(Credits: Far Out / YouTube Still)
Tue 4 November 2025 1:00, UK
Aubrey Plaza has managed to play unusual, quirky characters without ever being too damn grating. However, she tested the limits of her charm when one of her The White Lotus co-stars experienced her idiosyncratic practical jokes firsthand.
She may have taken issue with being described as “deadpan”, but Aubrey Plaza could never be accused of being anything less than completely singular. Although it was the role of April Ludgate on the hit sitcom Parks and Recreation that transformed her from a novice writer into a bona fide star, Plaza has since taken her eclectic blend of wit, whimsy, and weirdness to the big screen.
The transition from being a “TV actor” to a “film star” is not an easy one, as it’s not often that audiences will pay to see someone they’re used to seeing for free on a weekly basis. However, Plaza managed to make that adjustment by trying a little bit of everything. In addition to appearing in the cult classic Scott Pilgrim vs The World and the raunchy R-rated comedy Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, Plaza has tackled topical issues in a pair of psychological independent dramas.
Although returning to television might’ve seemed like a step back, Aubrey Plaza was more than happy to make an exception for The White Lotus – the Emmy-winning HBO gem from Mike White. She took on a key role in the show’s second season as Harper Spiller, a sharp-as-a-tack lawyer on holiday in Italy with her husband. While the couple’s trip is packed with tense chats and awkward run-ins, Plaza made sure the chaos didn’t stay on screen – filming the series was just as mad behind the scenes.
In a report from GQ, Plaza’s co-star Adam DiMarco revealed that he returned to his dressing room to find a collection of the hotel’s reed diffusers arranged in a menacing way. Plaza’s private quarters were similarly attacked, which led her to hurl accusations of pranking at her co-stars Meghann Fahy and Haley Lu Richardson. Suffice to say, no one came forward to take responsibility for the unnerving creations.
The situation escalated when creepy notes were found slipped under actors’ doors, and Plaza quickly identified her Italian co-stars Beatrice Grannò and Simona Tabasco as potential suspects. Although DiMarco claimed that the experience had him “definitely questioning” his reality, it wasn’t long before the hotel staff informed him that “it’s Mrs Plaza”.
White said that Plaza was a “disruptor by nature,” and even claimed that she was “the most fun” to work with out of the cast. However, White managed to keep his distance on set so he could maintain his authority. When you’re showrunning an expensive HBO series, you don’t want to get yourself involved in prank wars.
“I said to her face, if I’m on a cross-country trip, I want nothing more than for you to be on that bus with me,” he told GQ. “But if I’m driving the bus, and you are on it, I want you off the bus.”
Although Plaza was eventually identified as the culprit, it wasn’t an easy mystery to solve; DiMarco revealed that she had tried to convince him of her innocence over a bottle of red wine. Those who had only seen Plaza in The White Lotus might have found it easy to believe her lie, as her character is ironically the most empathetic within season two’s disreputable cast of hotel guests.
The on-set pranking didn’t seem to affect Plaza’s performance, as she earned a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for her brilliant goddamn work in the second season, and only lost to her co-star Jennifer Coolidge.
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