedestal, and in the first episode he takes off his clothes. The opening credits show a closeup of the statue's genitalia before revealing the full picture.
According to Bashore and Crawford, the dog is peeing the same as the statue. Bashore said that someone said it was funny. There's a dog peeing on the Theo James statue, but I don't know if that's him. The dog lifting its leg is a good example of toxic masculine.
Things are about to get wild. Credit: Plains of Yonder
The opening images tell a story. You get an epic story in three acts if you put them all together. The sequence begins with a sense of awe. It's very pretty and there's more than one intention. It's a little bit of opera. Around the time we see the birds accompanying Plaza's name, the mood starts to shift. Things begin to slip off the rails when the classic White Lotus music comes in. Bashore said that all is not well.
We descended into chaos. There is a chance of a stabbing and a castle on the beach. The music evokes Bashore's description of a sweaty nightclub. He said that everything becomes crazy. The architecture becomes sexy.
There were no sexually explicit scenes on the walls. The romantic scenes of a man wooing a woman by playing pipes were the furthest away from the erotic chaos we see in the credits. The more suggestive scenes had to be created by Bashore and Crawford and they had to make sure they didn't offend anyone. One of the hardest challenges of creating the sequence was getting the pants on the person receiving oral sex.
Architecture, but make it suggestive. Credit: Plains of Yonder
Some images took on more suggestive meanings because they were in the opening. The structure has three holes in it. It isn't sexual by itself. You get a new perspective when the book ends with statues of naked women and goats. Crawford said it becomes something more when you have this mindset.
Bashore and Crawford incorporated more animated elements into the frescoes towards the end of the credits' final act to emphasize the lusty madness. Smoke and flames billow from a castle and a fountain spurts suggestively upwards as statues' eyes shift to their surroundings. The movements add more energy to the credits as the camera zips around the frescos.
The opening sequence of The White Lotus Season 2 is unforgettable and was created by Bashore and Crawford. You'll be looking at the frames. Our job is to get you ready to watch the show. If it gets you in the mindset of looking for fun little details and thinking about sexual politics, then we've accomplished our job.
There are new episodes of The White Lotus on Sundays. There is an hour and a half later.
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