Interview by Madeleine Ringer
Joining the star-studded season three cast of Mike White’s The White Lotus mid-season, Julian Kostov quickly makes up for lost time. Portraying Aleksei, a Russian hustler and party boy, Kostov’s character finds himself overlapping with the lives of Kate Bohr (Leslie Bibb), Laurie Duffy (Carrie Coon), and Jaclyn Lemon (Michelle Monaghan).
Despite a long day of phone calls, Kostov sits down with DIARIES99 as vibrant, quick, and open as ever. While the sun begins to set, we chat all things The White Lotus, the importance of representation, and how the actor strives to create positive impacts through entertainment. Though Kostov has a resume stretching further than you can see, there’s a feeling he’s only just getting started.
You’re entering The White Lotus as Aleksei, one third of the Russian trio with Vlad (Yuri Kolokolnikov) and Valentin (Arnas Fedaravicius). How would you describe him?
Aleksei is the crazier of the three - and they’re all pretty crazy. He’s chaotic, exciting, and he thinks a lot of himself. He’s a hustler, charmer, and a daredevil.
There’s a lot of unique characters in the hotel; can you tease how he’ll slot into their lives?
When the three Russian friends come together opposite the three women, played by Leslie Bibb, Carrie Coon, and Michelle Monaghan, it’s magical. As a writer’s tool, we’re detaching the audience from the bubble they were in and taking them outside into the crazy real world, the party side of Thailand. It takes place during a full moon party and is very transformativefor the relationships of the girls.
Did you watch the previous seasons? Were you a big fan?
I started to watch it when it first came out, but I watched it for real after I got the audition, and I was obsessed obviously from the get-go. My favourite season, apart from three, is the first one; maybe because it’s dream of mine to go to Hawaii. I really enjoy how it’s an anthology series, but they still bring one or two characters from the previous season into the next. Jon Gries has been in all three seasons, he’s the veteran. It was cool to see how the storyline with Tanya McQuoid (Jennifer Coolidge) continues to live on in spirit this season. It might even have some consequences…
Have you been to Thailand before or did you visit for the first time while filming?
No, it was my first time. Serendipitously, my girlfriend and I were about to book a trip to Thailand on the same dates I ended up filming.
That’s crazy!
I was cast two weeks before starting filming and I was literally about to book the tickets before I got the offer. It saved me some money [laughs] – and changed my life.
How long did you film there?
I was in and out for a few weeks, so probably a total of a month and a half. It was fantastic,like magical realism. It’s a cliché that when you go on holiday you forget your troubles, but it is the case with Thailand. You become this new person; it’s no wonder why people go there to start over. The people are genuinely nice people, I think they have thirty different ways of smiling. Did you spend a lot of time with the cast outside of set?
Everyone had a lot of down time because there’s so many main characters and so many supporting characters to those main storylines, so when three people are working, everyone else is chilling. We were all staying together at these hotels, so it became like a school trip. It’s very cool to experience Thailand in such a unique way. We went go-karting, we went to see elephant sanctuaries, travelled to nearby islands and national parks. We went to a full moon party at Koh Phangan too, just like our characters.
How did experiencing Thailand for the first time help shape your understanding of Aleksei?
I immersed myself in the Bangla Road, because I think that’s where my character dwells. I was trying to figure out how he would hustle his way through these shady characters and how he was going to make his own stamp on the town. I was walking around there trying to see characters similar to him, copying people’s walks and watching how people interacted with each other. I would go to nightclubs and try to think of hustles, and how my guy could make money there if he was a newcomer.
If you could play anyone else in this season, who would it be?
I would either play Rick Hatchettor, Walton Goggins’ character, or Saxon Ratliff, Patrick’s Schwarzenegger’s character. Rick, if I had to choose one.
A lot of people know you for your Shadow and Bone character, Fedyor Kaminsky. What do you think it would be like for Aleksei to meet Faydon?
They won’t like each other [laughs]. Faydon is such a sweetheart, but he’s a solider, so he could kill Aleksei easily if he gets on his nerves. Aleksei, I’m sure, will get on his nerves[laughs]. Who knows, maybe if they have to work together, it could be a fun, buddy-cop action-cop.
You’ve walked so many successful career paths – you’re a director, actor, and musician. Is there anything you haven’t tried? Something you’d love to sink your teeth into?
I need more time to go deeper into all of these rather than try anything new. Writing is probably my biggest superpower I haven’t tapped into yet; I haven’t put in the hours and the work. The next ten years should be writing and directing, fuelled by acting. Writing things no one else will write for me and potentially directing these movies, or just producing and actingthem. Currently, I’ve actioned a script I want to produce, and I’m packaging the whole thing and raising the finance, but the creative stuff is more interesting to me – directing, writing, acting, singing and songwriting.
You founded media company Jupiter Lights in 2014, and then production company Five Oceans in 2022. What inspired this?
The initial reasoning was wanting to create more opportunities for myself as an actor, because the industry will limit me by the way they see me. They’ll put me in a box and give me small roles, where I’m the Eastern European baddie who’s one-dimensional; he just wants to stab you or sell you drugs, and if you’re a woman, you’re cast as a prostitute. To create this image of an entire ethnicity, Eastern European people, Slavic, or Balkan, is not cool.
