Culture

Adam DiMarco on His Post-White Lotus Project With Tavi Gevinson

The Glimpses of the Moon reivents an Edith Wharton novel as a satire of social media, influencers, and the modern attention economy.
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Photograph: Getty Images; Collage: Gabe Conte

The Glimpses of the Moon, a 1922 novel by Edith Wharton, has a premise that remains relevant over 100 years later: It is, essentially, about a couple who get married for attention. When the actor and writer Tavi Gevinson and writer Sam Freilich decided to adapt the book into an audio series for Audible, they centered it on Suzy (Gevinson), a down on her luck socialite, and Nick, played by Adam DiMarco, a struggling writer. The two agree to enter a fake union as a viral stunt and then honeymoon at rich friends’ vacation homes to aid Suzy’s pivot to influencing. But the plan—to cash out with their newfound success after a year—gets seriously complicated.

DiMarco—who, with Gevinson, anchors a cast of beloved actors and writers that includes J. Smith-Cameron, Gina Gershon, Cristin Milioti, and Jia Tolentino—first came to Gevinson’s attention at the same time the rest of us discovered him: In the second season of The White Lotus, playing the naive Albie Di Grasso, who gets conned by a young sex worker. In The Glimpses of the Moon, out today, Nick is the one playing the long game. Still, DiMarco says, “I think both characters do kind of have that similarity where they are easily influenced by love or attraction.”

Working in this audio-only format is part of DiMarco’s post-White Lotus ambitions to experiment in different media. He’ll star in the Amazon Prime series, Overcompensating, from Benito Skinner (known online as Benny Drama), but he also releases music under the moniker Good One and plans to work in theater and video games. Here he discusses playing off of Gevinson, staying in touch with his White Lotus co-stars, and his upcoming role as a “douchey frat bro.”

GQ: You've been working as an actor for a while, but White Lotus was your breakout. When it came to working on your next project, what was your thought process?

DiMarco: I signed with an agency in the US and [that] definitely brought a lot more projects my way, which has been really cool—people having you in mind for something. Sometimes you audition, sometimes you just meet with the creatives behind it and just talk about it, which is a new thing for me. So for Glimpses of the Moon, Tavi and Sam reached out and they wrote a really nice letter and sent the script and the project and the other people attached, and I thought it sounded really cool. I think it just comes down to script for me, mostly. Good writing is good writing. This is my first time doing anything in the audio format, but it read like a romcom movie to me, and it felt like a teleplay when we were doing it. So that was really fun to approach it that way, because it wasn't just like reading an audio book—which, I don't think anyone would wanna hear my voice narrate a 400 page audiobook.

Do you know why Tavi and Sam thought of you for the role?

They had seen me in [White Lotus] and then I had read another one of Sam's scripts. I was aware of Tavi; I had a friend who was in Gossip Girl with her. We all connected and we were on the same page about this. I really wanted to do it in person. So I went down to LA and we recorded it at Gold-Diggers, kind of an iconic recording studio down there. Tavi and I were opposite each other in different booths with the glass wall between us, aquarium style, and we could kind of play off each other.

Is there anything you noticed just about doing audio-only that was different or that brought something new out of you?

I make music kind of in my spare time, so I'm used to being around mics and hearing my voice back. I just tried to kind of go in loose and bring myself to the role. I made sure to wear Crocs and sweatpants every day.

On White Lotus, you play the unwitting subject of deception, and in this story, you're on the other side of it. What was that switch like?

This character, Nick, he's kind of coerced and convinced into doing it by Suzy. So it's not like he's the mastermind. I think both characters do kind of have that similarity where they are easily influenced by love or attraction. This one was a bit more fun to play with, and he definitely has more of a conscience than Suzy and wrestles with the morality of it all.

This is an adaptation of an Edith Wharton book but it grounds itself in social media. Did you read the original book or research influencer culture?

I didn't read the book. I talked with Sam and Tavi about it and wanted to approach this from an individual place, but I know it was a satire about the business of marriage and the social scene. My character isn't as knowledgeable about all that stuff. So I think just having a passing knowledge, what I have right now, was enough for me to play that. As you get older, all of your references to pop culture start to go and every name, I'm just like, “Who's that again?”

What shows up for you when you scroll social media?

I'm just on Instagram. That's kind of the only thing I see. My Explore page is just like hockey news and film- and TV-related stuff. Every once in a while when I'm scrolling, it'll just be like a song that someone made and it has three views and one to zero comments. I get that a lot.

You just wrapped on Benito Skinner’s Overcompensating. Is there anything you can say about that or your character?

It's a departure. I haven't played anyone like that before, like a douchey frat bro.

You mentioned music. Is it something you want to do more?

It's just a fun hobby. In between projects as an actor you can have periods of downtime so it's fun to stay creative and do something that you have creative control over. I think I want to do an EP next year, if possible. It's easier than ever to make something and put it out there. So as long as you're making it for yourself, that's the way to approach it.

The song you released recently, it samples a snippet of audio of Sabrina Impacciatore, your cast mate from White Lotus. Are you guys still connected?

Yeah. I actually owe her a call. She's working on the new Office reboot and we were trying to connect while we were both filming but our schedules have been busy. But I love Sabrina. Maybe I'll call her after this, actually.

Is there anyone who you came up with as an actor who you hope to work with again?

I did this Disney TV movie early in my career. It's called Radio Rebel and it kind of turned into a meme in the pandemic. I made a lot of really good friends on that. Atticus Mitchell, he's still one of my best friends, and Rowen Kahn and then Debbie [Ryan], obviously. I want to do another romantic comedy with Debbie. An every 10 years thing.

It's like Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, etc.

Yeah. Before Rebel. After Rebel.

People would eat that up. Are there any other types of roles that you want to play but haven't, or other mediums you want to try?

I would love to do a play, in either New York or London. I think that would be at the top of my bucket list. I think it would be fun to do a video game, motion capture or something. And romcoms, they're coming back. I'm a big horror fan as well.

Are you a gamer?

I like games. I played the Last Of Us when it came out, that was the first game I played where I was like, “Oh, video games can be an art form.” And then to see it adapted into a really well-done TV series is cool. I think they're gonna make more video game adaptations going forward. I think that'll be the new kind of comic book.

I know they're adapting The Sims.

Right. Maybe if they do RollerCoaster Tycoon.