‘The White Lotus’ actor Sam Nivola felt “very weird” during one controversial scene with Patrick Schwarzenegger.
Sam Nivola felt “f***** up” kissing Patrick Schwarzenegger in ‘The White Lotus’.
The two actors – who play brothers Lochlan and Saxon Ratliff in the hit HBO show – are “really good friends”, which meant their controversial intimate scene in the latest season was even more awkward for the 21-year-old star.
He told Variety: “In the scene, Patrick and I are brothers, with this girl [Chloe, played by Charlotte Le Bon] who we just met like the day before.
“It was very weird kissing Patrick because he’s a really good friend of mine. And, you know, I’m straight, he’s straight. It’s already weird.
“It would have been easier if that was the first time we were meeting. Weirdly, it was easier to do things with Charlotte because there were no stakes. It’s just this person I’ve just met.
“But Patrick was already like a brother to me. It felt sort of f***** up.”
Whereas Sam and Patrick has become pals, he hadn’t had change to build up a rapport with Charlotte before the racy scene.
He explained: “Patrick I obviously knew very well, because we’d been shooting for a few weeks at that point, and I’d been hanging out every day with him and Sarah Catherine and Jason [Isaacs] and Parker [Posey].
“But Charlotte had only gotten to Thailand like two days before that, and I think her second shoot day was filming that scene.
“We didn’t really know her at all, but I guess she knew that Mike wouldn’t pick some creep to play the creep! We all just trusted each other, and that dynamic worked well.”
He was grateful for the intimacy coordinators on set, even if they used “anatomically correct vocabulary that feels stale and awkward”.
For Sam, one of the biggest issues with the sex scene was getting “seasick” because they were filming on a boat.
He said: “Yeah, I was totally nervous. I’m a very anxious person, so I’m always nervous, especially on a big job like that.
“Doing the sex scene was nerve-racking, and we were on a boat, and I get seasick, so that was f****** stressful.
“The actual scene itself went smoothly. [Showrunner] Mike White was sort of calming about it, and I really trusted Patrick and Charlotte.”
White Lotus star Sam Nivola reveals why Patrick Schwarzenegger scene felt so ‘messed up’
