Patrick Schwarzenegger Tells Chris Pratt How He Became a Sex-Crazed Finance Bro

When Patrick Schwarzenegger learned he’d be heading to Thailand to shoot The White Lotus, he cried—a fitting reaction to landing Hollywood’s best gig. Now in its third season, the HBO juggernaut is both a star-making machine and a famously good hang. Schwarzenegger, who has been building his resume with roles in shows like The Staircase and Gen V, was handpicked by creator Mike White to play a Southern finance bro, which required the Cali-born son of Hollywood royalty to dig a little deeper. To unpack this pivotal moment in his young career, Schwarzenegger called up his brother-in-law Chris Pratt for a quick chat, from one parking lot to another.

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MONDAY 10 AM DEC 23, 2024, LA

CHRIS PRATT: I’m in the CVS parking lot.

PATRICK SCHWARZENEGGER: I’m in a parking lot, too. I went to the office to take this call and do some work, and then it was closed down for Christmas, so I’m just sitting here in the car.

PRATT: Perfect. Can you see my face?

SCHWARZENEGGER: Yeah, but it’s not videoed anyway, so if you need to go off, just do what you got to do.

PRATT: Oh, I’m about to go off, motherfucker. You thought your mom was a journalist? Get ready, bro.

SCHWARZENEGGER: Oh, I’m ready.

PRATT: Okay, Patrick Schwarzenegger. How you feeling? Nervous?

SCHWARZENEGGER: For this interview?

PRATT: Yeah.

SCHWARZENEGGER: No, I’m not. [Laughs]

PRATT: You should be, I’m about to peel back the multiple layers of the onion.

SCHWARZENEGGER: Bring it on.

PRATT: I’ve told you this before, but I feel like this is the decade of Patrick Schwarzenegger. I know that obviously the most important role of your career thus far was playing Donny and getting your head blown off in [Pratt’s show] The Terminal List. But, this is a pretty big step, because The White Lotus is one of the most revered television shows out there. What was the first thought that ran through your mind when you found out you got this role?

SCHWARZENEGGER: Oh, man. I was riddled with anxiety going into Christmas exactly a year ago, because my chemistry read was the morning after Christmas, and I was freaking out. I get really nervous in certain situations, and then other times on set, I don’t get nervous at all. But going into the room for auditions and chemistry reads, I get very nervous. And I already don’t like that it’s over Zoom. But when Mike White text-ed to tell me I got the role, I just started crying. It was a surreal moment. I dreamt of getting this kind of part, or working with someone like Mike. But at the same time, they were like, “You can’t tell a soul.” I was with a bunch of my friends and my dad up in Idaho skiing, and I didn’t tell anybody. The first person after Abby [Champion, Schwarzenegger’s fiancée] was you!

PRATT: I remember. We were in Mexico, but I had helped you a little bit in preparing for it. We ran lines.

SCHWARZENEGGER: Yeah, and then you saw me sitting by myself, and you were like, “So, what happened with the role?” And I was like, “Uhhh.” And you’re like, “I’m sorry, man.” And I was like, “No, no, I got it.”

PRATT: [Laughs] That’s right. I was like, “So sorry. Listen man, these things happen.” You’re like, “No, it’s not that.” I was like, “Oh, you got it?” You’re like, “Dude, shhh!”

SCHWARZENEGGER: [Laughs] Yeah.

PRATT: That was so epic.

SCHWARZENEGGER: It was an awesome moment.

PRATT: Mike White’s obviously amazing, and he’s got a knack for capturing humanity at its messiest. Is there a story in season three that pulled you into wanting to do this? Were you allowed to know what it was?

SCHWARZENEGGER: I knew nothing. I got a one-sentence logline about the character, that he was a Southern finance bro who would flirt with anything that was around him.

PRATT: Right.

SCHWARZENEGGER: I couldn’t read the scripts until after I was part of it, but at that point, if you’re a fan of the show and you know what Mike has done, you’re signing up for anything and everything. It didn’t even cross my mind to want to read the script first. And then when I started to read it, I was like, “Oh, shit.”

PRATT: You’re like, “Oh, wait, what?”

SCHWARZENEGGER: Exactly.

PRATT: That’s awesome. I love how the show explores these themes of spirituality and death, and privilege, the upstairs/downstairs nature of a hotel or the service industry. I actually met Mike a long time ago, so I vaguely know him the way people in Hollywood know each other, which is to say they don’t really, but they see each other in the room and give each other a massive hug and say, “I love you.” You filmed in Thailand, right?

SCHWARZENEGGER: Yep. We were in Thailand for seven months.

PRATT: Oh my gosh. So that’s an experience of its own. What was it like immersing yourself in the culture and the landscape, while working on such a demanding project?

SCHWARZENEGGER: I’m sure you’ve done it so many times with different cities or countries, but I think this was unique because we were so far away, on an island off the coast of Bangkok. When you’re used to Los Angeles, it’s a culture shock.

PRATT: Right.

