‘Obviously it wasn’t just another day’: Patrick Schwarzenegger on THOSE sex scenes in The White Lotus – and his famous family
Ahead of The White Lotus finale, Patrick Schwarzenegger opens up about what it was really like on set – and why he’s stepping out of his famous father’s shadow.
Stellar
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In the nearly two decades that Patrick Schwarzenegger has been acting, he’s always resisted the pressure, temptation and opportunity to appear on screen alongside his very famous father, Arnold.
It’s not that he didn’t want to – and says he very much intends to – but he just didn’t think he’d earned the right to team up with one of the biggest stars the business has ever produced thanks to hits including The Terminator franchise, True Lies, Predator and Kindergarten Cop. Until now.
“There are two sides to it right?” he says of the prospect of an Arnie-Patrick Schwarzenegger double act and the baggage that comes with it.
“One is from the viewer’s side – you guys the consumers – and do you think I have earned it? But then it’s also from my side and I feel like have earned it.
“I feel like I have built my career and have some things under my belt now and built my resume to where I feel comfortable working with him.
“I didn’t want to come right out of the gates and work with him because that’s weird and I wouldn’t feel like I had earned it.”
Schwarzenegger is speaking from a Sydney hotel ahead of the release of the final episode of The White Lotus’s hugely successful third season. Even that’s a bit of a full-circle moment for him. The last time he visited these shores he was accompanying his father on a work trip and stayed in the same hotel – now, he’s proud to be there for his own project … and one that’s turbocharged his career in ways he could not have expected.
One of the most acclaimed shows of recent years, The White Lotus is an anthology series set in luxury hotels in different parts of the world featuring a murder mystery that’s mostly just an excuse to examine the often-appalling lives and behaviour of the filthy rich.
It has been celebrated and awarded for its spiky, skewering writing from creator-director Mike White, the stunning locations (Hawaii, Italy and now Thailand) and its perfectly chosen ensemble casts.
In a team that this season also includes Jason Isaacs, Parker Posey, Walton Goggins, Michelle Monaghan, Carrie Coon and Leslie Bibb, Schwarzenegger has arguably been the breakout MVP for his portrayal of Saxon, the entitled, sex-obsessed oldest son of a shady business titan on holiday at the resort with his family.
His inappropriate behaviour around women, attempts to corrupt his younger brother and general douchery have seen him become the character that audiences most love to hate.
Although as the series has progressed, has revealed a more vulnerable side that makes him ever-so-slightly less detestable.
“He is someone who people love to hate but at the same time in the last episodes there is this big transformational event and things that happen to Saxon that change him,” he says.
“And it’s been really fun to play as an actor – to get to show the more dramatic side of things but also for the audience to see Saxon in a different way.
“It’s a testament to Mike’s writing and how great he is and how many layers he likes to build with different characters. But it’s been fun to see how much people hate him and now are starting to turn.”
That transformational event was Saxon and his younger brother Lochy (played by Sam Nivola) engaging in some drunken, drugged out and deeply disturbing incestuous behaviour while trying to bed two women on a luxury yacht. Schwarzenegger says he knew that the scene in question was going to blow up the internet as soon as he read the script, but the reality of shooting it was all in day’s work, albeit an odd one.
“Obviously it wasn’t just another day,” he says, laughing. “It was a little bit of a different day.
“But when you are an actor and you are playing a character there are always scenes that are a little bit out there and challenging or weird.
“It was something where I had tremendous respect for Mike and his work and his vision and I had a lot of respect for the other actors – Sam and Charlotte and Amy – and we all just went into it with respect for each other.
“We said ‘let’s do this and let’s have as much fun as we can while filming it.’”
Schwarzenegger’s character had a poignant moment in this week’s penultimate episode during a conversation with his father (Isaacs), who is secretly starring down the barrel of financial ruin and the loss of his family’s reputation and lavish lifestyle.
Saxon opens up to his father about living in his shadow and hitching his entire identity to the success of the family business, without which he feels like he is nothing.
As someone whose own father strode the globe like a colossus not just in acting, but also as the Governor of California and builder of a fitness empire, the words carried an extra level of meaning.
“Yes, there are parts that I relate to there,” he agrees. “I do live in my dad’s shadow and he has worked tremendously hard throughout his life to build that career and I am super proud of him and it’s been amazing to be able to get to grow under him.
“And at the same time to have my own path that I wanted to go on and carve out and build and really, it’s just me focusing on what I want to work on, what I want to do.”
Schwarzenegger says his father and his famous mother, Maria Shriver from the Kennedy family, are hugely proud of his achievements … but neither pressured him to pursue his chosen career.
Both told him, however, that should success come, he should never forget the people who helped him get there.
“I think one of the things that I have truly learned is that he is not a self-made man and there has always been help along the way,” he says of his father.
“And whenever I have felt like I have made it it’s important to realise that you should give a helping hand to someone else and to be giving back.
“We are in a very special place in life and we have been given a very special life and so utilise that and our profile and who we are to help others.”
So rapturous has been the reception to Schwarzenegger’s portrayal of Saxon that he is now odds-on to score an Emmy nomination, although he may well face some stiff competition in the Best Supporting Actor category from some of his own White Lotus cast mates. He agrees that a nomination would be “awesome”, but he’d rather see White get his dues as the creative force and the ringmaster behind the show.
“I just hope that Mike gets the love that he deserves,” he says. “For us as actors, we bring what we can to the character but it all starts with the great writing and creation of this person. Mike created Saxon and he wrote all that arc and he has written this whole show and nothing would be possible without him.”
As to what doors the show and any accolades that come with it might have opened for him and what success looks like for him personally – he says he’s living the dream right now.
“Success looks like what I have right now. I am healthy, I have an amazing partner in life in my fiancee, I have a great relationship with my family and friends and so to me, I feel successful.
“Something I hope people understand from this show is that it’s not all about money and status and fame – there are people that have those things who are more miserable than people that don’t.”
The White Lotus season finale will stream from Monday on Max; also available via Foxtel and Binge.
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Originally published as ‘Obviously it wasn’t just another day’: Patrick Schwarzenegger on THOSE sex scenes in The White Lotus – and his famous family
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