Arnas Fedaravicius is a Lithuanian actor and producer with a background in stunt training. He is one of the breakout stars of the third season of HBO’s The White Lotus, earning widespread recognition as Valentin, the hunky wellness guru whose flirtatious presence disrupts the tense friendship between Laurie (Carrie Coon), Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan) and Kate (Leslie Bibb). Before this, played Sihtric in four seasons of Netflix’s The Last Kingdom and its feature-length conclusion, The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die. Up next, Arnas will star alongside Jason Statham in Mutiny (dir. Jean-François Richet, 2026).

In the first of a new series in which filmmakers and creatives go deep into beloved movies, from cult favourites to stone-cold classics, Arnas Fedaravicius selects:

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (dir. George Roy Hill, 1969)

WHY I LOVE IT
“I’m a big fan of westerns and Paul Newman is my favourite actor of all time. It’s light and funny, and every time I watch it, I laugh at different things and, at the end scene, no matter how many times I watch it, I always cry. This movie always makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.”

FIRST TIME I SAW IT
“I watched it alone, in 2020, which was the beginning of my real obsession with Paul Newman. I was in Poplar, east London at the time, subletting a room from a friend which had a huge TV. I was on my own, rented the movie, sat on the couch then quickly slid down onto the floor to watch most of it: I was zoned in. I’ve loved watching movies alone ever since I was about 14.”

JUST THE FACT
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was the number one film at the US box office in 1969, ahead of Herbie series-opener The Love Bug (dir. Robert Stevenson), Midnight Cowboy (dir. John Schlesinger), Easy Rider (dir. Dennis Hopper) and, in fifth place, Hello, Dolly! (dir. Gene Kelly).

THE CHARACTER
Butch Cassidy
“I love his positivity and naivety throughout the movie, even though he manages to maintain a front of being a leader of a gang, when he clearly doesn’t seem to know anything.”

THE OUTFIT
Robert Redford’s wide-waled brown corduroy blazer with a shirt-style collar, faced in black leather.
“The clothes in the film really define the characters and this blazer embodies the cool swagger of Redford's Sundance. You’re like, yeah, this guy can shoot.”

THE SCENE
“Woodcock?”
“They rob the same train twice and there’s a guy inside the train named Woodcock, played by George Furth. As the train grinds to a halt, from the ground Butch knocks on the door and calls through to the person inside protecting the safe to open it. When the camera is on Paul Newman, he hears the voice from inside and lights up. He says, “Woodcock?”, and he remembers him. I love that one single moment and I’ve rewatched it many times. Later in the same scene, a woman gets off the train, walks up to the gang to start complaining, and they catch her. Switch to the camera on Woodcock inside the train, where he can hear them supposedly torturing her on the other side of the door. Woodcock opens the door and sees that it’s actually Paul Newman putting on her voice, pretending to be her, and they all laugh.”

THE DIALOGUE
“I swear, if Sweetface told me that I rode out of town 10 minutes ago, I’d believe him.”
“This line is from a scene where they’re running away from the posse of bounty hunters, and they end up in a brothel. Butch tells Sweetface, an older gentleman, to go outside and tell the bounty hunters that he and Sundance have gone in the other direction. Those two head upstairs to watch out the window as the scene unfolds, and this is when Butch delivers this one line. I believe him, and it makes me laugh so much every time, because it's a testament to Butch Cassidy’s faith and optimism: he really believes in his own ideas.”

JUST THE FACT
In 2013, the Writers Guild of America ranked the Butch Cassidy… screenplay 11th on its list of 101 Greatest Screenplays ever written.

THE SONG: 1
South American Getaway, written by Burt Bacharach
“This song is played over a montage of Newman and Redford robbing banks in Bolivia. I’m not a big fan of montages in general, but in this movie, they do a really, really good job. The director manages to squeeze this great part of the tale into five minutes, and it’s told with this song, which fits perfectly, making it funny and heartfelt.”

JUST THE FACT
Burt Bacharach won an Academy Award for the film’s score, which included this song.

THE SONG: 2
Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head, written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David
“This plays over the weird bicycle scene. It’s fun, but it’s so out of place in the triangle [between Butch, Sundance and Etta, played by Katherine Ross] which you could call ‘love’.”

JUST THE FACT
Raindrops… won an Oscar for Best Song, despite the misgivings of one of the movie’s two co-leads. “When the film was released, I was highly critical: How did the song fit with the film? There was no rain. At the time, it seemed like a dumb idea. How wrong I was, as it turned out to be a giant hit.” The doom-monger? Robert Redford.

ARNAS’S TOP 5 PAUL NEWMAN FILMS

Somebody Up There Likes Me (dir. Robert Wise, 1956)
“Some people complain that Newman copied [elements of his portrayal of boxer Rocky Graziano in this film] from Marlon Brando because of On the Waterfront, but actually they both drew inspiration from Graziano. Brando based some of [the character of Stanley] on him, but Newman told his story. There’s a line I like, when Newman’s in jail and he says, “Don’t worry about it, Ma.” It makes me cry every time, because it’s so painful and heartfelt.”

