Patrick Schwarzenegger and Sam Nivola revealed they filmed their \u00ab\u00a0White Lotus\u00a0\u00bb incest kiss \u00ab\u00a0a few different ways.\u00a0\u00bb<\/b>
\nBrotherly love.
Patrick Schwarzenegger and Sam Nivola\u2019s \u201cWhite Lotus\u201d characters, brothers Saxon and Lochlan Ratliff, kissed during Sunday\u2019s episode \u2014 and it turns out they locked lips more times than what was shown on camera.
\u201cWe shot it a few different ways, and we talked about it a lot,\u201d Nivola, 21, said about the incest scene in a new interview with GQ. \u201cI think at the end of the day, it was supposed to just be like they\u2019re all really f\u2013ed up, and, of course, kissing your brother is incredibly wrong and weird and gross.\u201d
\u201cBut I think as is the case with \u2018The White Lotus,\u2019 it\u2019s like these crazy actions and sort of heightened reality coming from really real emotions that are actually really relatable to your everyday guy’,\u201d Nivola added.
The actor added of Lochlan, \u201cHe just is desperate for his brother\u2019s approval and he\u2019s out doing this partying drug thing with Saxon, which is a thing that Saxon keeps talking about, and all he talks about is sex.\u201d
\u201cHe\u2019s like, \u2018Sex is the main point of life. You need to get laid. That\u2019s what you need’,\u201d Nivola noted. \u201cI\u2019m like, \u2018Okay. Well, in this charged sexual environment, what can I do to make you notice me and get you to approve of me?\u2019 And then, he does the wrong thing to make that happen.\u201d
Saxon and Lochlan\u2019s shocking kiss happens when they try to impress Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood) and Chloe (Charlotte Le Bon) as the foursome parties together after the Full Moon Party.
According to Nivola, he and Schwarzenegger, 31, didn\u2019t overly discuss their characters\u2019 dynamic before the incest scene.
\u201cI think that\u2019s what we wound up deciding is we\u2019re going to let our instincts and Mike\u2019s [White] direction take the reins and let the audience interpret this weird thing that we have going on, because that\u2019s the way of movies and TV,\u201d Nivola said.
\u201cSo, we also didn\u2019t want to make any hard and fast decisions about what we wanted the dynamic to be until we were on set,\u201d he added.
Nivola said that \u201ceverything changes\u201d for Lochlan in the aftermath of the kiss.
\u201cIt was basically like there\u2019s two versions of me. There\u2019s before that and after that, and that was a really important thing,\u201d he said. \u201cBut other than that, I don\u2019t think that is something that is a defining aspect of my character, of Lochlan.\u201d
\u201cOf course, the way it\u2019s edited and the way it looks, it is really sort of raunchy and there\u2019s moments leading up to that are really sexually charged,\u201d Nivola added. \u201cBut I think really that\u2019s supposed to be a red herring for the audience where really it\u2019s just [that] Lochlan just wants attention, and he just wants his brother to like him. He gets really f\u2014d up and does something terrible.\u201d
The \u201cMaestro\u201d actor told GQ that he\u2019s \u201cnot prepared\u201d for the online chatter about the viral scene.
\u201cI mean, I\u2019m on Instagram. I don\u2019t have many followers, so I don\u2019t know what it\u2019s like to have a bunch of people trying to get in touch with you about your work and their opinions, whether they be positive or negative about what you\u2019re doing,\u201d he said. \u201cYeah, I don\u2019t know what to expect at all, but I\u2019m ready. I hope.\u201d
Schwarzenegger told Today that his character is similarly on a different trajectory after making out with his brother.
\u201cOne of the themes really is you enter the White Lotus as one person and you leave as another,\u201d he said. \u201cWho are you when everything that you thought you were is taken away? And I think that\u2019s something that\u2019s really relevant and prevalent for Saxon.\u201d
Schwarzenegger added, \u201cHim walking into the White Lotus as the most confident and sure person of who he is, and everything gets completely questioned in his experience there.\u201d
In an exclusive interview with The Post, \u201cThe White Lotus\u201d executive producer David Bernad said that the kissing scene was \u201cnot just for shock,\u201d and that White, 54, always has a bigger plan.
\u201cThere\u2019s a specific reason in terms of the narrative storytelling, and the larger thematic idea Mike is trying to get across,\u201d Bernad said.
He added, \u201cAs the season wraps up, you\u2019ll see the purpose of that story turn. The show goes there for a larger thematic idea. I love that family storyline, especially the brother story \u2014 and, it culminates in a very satisfying way.\u201d
\u201cThe White Lotus\u201d airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.<\/p>\n