Drinking Martinis With Patrick Schwarzenegger From ‘The White Lotus'
The third season of 'The White Lotus' has been a smash hit for HBO — drawing close to 20 million viewers — and the portrayal of Saxon by Patrick Schwarzenegger is a big reason for that success. The actor recently surprised fans with a bar crawl in New York City with stops at Dante, Buddakan and Peachy's. Cocktails inspired by the show in collaboration with Ketel One Vodka and Tanqueray Gin were served to guests, including 'The White Lotus Vesper Martini' and 'The White Lotus Punch' both incorporating juices and flavors from the show's Thailand filming locations. I spoke with Schwarzenegger about his favorite drinks, the foods he discovered while filming and which actor on 'The White Lotus' is his cocktail guru.
The third season of 'The White Lotus' has ended but the work hasn't. Where have you been traveling to promote the show?
We've been traveling all over. Pretty much every country around the globe. I'm going to Dubai next week. I went to Australia last week. Asia. Europe. It's been nonstop. It's been a really cool opportunity for us to do this full blown press tour which you don't see that often.
And now you're doing promotions in New York.
Yes. We're doing a surprise bar crawl. Mixing up some drinks and surprising some fans. It's a lot of fun. The collaboration with Ketel One Vodka and Tanqueray Gin and 'The White Lotus' has been a perfect marriage between the brands being inspired by our show and by Thailand and creating some sophisticated cocktails. I feel lucky to be smacked up in the middle of it all.
Patrick Schwarzenegger surprises fans in New York City to toast season three finale of 'The White Lotus.'
Did you have time to enjoy Thai cuisine while you were filming?
Oh yeah! It was definitely a 'work hard play hard' situation. There were times when we were filming every day for a couple of weeks. But then we would have ten days off and we had plenty of time to enjoy all the local cuisine. We went everywhere. We would go out on a boat and go to these random shacks on the water and they would end up being some Michelin star restaurant.
The latter half of the show we were in the Fisherman's Village in Ko Samui so we could walk to a lot of restaurants, whereas the first half we were staying at the hotel so we mostly ate there. But that was pretty much what we did on our off days — go and find good food!
Any new favorite dishes?
I tried everything. So many dishes that I had never heard of. But what I loved most was mango sticky rice. I'm now obsessed with coconuts and coconut water. But in general all the food there was delicious.
Patrick Schwarzenegger at Peachy's in New York
Was that amazing yacht from the show the 'boat' you went out exploring on?
We didn't have that boat at our disposal. Though we were filming on it for a couple of weeks and then on weekends we would go exploring different places like the Phi Phi Islands. Lots of caves and beaches and more touristy things.
Did you get to enjoy some drinks with your fellow cast members?
Yes. While we were filming we all had drinks together. Walton Goggins was the big cocktail connoisseur. He knows his stuff. It was amazing — all the different actors and actresses from the show that I got to connect and bond with over drinks.
When I was filming 'The Staircase' going out with Colin Firth was a really cool experience. He is such a James Bond-type character with a martini in front of him.
Patrick Schwarzenegger poses with fans at Dante in New York City
Are you surprised by the tremendous reaction to the third season of 'The White Lotus?'
I thought it might do well but I did not expect how big it was going to be — and the reaction that was going to come with it. I was in New York for St. Patrick's Day and went out to some bars and that was a crazy experience — something that I hadn't dealt with before. I was with Sam Nivola — who plays my younger brother on the show — and he said it felt like we were in One Direction.
Your character Saxon has a pretty strong personality. When you meet fans on these bar crawls do they like seeing the real Patrick or do they only expect the person you portrayed on the show?
It's definitely both. A lot of people just like to yell 'SAXON! SAXON!' when they see me. Then there are others who actually talk with you and after a few minutes they're like 'Wow, you're really a nice person. You're not like Saxon at all.' Going back and forth between those two camps is a really funny mix.
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