Patrick Schwarzenegger Is Done Playing Douches

Patrick Schwarzenegger can’t believe he’s still talking about The White Lotus two months after the HBO hit concluded — and yet, there are very few subjects that he enjoys discussing more.

The Mike White creation has fundamentally altered his career, after all; and while the process of filming was, at times, grueling, it was easily one of the most transformative experiences of his life. It is for those reasons that Schwarzenegger has traveled from country to country to country promoting the anthology series, on which he plays Saxon Ratliff, a Duke-educated finance douche vacationing at White Lotus’ Thailand outpost with his family. 

As Emmy voting nears, the actor previously known for his roles on The Staircase and Gen V hopped on yet another Zoom to talk about simultaneously benefiting from and overcoming his very-recognizable last name, the morsels of wisdom he picked up from his co-stars and why the producers of White Lotus were initially petrified that he’d drop out of the show.

You have an annual meeting with your agents, where you list your goals for the year. Am I correct that The White Lotus had been on that list?

It was the No. 1 project that I wanted to do! The meeting is a mix of me saying the types of roles that I want to get and the other actors’ careers that I look up to right now that are within the same age range. And then they’re also telling me, because they’re in all of these staff meetings, like, “Hey, this is what the next six months look like — these are projects that are active and these are the ones that six months out.” Then there’s also the other side of it, which I’m hopefully going to get into way more, which is, “These are some up-and-coming writers, you should read some of their material and you can maybe look at developing if there’s something in that world that you really like or if there’s a piece of IP or a book or magazine article.” So, it’s a mix of different things but last year, White Lotus was on top. I was a huge fan of the first two seasons and when they told me there’d be a third, I was like, “Oh my God, we have to find a role in that.” And then when the audition came, it was a dream be true.

What did you think the experience and its impact would be, and how did that compare to the reality?

You have assumptions of what it’s going to be like and then it’s just completely different than what you think. I had dinner with Leo Woodall [who was in season two] the week before I left to go and film. We were both in Milan for a fashion thing and he was like, “Mate, are you ready for your life to change?” And I was like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

You didn’t believe him?

No. And he was like, “I’m serious.” I mean, I knew it was a big show, but you don’t realize the magnitude of one, how many people watch it, and two, the kind of cultural zeitgeisty moment and fandom. And the fact that it’s eight weeks and people look forward to it every week, and there’s this ongoing conversation about what’s going to happen and who did this or that. It was just way more intense than I ever thought it would be. So, that was one main difference. And then just the experience of being out there, working and living together for seven months, it’s almost like theater camp. It’s a blurred line of work and pleasure, but also kind of art imitating life.

There are two things that came up in our cover story about your audition process. The first was producer Dave Bernad saying, “Patrick Schwarzenegger’s last name worked against him, by the way. We didn’t want to cast him because of that. He was just so good.” I’m curious how aware you were of that, and how often it’s happened before this?

Yeah, I don’t know to what extent it’s happened before because I’m not in the producer’s chair or the casting director’s chair. I do think there’s two sides. You could argue I may never even have been in this position without my last name and that it’s a blessing and I’m very fortunate for the life that I’ve been given and so I try to continuously grow with that and find ways to better myself and to get better as an actor. And then there’s the other side, which is what Dave was saying, and I get it from his side. I get it from Mike’s side because as I got to know Mike better, I could see that he doesn’t want distractions.

He felt similarly about having Lisa from Blackpink on the show initially.

Yeah, he wants to go out there and build his masterpiece, and this is his baby. He spends his whole year before writing and scouting and then he goes and directs for almost a year and then he edits for another six months, so he doesn’t want to be on a press tour getting asked about my last name. It’s his work. So, I get all of that and I appreciate Dave and Mike going to bat for me or looking beyond that and letting me have a chance to prove myself.

The other thing that Bernad said was that when the scripts were sent to you, he and Mike were both very panicked about you dropping out. Were you aware of their anxiety, and was it justified?

Dave and Mike told me that after, like, two months on set. Dave was like, “Oh dude, you have no idea how nervous Mike was that you were going to drop out of the project, and he had me texting you.” I was like, “Dude, one, in what world do you think that I would’ve dropped out of White Lotus? And two, I think every actor kind of expects that there’s some crazy shit that’s going to happen on this show.” And he was like, “No, I know, but obviously this [the boat scene with his brother] was crazy.” But I remember when I got the scripts on day one, Dave texted me, “Making sure you got the scripts.” And I was like, “Yeah, man, going to get into it. Can’t wait.” Two days later, he’s like, “Hey, man, so how’d you like the scripts?” And I was like, “You sent me 600 pages. I’m about halfway through.” He was like, “Oh, has it gotten crazy yet?” I’m like, “Yeah, it’s starting to get really crazy. Ha.” And then he was like, “OK, haha, let me know.” Then, literally a few hours later, he’s like, “Yo, did you read the rest of it?” And I was like, “Dude, chill. Give me a second. I’m trying to get through them, but I can’t just breeze through. I’m learning about who my character is.” And then the next day, again, he texted me and by then, finally, I had read it. And I was like, “Dude, it gets crazy.” And he was like, “I know right?” And I said, “Yeah, it gets insane. It’s hilarious and this thing and this thing….” After that, he never brought up anything else, and I assume it was just because then I went and did my deal. But it never crossed my mind that I would drop out.

So, their anxiety wasn’t justified.

No. I think you have to understand when you do this as a profession that you could get called in to do all sorts of things, whether it’s portraying a Ted Bundy type or it’s doing a character like this where you have this experience with your brother on the boat or it’s going and doing an action thing and you’re doing stunts. That’s the fun of being an actor, we get to play different types of people and different types of roles. So, of course this is boundary-pushing, you’re right at the envelope there, but you trust Mike with his vision.

