Patrick Schwarzenegger has quietly become the second most prolific actor to carry his famous surname.
The 27-year-old’s acting career kicked off in modest fashion 15 years ago this month, when he made his screen debut credited as “Jock Kid Game #3” with a bit part in the 2006 Rob Schneider-David Spade comedy The Benchwarmers. Over the past decade, Schwarzenegger — the son of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver — has worked steadily, with roles in Grown Ups 2 (2013), Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (2015), The Long Road Home (2017) and Daniel Isn’t Real (2019).
His latest role, though, in the Amy Poehler-directed patriarchy-toppling high school comedy Moxie, marks his most notable turn yet. Though it’s not exactly a character Schwarzenegger will long want to be associated with: He plays Mitchell, the douchey and arrogant football player whose routine misogyny inspires a group of female students to rise up against the school’s toxic culture.
“There’s no real reason to like him, or root for him in any sort of way,” Schwarzenegger tells Yahoo Entertainment. “So I don’t think there were really things about him that I really latched onto, at least I hope I have no qualities like that. It was a fun film to work on, a s***** character to play.”
The fun started at the top with Poehler, who directs her second film after 2019’s Wine Country and also costars as a mother whose past Riot grrrl activism inspires her daughter (Vivian Robinson) to start the underground eponymous zine. “I couldn’t speak higher of Amy and her work, and working with her and working for her. From her being the producer to her being an empowering female director to being another star actress of the film and really using her platform to push out a message and use this film as a medium to push out a message.”
Schwarzenegger says he couldn’t relate much to the large, cliquey high school portrayed in Moxie, having attended the small private Brentwood School in Los Angeles. “I went to a very different high school. I went to a very small one, a hundred kids in the grade. No one talked like that in the class or lashed out.”
As for his famous father, Schwarzenegger says the Terminator icon and former California governor has long been supportive of him following in his footsteps by entering showbiz. “He doesn’t have any reservations about us wanting to do anything. I think he’s a big believer that it’s our life and whatever we want to do or are passionate about, he’ll be supportive and help.”
Among the lessons he’s learned from The Governator as he’s pursued acting: “It’s about work ethic and having goals and determination and treating everyone with respect. Don’t let rejection stop you, and you have to believe in yourself. The acting world is tough. You definitely get a lot of ‘no’s’ and you have to find the people that will believe in you and bet on you.”
Arnold recently made headlines when he taped himself receiving the coronavirus vaccine, and as he’s wont to do, quoted one of his famous lines (“Come with me if you want to live”) in the process.
Patrick confirmed to us that, yes, that’s a habit around the Schwarzenegger home as well.
“Always, always,” he laughs. “He loves saying his own lines. It could just be a few of us at dinner and he’ll just say something randomly. It’s like out of a movie. It’s insane.
“You name it, he’ll say it. All of his top lines, he’ll say.”
Moxie is currently streaming on Netflix.
Watch Amy Poehler and cast talk about the film:
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