Page 187 - Flaunt 171 - Summer of Our Discontent - Lili

stuff, work for yourself, and, ultimately, you have to find other reasons than just monetary ones to succeed. I am driven to get behind things in the health and wellness space, to hopefully help create a healthier and better world—to help younger entre- preneurs and give them the helping hand that I had.”
As for the other pursuits that may challenge Patrick’s balancing of his own mental health and wellness: there’s acting. Here, you might ex-
pect him to lean on his
father’s fame and success
in this ultra-competi-
tive space, but he has
no interest in the easy
way. Plus, he’s fit but not
exactly a bodybuilder. “I
would never do some-
thing if I felt it was just
given to me,” he says,
mindful of his leg up, es-
pecially in Hollywood. “I
have never worked with
my dad on a film. I have
never been on any of his
projects, even though he
has tried to find ways of
doing it. I do not want to
feel like it is a cop out,
that he just got me a role
because I am his son.
Out of the thousands of
auditions I have been on,
I have been rejected 99.9
percent of the time. That
is just what happens.”
Patrick is especially proud of his work on National Geographic’s The Long Road Home, the 2017 dramatic mini-se- ries where he stars alongside Jason Ritter and Kate Bosworth. The story of American troops struggling to survive an ambush in Iraq was not just a rewarding act-
ing experience, but his
unceasing curiosity about
the world transformed
his contribution to the show into a new awareness about the lives of soldiers, and a better understanding of parts of America he might not have otherwise witnessed.
“Working on that show was amazing,” he says. “It allowed
me to live on a military base [in Texas] for four months. Without being in film, or working as an actor, I would never have had an experience like that in my life. To get to be there, to work with actual members of our military and live there and understand to the slightest degree how they operate, work, and live—it helped me in so many ways beyond acting. I am a big fan of our military and helping veterans. To raise awareness and money to help the people who have served our country—for me to get to hang out and spend time with them, it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
For the upcoming Netflix film Moxie, directed by Amy Poehler, Patrick plays what he describes as, “An absolute toxic douchebag. You know the type—the high school football star who is a terrible person. It’s just so opposite from who I am, and she helped me a lot.” He considers the experience and contin- ues about working with Poehler, “It was so interesting to work with her. She is a director who is also an amazing actress, writer,
and producer in so many different fields. Someone who en- compasses it all. I appreciated how she operated, from how she worked with everyone from the transportation crew to makeup and wardrobe. She is the best person I have ever worked with and for—she would be so encouraging, telling me, ‘Sweet, sweet Patrick. This is so good. You are such a good douchebag.’ It was a lot of fun.”
The film is based on the novel of the same name by Jennifer Mathieu. The story is centered on a teenag- er—whose mother was part of the Riot Grrrl punk-feminist scene in the ‘90s—who sparks
a feminist revolt at her Texas high school after enduring sexist taunts from fellow students and administrators. Poehler is a fan of
the book, which she optioned for the film version, and Patrick’s “douchebag” perfor- mance as well. “Patrick cared deeply about bringing a specificity
to the character he plays in Moxie,” says Poehler. “The material is sensitive and so is
he. He is interested in people and the human condition, and it’s evidenced by the way he treats others who get the pleasure of working with him.”
Work is hard to come by these days. If you haven’t heard by now, there is a pandem- ic that has settled par- ticularly hard on this nation that prides itself on being the “best” at, well, everything. Being
number one is still quite an achievement, even if it pertains to catastrophically bungling the response to a global health crisis. The United States of America is at a moment in its history where that word “united” dangles precariously like letters from an old, broken-down movie-house, ready to tumble from a marquee that announces this country’s most noble idea: unity. An idea, over 240 years old, that is straining (not for the first time) under the encouragement of a White House hellbent on using division as a narrow pathway to maintain and increase its power.
For his part, Patrick spent the early part of California’s coronavirus lockdown by helping his mother to launch a series of conversations, across her social media platforms, with a wide variety of influential artists and civic leaders as a way to give so many of us stuck at home, not just a distraction, but possibly a bit of hope too. It also provided a pivot point where privilege might be expressed, reshaped, and repositioned as advocacy.
Patrick came under scrutiny recently—symptomatic of any- one with a large following who shares an opinion—for profess- ing his love for America over the Fourth of July weekend. After receiving negative messages, he was compelled to explain why
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