Brotherly love.
Patrick Schwarzenegger and Sam Nivola’s “The White Lotus” characters, brothers Saxon and Lochlan Ratliff, kissed during Sunday’s episode — and it turns out they locked lips more times than what was shown on camera.
“We shot it a few different ways, and we talked about it a lot,” Nivola, 21, said about the incest scene in a new interview with GQ. “I think at the end of the day, it was supposed to just be like they’re all really f—ed up, and, of course, kissing your brother is incredibly wrong and weird and gross.”
“But I think as is the case with ‘The White Lotus,’ it’s like these crazy actions and sort of heightened reality coming from really real emotions that are actually really relatable to your everyday guy,’” Nivola continued.
The actor added of Lochlan, “He just is desperate for his brother’s approval and he’s out doing this partying drug thing with Saxon, which is a thing that Saxon keeps talking about, and all he talks about is sex. He’s like, ‘Sex is the main point of life. You need to get laid. That’s what you need.’ I’m like, ‘Okay. Well, in this charged sexual environment, what can I do to make you notice me and get you to approve of me?’ And then, he does the wrong thing to make that happen.”
Saxon and Lochlan’s 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’t overly discuss their characters’ dynamic before the incest scene.
“I think that’s what we wound up deciding is we’re going to let our instincts and Mike’s [White] direction take the reins and let the audience interpret this weird thing that we have going on, because that’s the way of movies and TV,” Nivola explained.
“So we also didn’t want to make any hard and fast decisions about what we wanted the dynamic to be until we were on set.”
Nivola said that “everything changes” for Lochlan in the aftermath of the kiss.
“It was basically like there’s two versions of me. There’s before that and after that, and that was a really important thing,” he shared. “But other than that, I don’t think that is something that is a defining aspect of my character, of Lochlan.”
“Of course, the way it’s edited and the way it looks, it is really sort of raunchy and there’s moments leading up to that are really sexually charged,” Nivola continued. “But I think really that’s supposed to be a red herring for the audience where really it’s just [that] Lochlan just wants attention and he just wants his brother to like him. He gets really f—d up and does something terrible.”
The “Maestro” actor told GQ that he’s “not prepared” for the online chatter about the viral scene.
“I mean, I’m on Instagram. I don’t have many followers, so I don’t know what it’s 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’re doing,” he explained. “Yeah, I don’t know what to expect at all, but I’m ready. I hope.”
Schwarzenegger, 31, told Today that his character is similarly on a different trajectory after making out with his brother.
“One of the themes really is you enter the White Lotus as one person and you leave as another,” he said. “Who are you when everything that you thought you were is taken away? And I think that’s something that’s really relevant and prevalent for Saxon. Him 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.”
In an exclusive interview with The Post, “The White Lotus” executive producer David Bernad said that the kissing scene was “not just for shock,” and that White, 54, always has a bigger plan.
“There’s a specific reason in terms of the narrative storytelling, and the larger thematic idea Mike is trying to get across,” said Bernad.
He added, “As the season wraps up, you’ll 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 — and, it culminates in a very satisfying way.”
“The White Lotus” airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.
