Actor Theo James (The Divergent Series: Insurgent) who plays the character of Cameron on The White Lotus, accredits Mike White (School of Rock), the showrunner of The White Lotus, as a big help in finding the crux of his character’s soul. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, James stated, “He can boil us down to our most animalistic urges.” James also detailed his artistic decisions regarding the character and his reaction to earning an Emmy nomination for the role.
When asked about his artistic decisions on playing Cameron, James said, “I saw him in two ways. In a kind of symbolic way, I saw him as a child. He’s kind of loving, but doesn’t think about his actions. He’s full of energy and hope and brightness, but he also, as a child does, only thinks about himself. And then the other part, which I’ve said before, always from the very beginning, I saw him as an animal. But he succumbs to his most basic elements, and that’s aligned with some of Mike’s thesis. Mike’s thesis is even the most wealthy and the most privileged, really, [are] all just humans. He can boil us down to our most animalistic urges.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, James also said that his time playing Cameron was “Definitely a process because I needed to frame him in a way in which I liked him myself. If you need to play someone convincing, even if it’s the most abhorrent person, you need to find pieces of the person in yourself. You need to find pieces of the person that you enjoy and like. He was funny in a way because I ended up liking him or convincing myself that I liked him — so much that when I was watching the show, I was reminded of what an abhorrent person he was.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the actor found out he earned an Emmy nomination for his performance as the neurotic finance bro, Cameron, when he was in a park in London. The actor still had not even spoken to his cast members post-nomination, to which many of his co-stars shall join him as nominees at the Emmys. The final Emmy nomination count for the show has accumulated to 23 nominations on the day of the announcement on July 12th. He said that after the interview he was “going to try to get a hold of people, and then I think I’m going to have a drink. An alcoholic drink. I haven’t chosen which one.” He then said that he would read his daughter Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson (The Snail and the Whale), commenting, “That’s probably what I’ll be doing. A drink and then a children’s story.”