Patrick Schwarzenegger has addressed the controversy surrounding his divisive character Saxon and his full frontal nudity featured in the new series of The White Lotus.
Patrick, 31, who is the son of movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger and his former wife Maria Shriver, has raised eyebrows with his portrayal of Saxon Ratliff in the series set at the White Lotus spa resort in Thailand. In the first episode, sex-obsessed Saxon spoke about watching porn to his younger brother Lochlan, and described their own sister Piper as “hot.” He also walked naked across the room he shared with Lochlan to the bathroom, where the mirror caught the full reflection of his nudity.
In an interview with The Sun, Patrick described his character, saying: “Saxon is a douche who leads with his penis. He is despicable and outrageous.” The actor also revealed he was not told how often he would be seen nude in the series when he originally auditioned, but he realised that Saxon is just the sort of person who would walk around naked without being bothered by it.
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Getty Images)“He’s the guy who, whenever he sees a girl at the pool, he’s going to flirt with them, whether it’s a mom or a 22-year-old,” he added.
The actor also had to stop working out while he was on set filming in Thailand. The cast and crew were based there for seven months, and Patrick began visiting the gym at 4am but started to get too big and was told to slow down by the series’ creator, Mike White.
“If you look at episode one and episode three, side by side, I gained a lot of muscle and size. Mike was, like "Dude, you've got to stop lifting. You're getting too big. The continuity doesn't work.’”
Patrick previously spoke to The Sunday Times Style Magazine about desperately wanting to win the role of Saxon. “I thought, there's no way I'm going to get this, everybody is up for this,' he insisted. 'I've been a massive fan of the show since day one. It was my dream goal, I think I manifested it.”
His dad Arnold, who had his own memorable nude scene in The Terminator back in 1984, commented on his son’s nude scene on social media after The White Lotus premiere. “I was so pumped to take a break from filming to celebrate Patrick Schwarzenegger at the White Lotus Season 3 premiere. What a show!” he wrote. “I could claim to be surprised to find out he has a nude scene, but what can I say – the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
The third season of The White Lotus began last week, and the second episode, which is now available to watch on Sky TV, features an Oscar winning actor in a surprise cameo. Ke Huy Quan, who won the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for his role in Everything Everywhere All At Once, appears in a voice only role as Jason Isaacs, who plays Saxon’s father Timothy, talks on the phone to a business associate named Kenny. It has not yet been revealed whether Quan will appear in person in later episodes of the series.
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