“Eye-f***ing and checking out…”: Patrick Schwarzenegger’s Gutsy Audition Move for The White Lotus Will Make You Blush and Cringe Simultaneously

Created by Mike White, season three of the satirical comedy-drama anthology series’ The White Lotus premiered on February 16, 2025. The third season stars Jason Isaacs, Parker Posey, Natasha Rothwell, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Aimee Lou Wood, and others. The show was filmed in Thailand and consists of eight episodes.

Just like the previous seasons, the third season also follows the exploits of the guests and staff during a week spent at a luxury global resort hotel chain, The White Lotus. The reviews for the two episodes released now have been positive, and fans can’t wait to deep dive into the story. Patrick Schwarzenegger, who has been appreciated for his work, recently shared about his audition.

Patrick Schwarzenegger recalls auditioning for The White Lotus Season 3

Actor Patrick Schwarzenegger plays Saxon Ratliff in the third season of The White Lotus. He is the eldest son of Timothy (Jason Isaacs) and Victoria Ratliff (Parker Posey), who works for his father’s company. The character quickly makes a strong impression on the audience and the critics, and the actor himself is surprised at a few things that his character says and does.

In speaking to Josh Horowitz for his Happy, Sad, Confused podcast, Schwarzenegger was asked about his audition, as he had mentioned that he did not have the scripts, but he had the part. The actor shared that when the character of Saxon Ratliff was brought to him, it had only one line description, which read,

Southern Finance bro that works for his dad and is a total flirt.

He added, that according to him, Mike White does everything on purpose and in this case gives the actors a little snippet about the character so that the actor auditioning for it can interpret what they think about it. Patrick Schwarzenegger mentioned that when he got to the audition, he just took a little bit of a swing as to what his character could be.

The actor also shared that he kind of knew that Mike White likes his character to be a douchebag but also funny and fun. He added that the creator wants the audience to keep guessing who the killer is, and he builds his characters exactly like that. Schwarzenegger mentioned,

So I, for the first seconds of the audition, just played this kind of like weird, kind of creepy, but kind of funny, of just like eye-f***ing and checking out the camera, which I talked about before, and it was just kind of like this funny, uncomfortable moment of the character just building this character.

The actor, in speaking to Vanity Fair, shared that his brother-in-law Chris Pratt had told him that the casting director knows within the first few seconds if you’re someone who works for the role or not.

He added that deep down he knew that the character was a douche, a flirty finance guy who was a despicable human, but he was also someone the audience would want to root for.

Patrick Schwarzenegger reveals working on The White Lotus was on top of his list

In his interview with THR, Patrick Schwarzenegger revealed that it’s an actor’s dream to be a part of a show like The White Lotus, which is on HBO. He shared that even though he knew that it was out of his agents’ hands because they have no control over the characters that Mike White decides to put in the season, he just asked to get him an audition.

Schwarzenegger was in Idaho with his father, Arnold Schwarzenegger, when he received the text from the creator that he got the part. Later he found himself jetting off to Koh Samui with his fellow co-actors. Describing his character, the actor said,

This guy [Saxon Ratliff] feels like he knows everything. He’s making money, he’s getting girls, and he thinks he’s got his life figured out. He leads with his private parts—like, that’s how he walks. He has no regard for the other people in the room.

The actor noted that he took cues and mannerisms for Saxon from three people he knew. There was a person he knew in high school who was just super ridiculous: a reality TV show person he won’t name and then Bradley Cooper in Wedding Crashers. He added that he closely worked with Mike White to perfect Saxon’s very particular physical swagger, which came in handy, especially for the nude scene [It’s his real butt].

During the conversation, Patrick Schwarzenegger added that signing up for The White Lotus requires a level of trust in Mike White. He lastly added,

Getting this job has been a moment for me to realize, OK, other people believe in me. I’m in acting class every single week—for the past nine years, I’ve been doing theatre every single Thursday night—so it’s like the hard work is paying off.

Patrick Schwarzenegger noted that The White Lotus is going to get his work out to a wider audience. He just wants to work with great directors and writers and would take up anything that helps him finesse his art.

The White Lotus season 3 is streaming on HBO.