Jason Isaacs is voicing his love for his on-screen son Patrick Schwarzenegger.
The pair can currently be seen as members of the slightly iffy Ratliff family in the latest season of The White Lotus, and grew close during the seven months they spent shooting together in Thailand last year.
During an interview on Chris Evans’ Virgin Radio show on Tuesday morning, Jason enthused: “Let me tell you about Patrick Schwarzenegger. Being what they would now call a ‘nepo baby’, which is a slightly repulsive phrase, I assumed I was going to meet some horrible spoiled young prince of Hollywood.”
Instead, Jason claimed that Patrick is “one of the nicest, most grounded, humble, lovely people I’ve ever met in my life”, who he now considers “a very good friend”.
“He knows exactly who his dad is, and he loves him for what he is,” Jason added. “But he knows who he is, he’s not blinded to his faults as well. He’s just a really wonderful young man.
“All the people who played my kids in it, I fell completely in love with, and what was odd is my real children arrived, and they bonded with them, because they’re closer to their age, and made me realise that my closest friends on the shoot, I was old enough to be their father.”
Last month, Patrick – the son of action star and former governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger – voiced his frustration at the suggestion that he “only got this role because of who my dad is”.
“They’re not seeing that I’ve had 10 years of acting classes, put on [high] school plays every week, worked on my characters for hours on end or the hundreds of rejected auditions I’ve been on,” he insisted.
“Of course, it’s frustrating and you can get boxed in and you think at that moment, I wish I didn’t have my last name. But that’s a small moment.”
However, after Patrick’s quotes were published, many critics felt that he’d somewhat missed the point of the discourse surrounding Hollywood nepotism.
The White Lotus continues on Mondays on Sky and Now. Listen to Jason Isaacs’ full interview with Chris Evans on the Virgin Radio app.