Page 190 - Flaunt 171 - Summer of Our Discontent - Lili

he had optimism for the future, despite his shared frustrations about where we are right now. It is in these moments, when one wonders, along with his ever-growing collection of professional hyphenates, that Patrick Arnold Shriver Schwarzenegger, a dual citizen (Amer- ican-Austrian) and ever-curious about the world and how to make it better, will ever choose to follow in the footsteps of his ancestors which include diplomats and Kennedys on his mother’s side and a father who was the Governor of the state he calls home.
“That is the thing I find beautiful about America,” he says, compounding his Fourth of July explanation, though not exactly addressing the idea of run- ning for office, or serving his country, as so many in his family have done before him. “The idea that you can be whomev- er and whatever you want, whether it’s a teacher or an economist, an actor and an entrepreneur, a church leader and a bas- ketball coach—whatever you want to do, you can become that person if you put in the work and pursue what you really want to do.
“For me, film is something I enjoy extremely,” he continues. “It puts me in other people’s shoes and helps me to understand different perspectives. There are people close to me who say I am trying to do too many things, but I don’t see why the things I choose to do can’t coexist. They all feed into one another. People are always going to compare me to my father, especially in the acting space. ‘Why aren’t you a big action star? Why don’t you have huge muscles?’ I get it, I am a Schwarzenegger, but I am Patrick Schwarzenegger, not Arnold. I am my own person and I want to create my own path and find ways to impact the world.”
From the outside looking in, we’re all for it. The entertainment industry
is wrought with sons and daughters— grandkids, married-in, or franchised—of successful producers, household names, icons and otherwise. But there are far more names out there with connectivity and privilege who squander their op- portunities, who don’t help others attain their business ambitions, who aren’t auditioning and auditioning and feeling the repeated sting of failure, let alone those who desire to make a dent and influence change in the world beyond their own interests.
Patrick Schwarzenegger may have been born into a position of influence, but as we’re witnessing more than ever in this time of social upheaval—it’s not where you come from, but on which side of history you choose to take a stand.
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