SCHWARZENEGGER: At the same time, you’re at a hotel that’s shut down, and you’re only living with the cast and crew. So it’s very different than a normal filming experience somewhere else. But demanding? My call time would be 6 a.m., I’d wake up at 5:55 a.m. and walk out of my hotel room and right over to set. Or, we’d stop filming at 6 p.m. and I’d go watch the sunset on the beach. So there was a lot of work hard, play hard. I don’t know when else in life I’m going to be able to live in a foreign country for that long and get to have that experience.

PRATT: Yeah, that’s a real special aspect to filmmaking like this, where you get thrown into this social crucible. We felt like that a little bit during COVID when we shot the last Jurassic [World] movie. Everyone was living together, and when you have this structure put in place that forces people to get to know one another, it’s really dreamy and amazing. And then of course, you’re away from your real life for so long. I think that becomes the big challenge. It’s not so much about the work itself being challenging as it is the life you’re forced to leave behind to dive into this sort of pseudo family, this traveling circus. I mean, Mike White did it right by setting his show up in five-star hotels.

SCHWARZENEGGER: [Laughs] I know, I know.

PRATT: If it was a thriller being shot in a Motel 6, it’d be a little different.

SCHWARZENEGGER: He’s got it strategically planned out, from prepping at a five-star hotel for a couple months, to then filming at a five-star hotel for another seven months, to then editing at a five-star hotel. And by the way, for location scouting, he’d go to so many different islands and basically get trip after trip to see where he liked the most.

PRATT: What ended up being your favorite spot in Thailand?

SCHWARZENEGGER: Koh Samui was beautiful; that’s where we spent the most time. We spent about four months there, and then we were in Phuket for two months, and then in Bangkok for a month. Phuket was the biggest hybrid—it has an actual downtown and mall and everything, but at the same time has all the beautiful beaches, and you can go around in the boats to the Phi Phi Islands. That was probably the best part.

PRATT: What was your workload? How many days were each episode, and how many days of each episode did you find yourself working?

SCHWARZENEGGER: Oh, we shot so out of order. My first day filming was episode eight, so it was my last scenes. The first four months, I probably worked 80 to 90 percent of the days. And then the last two months, I probably worked like 20 percent of the days.

PRATT: Oh, wow.

SCHWARZENEGGER: But on days off, you’d text the group chat and see who wanted to hang out. You’d go to the beach, the gym, the breakfast or lunch hall, get a lot of massages, and go eat Thai food. That’s what we did, pretty much.

PRATT: That sounds pretty awesome. At the end, did you find yourself going stir-crazy and ready to come home?

SCHWARZENEGGER: A little bit in Bangkok, when you had multiple days off in a row. I always enjoyed the days that I’d film more than the days off. And I went over to Cambodia for a week to go see Angkor Wat and Phnom Penh, and Abby came and visited twice, and my mom, sister, and brother came. So it was a nice mix of people that I got to see.

PRATT: That’s nice. I’m going to ask you a question about Hollywood, okay? You’re carving your place out right now. What do you think is the thing that surprises you the most about this industry, that no one really tells you when you’re starting out?

SCHWARZENEGGER: Oh man. Maybe patience? Patience when you’re on set, and patience when you’re not on set, that it’s not overnight success, even though it seems like that for a lot of actors. It’s a long haul.

PRATT: Patience is required. You’ve been taking incremental steps forward in your career, getting jobs like this, the Aaron Hernandez thing [American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez], The Terminal List, The Staircase, and various other thrillers and comedies. Is there one area you like the most?

SCHWARZENEGGER: I’d say the more dramatized shows. The Staircase was something I really enjoyed because it was probably the most challenging, but I also got to work with some of the best actors in the world, like Colin Firth, Toni Collette, Juliette Binoche, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Dane DeHaan. Eventually, I want to do more action. The Terminal List, even though it was only for a week or two, was a mix of drama and action, and I feel like I gear towards that more.

PRATT: Right. It’s hard to define these various eras, but I think your career is really taking off in this age of streaming, which is different from, say, 15 or 20 years ago. The rules for success are constantly being rewritten. Do you feel like it’s a more exciting or more challenging time to be an actor now versus other times?

SCHWARZENEGGER: It’s such a tough question because there’s always pros and cons. The streaming platforms make it a lot harder for the box office and there’s not as many actors that can lead or co-lead a summer action movie flick or anything like that.

PRATT: Right.

SCHWARZENEGGER: But, it also gives the ability for people who couldn’t do that to be able to star in a streaming show. The benefit of being on Netflix or Amazon or Hulu is they have a built-in audience, and you get to expose yourself to a bunch of people that wouldn’t see you if you were to just go out and do a movie. But the downside is that it feels like they’re not taking as many bets on new actors for big theatrical movies. I don’t know. I think there’s always a give and take with it.

PRATT: Right. It’s the same but different, right?

SCHWARZENEGGER: Yeah.

PRATT: Going into this profession is really challenging, regardless.

