Alexander Ludwig is meeting me on Zoom from a small cafe in the south of France.
“Apologies, but my internet connection in my Airbnb is so terrible,” he says. “Hopefully it doesn’t get too loud.”
Then he cracks, “This is my really hard life right now.”
Life is anything but hard for the 34-year-old actor. He’s in France filming Season 4 of “The White Lotus.” But more on that in a bit.
First up, Ludwig is promoting “Unabomber,” his new Netflix biopic movie about Ted Kaczynski, the domestic terrorist who killed multiple people between 1978-1995 by mailing bombs to them. Shailene Woodley stars as the FBI agent who insists on following the tip from Kaczynski’s own brother that led to his identification and arrest. Ludwig plays a less-than supportive fellow agent.
He’s excited to see the franchise’s next installment, “The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping.” “I just saw the trailer yesterday,” Ludwig says. “They invited me to the premiere, and I said, ‘If you fly me out, I’ll come.’ I literally turned to my wife and I said, ‘I can’t believe they’re still making these. It’s amazing. It’s crazy.’”
Ludwig and AJ Michalka were the first cast members to be announced for the new season of “The White Lotus.” The cast also includes Marissa Long, Ari Graynor, Steve Coogan, Max Greenfield and Kumail Nanjiani. While details aren’t being officially revealed by creator Mike White or HBO, Variety previously reported that the story involves two rival filmmaking teams as they compete for the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Production has been spotted shooting in and around Paris, Monaco and Cannes, including the famed Palais des Festivals.
Did he spill to Clooney? “Go, no,” Ludwig says while giving me a blink of an eye. “He’s going to have to wait like everyone else.”
Ludwig calls the new season its most “extravagant” yet. “It’s fucking wild,” he says.
Fans know just how wild things can get on the show. Who could forget last season’s shocking incestuous scene between Patrick Schwarzenegger and Sam Nivola? “My first question to Mike was, ‘Who am I doing that to?’” Ludwig says, laughing. “Obviously joking but I was like, ‘Just tell me.’ [I’ll do it] happily.”
“Unabomber” is available to stream on Netflix.
