Actor Alessandro Nivola is opening up about his relationship with his son, The White Lotus season 3 star Sam Nivola, and how the pair have managed to mend fences.
“He’s been a very loyal supporter of mine. I love it,” Alessandro, 53 exclusively told Luxury Handbag Shopping on Monday, September 8. “It’s only just very recently that he’s sort of an adult and not living at home. Our whole relationship has changed as a result of him being out of school and having his career start.”
He continued, “We can talk about work and other things like that, sort of man-to-man.”
Sam, 21, shot to stardom after appearing in season 3 of the critically acclaimed HBO hit, The White Lotus. Sam starred as Lochlan Ratliff, the youngest member of an affluent North Carolina family who partakes in an incestous sex scene with his brother, Saxon, played by Patrick Schwarzenegger.
Alessandro, for his part, is best known for his roles on Face/Off, Selma, The Many Saints of Newark and The Brutalist. He recently joined the cast of the new movie, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale.
As the father and son navigate their individual Hollywood success, Alessandro told Us he’s happier with their current relationship dynamic.
“I much prefer this than trying to get him to go to bed on time or whatever. F*** that,” he said. “It was really the day that I just stopped trying to convince him not to drop out of Columbia that we really started to get along — and now we’re really best friends.”
While Alessandro joined many of the original cast members from the hit series Downton Abbey, one person was noticeably missing — the late Maggie Smith. Smith died in September 2024 at the age of 89.
Despite her absence, Alessandro’s costar, Kevin Doyle, told Us on Monday that the cast and crew managed to find ways to keep her presence palpable on set.
“Her presence is felt all the way through it,” he told Us of the film. “She’s actually seen in it, which is lovely. We were very aware when we were making it that she wasn’t around, and that was very poignant.”
He continued, “We just tried our best to — you can’t fill in the gap that she leaves, so you just try your best to do the best work that you can. And I think that’s what she’d expect.”
The new film includes a tribute to Smith, who won four Emmys for her role in the series. The final shot of the movie features a picture of Violet Crawley, Smith’s character, who was killed off in the second film. Text then appears on screen, reading, “in loving memory of Dame Maggie Smith,” along with her birth and death year: 1934-2024.