SCHWARZENEGGER: Yeah. I’m curious to see where it goes over these next couple years. Obviously, we just had the actor strike and the writer strike, and still, I read like a month ago that L.A. was at its lowest production rate ever. They’re making 40 or 50 percent of the content they were before COVID. They’re investing a lot more in live sports and unscripted and reality and stuff like that. I’m hopeful that the box office continues, and we’ve had a strong summer, but it’ll be interesting to see where it goes in the next couple of years.

PRATT: I feel certain that whatever direction it goes, you’re going to help it go there because it is the decade of Patrick. You’re so poised and ready.

SCHWARZENEGGER: Thank you, man. I appreciate that.

PRATT: You bet. And, I’m not just saying that because you’re my children’s uncle.

SCHWARZENEGGER: [Laughs]

PRATT: Is there any advice that you get from people in your family? Anything your sisters, your brothers, your mom or your dad have told you that sticks with you? Or your brother-in-law?

SCHWARZENEGGER: I feel like Arnold’s words of advice are always just work, work, work. Stay dedicated, stay disciplined.

PRATT: Right.

SCHWARZENEGGER: You’ve given great advice, Maria [Shriver, Schwarzenegger’s mother] has. I got some cool advice on set from Walton Goggins. It was the first day of filming, and I asked him if he still gets nervous, and he kind of just stopped and looked at me for 20 seconds. It was a really awkward stare-down. And he was just like, “Yeah, I get nervous.” And then, he kind of put his finger on my chest and said, “But, I never fucking question that I’m the right actor for this job, and I never fucking question my process and that I can go out there and crush it.” And I was like, “Wow.” He was like, “It’s totally fine to get nervous, but you have to have the confidence that you’ve done your work and were picked for the right reason.”

PRATT: Wow. That is such good advice. You told me an anecdote I thought was really funny. If you want to share it, you can, but if you don’t want to, you don’t have to. But, you said on your first day, you were thinking a lot about this character and his arc, and you decided that maybe the character had a little bit of growth, and you did something, and Mike came up to you and he said something. Do you remember that?

SCHWARZENEGGER: Yeah. It was actually one of the first days, because we were filming episode eight the first week and I was trying to figure out what this character’s arc was, what he was learning over the course of the show, and what were his redeeming qualities. And, without spoiling anything, there’s a scene that I have with another girl and we have an attempted relationship throughout the series, so I thought, “You know what?” I’m going to play this scene as though my character is changing, and he’s going to have this come-to-Jesus moment. We did the first take, and Mike comes to me and says, “What the fuck was that?” He’s very direct, but in a funny way. And I was like, “Well, I just thought it’d be good to show this change for him.” And he was like, “No, no, no, just do it how the character is. It’s only been six days. You don’t need to have a huge change in your life in six days. You’re on a vacation. The audience can see that maybe there’s some changes coming, but I don’t want you to have a big change.” And at first, I was really like, “Really, the character does not have this big change?” And then it made a lot of sense to me. Although it’s 10 hours of content or whatever, it’s really only over the course of six days. I just thought it was really wild but also really strong advice, because so much of the time we want to show the audience something and sometimes you forget to be true to the character. He wrote a character that doesn’t need a big change to be interesting. That’s what makes the show fun and funny, is that some of these characters are still just as fucked up as they were on day one, if not even more fucked up.

PRATT: Right.

SCHWARZENEGGER: Some people change and some don’t, and that’s the nature of life.

PRATT: What I love about that story is it’s a testament to somebody’s vision and their ability to articulate that. I welcome it so much from directors, because sometimes they’re just hanging in the back and they let you do your thing. They don’t come up and say, “What the fuck was that?” [Laughs]

SCHWARZENEGGER: Yeah.

PRATT: Because they don’t want to shatter your confidence or whatever. But I love it. Maybe it’s because of growing up with sports, or being coachable, or how my dad was. I wonder if it’s the same for you. Do you have thick skin?

SCHWARZENEGGER: I definitely have thick skin. It’s a fine line to walk because it’s one thing if Mike’s talking to you, or to a Colin Firth, or to a Walton Goggins—someone that’s a seasoned veteran and a star—versus someone that’s on their way up. I think he probably plays it a little bit differently because he doesn’t want to shatter my confidence, but at the same time he does it in a fun, laughing, joking way. But, that’s straight to the point. I like that as well because it was a unique project where you don’t have tons of prep, or you’re not reading the script for months before. You’re getting thrust into it right when you’re going to film.

PRATT: I am so pumped. When does it come out?

SCHWARZENEGGER: I think February 16.

PRATT: Oh, my god. We’re going to have a viewing party. I can’t wait to see it, buddy.

SCHWARZENEGGER: Oh, thanks man.

PRATT: And everyone in your family is so proud of you. I’m going to tell the world to get ready for the Patrick Schwarzenegger era. It’s only just beginning.

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Grooming: Anna Bernabe using Living Proof and Monika Blunder at Kalpana.

Fashion Assistant: Natalie O’Campo.

Production Management: Cecilia Alvarez Blackwell.

Post-production: Alex Hainer.