Patrick Schwarzenegger Reveals the Audition Tip He Got from Brother-in-Law Chris Pratt That Helped LandWhite LotusRole

Mar. 15, 2025

Chris Pratt attends the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 World Premiere (left); Patrick Schwarzenegger at the GQ Men of the Year Party 2023 (right).Photo:Jesse Grant/Getty; Phillip Faraone/Getty

Jesse Grant/Getty; Phillip Faraone/Getty

Patrick Schwarzeneggerreally put it all out there in his audition forThe White Lotusseason 3.

The 31-year-oldplays the oldest child of the Ratliff family, Saxon, in the latest season of theMike Whitehit series, and he revealed during a March 13 interview onThe Kelly Clarkson Showthat his brother-in-lawChris Prattplayed a role in helping him land the part.

When guest hostMolly Simsasked if it was true that Schwarzenegger had to “make love to the camera with [his] eyes” in his audition, he said that her wording made it sound “so weird” before sharing what really happened.

“My brother-in-law actually told me [that] when you’re auditioning, that in the first couple seconds. the casting director or the director will kind of know if you’re right for the role — and [that I should] try to do something unique,” Schwarzenegger said.

“So for the first five or 10 seconds before the scene started, I just kind of locked in and had a little romantic moment with the camera.”

He joked that Pratt, who is married to theGen Vactor’s sisterKatherine Schwarzenegger, “knows a thing or two” about auditions and he continued to elaborate on how he made himself stand out in his.

“It’s not the appropriate wording for television,” he admitted. “I just kind of eyed the camera and was looking it up and down and kind of having its moment and they thought it was really awkward and creepy and fun and it was just perfect for the character.”

He also praised his costarJason Isaacs, who plays his dad on the show, as “fantastic” as he raved about the whole team behind the show. “That’s one of the benefits of getting to do a show like this — besides getting to stay in Thailand for seven months on the beach and work with Mike White — is you get to work with incredible actors and actresses.”

Kevin Winter/GA/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty

Schwarzenegger told PEOPLE of the audition process for the highly coveted series, “They don’t want to give anybody information. So you kind of just have to go off of the audition papers [and think], what are they looking for? What do you want to bring to this character? Honestly, it was just me taking a wild stab at what [Mike White] was looking for.”

When he found out he’d landed the role, he said, “I started crying and it was the greatest day in history for me.”

Parker Posey, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Jason Isaacs, Sarah Catherine Hook, Sam Nivola in ‘The White Lotus’ season 3.Fabio Lovino/HBO

Fabio Lovino/HBO

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New episodes ofThe White Lotusseason 3 air Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on Max.

source: people.com