Paris Blues (dir. Martin Ritt, 1961)
“Newman stars alongside Sidney Poitier and Joanne Woodward, who arguably steals the show. There’s one scene when she is making coffee for herself and Newman in the morning and then they have a conversation. I could just watch that ten times over. A beautiful and very sad movie.”

Harper (dir. Jack Smight, 1966)
“I really enjoy this movie even though it’s not necessarily one of the best. It’s a detective movie and Newman has a brown suit and a Porsche. The depth of his voice, the lightness, the comedy of anything he does, is so present and truthful, which is why I love it.”

Absence of Malice (dir. Sydney Pollack, 1981)

The Verdict (dir. Sidney Lumet, 1982)
“He should have won his Oscar for either of these.”

How did Mike White describe Valentin to you when you first joined the project? Were there any specific qualities he wanted you to bring to the role?
Mike came up to me and said, “he is likeable, like you”, so that was a compliment and helped relax me into the role. Now, whether there are other qualities underneath that, you wait to let the writing unravel the complexities, and portray your character the best you can. I was just watching an interview with Michelle Monahan yesterday, and she was defending her character, and I realised I got to a place where, when people ask me to tell them about Valentin, I’m so defensive, because I like him.

Characters on The White Lotus tend to be ambiguous: very few are purely “good” or “bad”. Where do you think Valentin falls on that spectrum?
He’s genuinely trying to do his job, and there’s perhaps some sort of, not sure if it’s malice, but survival instinct. Most of what he does is through a genuine want of positive outcomes. He can be a douchebag. In his mind, he’s a single guy spending time with three beautiful women and one of them is like, “hey, booty call, do you want to come over?” It’s hard for him to say no.

Is Valentin playing Laurie, Kate and Jaclyn, or is it something else?
It’s not his first rodeo. It’s just a week in the life of someone who works in the hospitality industry, he sees many guests come and go. There’s one scene where he says that he’s been in Thailand for three years, although we don’t know how long he has been working at the hotel. While I was preparing, I asked Mike, “he’s done it before, right?” He’s seen ladies like these before, done similar things. With new guests, and Jaclyn, Kate and Laurie especially, they’re like kids who think that they’re the coolest in school and even the teachers haven’t seen anyone like them before. When Jaclyn and Laurie twigged that Valentin had said the same thing to both of them about their body fat and their bodies being half their age – he’s said these things to many guests before. He must have, because these guests think they’re the shit. He’s just doing his job.

Has working on The White Lotus changed your view of luxury travel and hospitality?
Overall, my perception has changed, but experientially, habits are still the same, and I have the upmost respect for the industry. It’s funny because even though I was working, I’d still go out for local massages, which are amazing, accessible and relatively cheap. They’d still make me feel unique and they’re giving me, “Oh, I’ve never done a back crack like this before”.

What’s it like shooting for six months on location in Thailand?
I’d wanted to go back for quite a long time, so I was ecstatic about having to film there for six months. I developed different personal connections with people, based on mutual interests. For example, Carrie Coon and I exchanged books. She gave me a list of her favorite books and one she recommended me was the 1965 novel Stoner by the American author John Williams – our friendship was based around books. Walton Goggins is a phenomenal man. John Gries was was super warm. Patrick Schwarzenegger, Nicholas Duvernay and I have a group chat called “Protein pack” and Patrick’s nickname was “protein Pat”. When we’re in town together we try to work out together. I’ve made great friends, who have taught me a lot about myself, about human interactions, and along the way, shared some great stories about what to expect from life in this career.

Have fans’ reactions to Valentin surprised you?
I’ve been receiving so much gay love, my DMs are full. I saw someone on Instagram do a smash or pass with five of us [actors]: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Tayme Thapthimthong and myself.

Has The White Lotus theme song resonated with you?
I booked a table at a local restaurant with my girlfriend, and she told them what we’re filming here, and while we’re sitting having dinner, the DJ just started playing the remix of The White Lotus theme song. Another time, working out at the gym in the Rosewood Hotel, Leslie Bibb was doing her abs and was like “Arnas, come here, come here”. She gave me her headphones and it was the theme tune.

Does the energy on set change as the end of filming approaches?
My first day was filming something for episode five, then the next day they’re shooting episode seven, it was never in sequence. Always so much fun, though. Also, it’s a machine, it’s so fast. Once they set up, you come in, there’s insane freedom in what you want to do and what you’re allowed to do. When you’re shooting a scene, if you hear Mike at the monitor laugh, you know you've nailed it. As soon as you’re done with the set up, they’re like, “all right, actors go rest”, and you observe this machine – the changing of the cameras and the lights. It was very impressive to see the efficiency of it all.

How would you describe the final episode in three words?
Unexpected. Explosive. Loving.

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