Jupiter Lights has done a lot in its time – from organising workshops and international acting classes to managing, mentoring and teaching. I even sold a movie during the pandemic out of boredom. You can be angry at the world, or you can do something about it. I didn’t want to wait around for the tides to change – they are changing, but partially because I took action. That’s very important for all of us who are looking for more diversity in the world o entertainment, the last frontier is cultural, language and accent diversity. It’s up to us to talk about it.
How can we push this diversity and representation forward?
I’ve always been trying to help other actors and other Bulgari people by making and sharing opportunities. One of them was with Maria Bakalova, who ended up getting an Oscar nomination. Now, she’s at a position where directors are excited to work with her and they adapt the scripts to be written for her. The power of positive affirmations, having a vision,and finding ways to help others - even if it’s at your own expense - is so important. Even if it was an audition I was going for, I would still share it with other actors. Competitivenessshouldn’t exist in acting or art; if it’s meant for me, I’ll get it.
That was very eloquent.
Thank God you’re recording [laughs].
What was it like in 2010, to begin in London as a Bulgarian actor, mid-twenties and pursuing an industry which mostly faced away from you?
When I was starting out, I had a conversation in my head about how I wanted to be an actor, but no one in Eastern Europe had ever become an actor internationally – I thought, well, I might become the first then! To tell you the truth, I don’t feel more successful being in The White Lotus, Call of Duty, Shadow of Bone, and a bunch of other things I’m making, than I did at twenty-four surviving London as a Bulgarian actor, with the limited opportunities Ihad. I feel the same level of fulfilment I did in the beginning. It’s really important to reflect on the where you’re from, how you started, and appreciate the whole process, rather than let the achievements get to your head. It’s not a particular place I’m headed; I just want to live this life.
It's not about stacking up the achievements, it’s about living them.
Exactly.
You recently went to Berlinale for Shattered Bonds, which focused on youth violence andpartnered with UNICEF. What drew you to that project?
It’s based on the bestselling Bulgarian novel, The Mothers by Teodora Dimova. I play the father of a seventeen-year-old in episode one - to me, that was weird as hell. Technically it’s possible [laughs]. That was the whole point though; my character and the wife are very young and very rich, but asides from giving his child bad advice and throwing money at him to solve problems, he’s not doing much. Our story is about these kids who are neglected but their parents give them a lot of money, so they end up drunk driving their Lamborghini into somebody innocent. We’ve had a lot of that in Bulgaria in the last ten years.
It’s called Shattered Bonds in English, [to symbolise] the broken bonds in families. In this last decade, it’s never been more important to discuss this. Kids latch onto phones from such a young age, it’s hard to discern reality and create a stronger bond with your family thansocial media. Kids are comparing themselves to non-existing lifestyles.
Watching the raw cuts of the first three episodes, I was crying so much, especially with the episode two and three - because mine is a little more fun – I was destroyed. This project isone of the things I’m most proud of in my career. It’s distributed by Beta Films, so hopefully it goes out to international audiences; that’s my whole goal, to produce and star in local stories that have an international team and a universal impact, so we can export our culture in a more complex and three-dimensional way. [Eastern Europeans] are people, we’re not a device for Hollywood or Western media to use to tell certain narratives.
Media representation and realising how others may perceive us has such an impact on us and not being able to see different versions of yourself shapes our minds drastically. It’s great to hear how passionate you are about breaking through those barriers of representation.
That’s what’s great about Mike White’s writing; he explored Thailand and saw it for what it is, writing these characters whom he probably met somewhere along the way. He’s gotten the psychology of who the people are there very well.
Before the interview we were chatting about your shoot – which you loved – and you confessed you’re not that into fashion. Still, did Thailand’s weather bring out any good style moments?
I appreciate fashion, but I’m not very talented at it. My girlfriend helps with that [laughs]. In the heat, I love wearing linen shirts – I’ve got about fifteen shirts in different colours. I love that boho vibe, linen short pants and a linen shirt. I’m bringing anklets back [laughs]. I have a Diesel jacket I get compliments on all over the world, from men and women. It’s my signature; it’s pretty roughed up but I’m going to revamp it.
What’s something people would be surprised to know about you?
I was national swimming champion of Bulgaria, but I never really liked it – I was just good at it. You can be really good at something, but if it’s not your joy, you should move onto something else.
Asides from the latest season of The White Lotus, do you have any projects coming out soon?
Fight or Flight came out in February in the UK and the Middle East, and is out in May on Sky for the US. It’s an action film with Josh Hartnett, who I’m a huge fan of. My character, Aaron Hunter, is an arsehole [laughs]. You love to hate him. He’s actually similar to Patrick Schwarzenegger’s character in The White Lotus, which is why I thought I could play a good Saxon. Triumph was the Oscar submission, coming out with Shattered Bonds in Bulgarian cinemas 21st March.
The one I’m very excited for this year is The Toxic Avenger, starring Elijah Wood and Peter Dinklage. My character is a blond rocker-rapper, who is also a psychopathic assassin. It’s an anti-superhero, R rated film, unhinged and awesome. It’s coming out in August, and if you like blood and guts, you’ll like it.
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Photography: Bartek Szmigulski
Styling: Adele Cany
Grooming: Wendy Turner
Styling assistant: Patrischa Humm