As we know, Mike doesn’t love to supply a lot of backstory for his characters — he’s also not precious about what his actors bring to their parts. So, what pieces of Saxon and his backstory did you bring?

I worked on a backstory with Sam [Nivola, who plays his brother] and Sarah Catherine [Hook, who plays his sister] because it was really important for me and for us to understand what our sibling dynamic is. I’m out of school now and am I living in my own place or am I still living at home? And what was my relationship with my little brother and sister like growing up? Were our parents around all the time and super attentive or was mom was aloof and kind of a druggie and we knew that so that when these things are happening on the vacation, it’s not that surprising to us? So, you create the backstory and we needed it to be aligned because that allows you to then go and play into the character when you’re on set. Like, in episode one, I go and tickle my sister, or I go and give her a wet willie, and that was all just made up on the spot. Mike had just told us that he wanted these kind of weird Easter eggs to the family being really kind of odd and incestual.

What kinds of conversations did you have with Mike about Saxon’s trajectory? Did I hear you say that you wanted to show growth and he balked?

Yeah, one of the biggest worries for me was that I was going to come off as just this one-note character. I was worried about not having a big arc. That’s when Mike was like, “Look, [the show takes place over] six or seven days. Not everyone has a fucking big arc in life in seven days. Like, where were you a week ago?” Then he was like, “There will be subtle changes — I’m going to make you like this the first half of the show so that these subtle changes will show enough [in the second half].” And I trusted him and obviously he was right, but it was a worry for me. And it’s funny now because, actually, if you were to ask 100 people, I bet you 90 percent of them would say that Saxon was probably one of the most changed people.

By the end, yes.

Yes. And it’s not like I had an insane arc, it just was enough because of how we painted him in the first half. And that’s Mike for you. A really great writer.

One of the biggest learning experiences, I presume, was just how much people associate you with your character. Talk to me about getting comfortable with that?

I don’t think you can prepare for it, honestly. It’s not something that’s easy to come to grips with, and it was shocking for me and at times really weird. You start to be like, “Wait, that’s not … but I’m not ….” And then you realize, “Well fuck, I can’t go and explain to everybody that that’s not me.” And then you kind of let it play out and them, all of a sudden, you’re doing talk shows and they’re like, “Oh wait, maybe he’s not like that.” And then they’re like, “Oh, the character’s now completely different in the second half of the show,” and so you get people coming up to you and thinking you’re like that. And I’ve done other shows, but I’ve never had this experience where people really associate you with your character, and it was a learning experience.

Speaking of, I believe Carrie Coon gave you some advice recently about making sure you don’t play another douche. Do I have that right?

It was at the Hollywood Reporter shoot in New York, and this was back when only episode three or four had come out. She was sitting in the makeup chair, and she was like, “Honey, I’ve had so many friends come up to me being like, ‘Carrie, was he like that on set?’ And it’s a great compliment but I’m telling everybody that you’re not like that, and that we’ll show them through the rest of the episodes, but the next thing you do has got to be different. We got to show that [you have range].” And it was good advice and that’s exactly what I want to do. I want to do something that’s completely different.

That said, Hollywood is very good at trying to replicate past success. Have you been sent a bunch of other douche roles in the month since?

I’ve gotten sent a lot of rom-coms where the guy is like that typical guy, and I’ve gotten sent some cool action stuff, but it’s not what I’ve wanted to do so far. And yeah, I guess it’s easy to do something again, but I think it’s really important for the next thing to be different and unique and for me to continuously try to showcase a different side.

This is a cast full of vets — what other morsels of wisdom did you pick up?

Everybody has given their own advice or what they’ve learned along the way, from actual acting stuff to more career advice, and my parents do it as well. But I guess the best thing that I’ve learned, and that I’ve tried to stay true to, is that as a show like this comes out and your “fame” goes up or you’re more recognized, a lot of things change in your life and to hopefully not change the things that are most important to you: your friends and your family and your values. A lot of the people on the set talked about getting big at a young age and how they ended up having things like their teams change or they lost the connection to their childhood friends, and it was a good reminder for me. All my best friends have been my best friends since preschool and lower school, and I do think I have a unique perspective on it because I kind of grew up around it as well. But yeah, I’d say that’s been one of the most important things.

What did your 2025 agency meeting and goals entail? And was Luca Guadagnino’s American Psycho on the top of this year’s list?

What’s on the very top of it is to work with a person like that, like Luca. And there are plenty of other directors that I’d love to work with too.

Should we manifest some?

Yeah. I mean, even the older greats like Spielberg and Scorsese and Tarantino and Fincher and Nolan — those are people that I would, of course, die to work with and that I studied in film school. And then there’s the next wave of people, the Lucas and the Ari Asters and the Safdies. But for me, the most important thing about what I do next, is to do just something that I’m really passionate about and that is different and unique and character driven.

Before I lose you, there will be a fourth season of The White Lotus. You mentioned Leo Woodall had advice for you. I’m curious what your advice would be for the next batch of actors?

Oh man …

Anything you know now that you wish you knew when you were starting out?

I think sometimes I felt like I was the only one on set who was nervous and second-guessing things and worrying about the outcome. What I learned is that even the biggest actors there were in that same boat. It’s a nerve-wracking project to be part of, and you don’t want to be part of the [season] that people don’t like. So, I think the advice is just to put your trust in Mike. He knows what he’s doing, and he wants the best for every one involved, so just enjoy the process and the time. And sure, there were moments where it felt like seven months was an eternity, and you’re in Thailand with everybody together at a hotel and it can get crazy sometimes and you can feel like, “Get me out of here,” but the second you leave, you’re wishing you could go back.