Arnold Schwarzenegger Is So Not the Retiring Type

Your actor son, Patrick Schwarzenegger, is getting a lot of attention for his work in White Lotus. Do you give him advice about the industry?

Whenever Patrick asks me about anything, I give him advice, of course. But I would say that he has not really asked me that much for advice. I think that he knows that I had a certain approach and that he may have to use a different approach, because it was a different generation when I got into the movie business. He’s relying much more on his own instincts, and that’s why he doesn’t ask many questions about who should be his agent, or who should be a manager of his, or what movie he should do, or could I make a phone call for him to get into the door, or anything like that — never. He just always works his butt off and does the reps, reps, reps. He rehearses, he practices, and he’s really good at those readings and getting those big jobs. I’m very, very proud of him. And I think he’s going to go all the way in his career.

Schwarzenegger says his son Patrick, who earned critical praise for his work in HBO’s “The White Lotus,” is headed for Hollywood greatness. “I’m very, very proud of him,” he says.

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During a recent Variety Studio: Actors on Actors conversation you had with Patrick, Danny DeVito, 80, showed up as a surprise, and Patrick quipped “This could be Triplets” when the three of you took a photo. Is that something that could happen?

I don’t think that would ever happen. But I would love to have my son in any of my movies, or me being in any of his, because it would be fun to work together — but it has to be organic. It has to be natural. It has to be really believable. Otherwise, it looks like a bunch of producers just threw this thing together to have us both in a movie.

Is there a director you admire that you haven’t yet worked with?

There are a lot. Steven Spielberg is one of them, for instance. He’s a very, very talented guy. And a very good director and writer. And visionary. I would love to work with him.

Is there something you would tell your younger self now, that guy just starting out?

I would say, “You’re on the right track. Don’t let anyone change anything.” Because one of the things that I had to learn very quickly was not to listen to the naysayers. Because there are naysayers around all over the place. Just the very fact that when I wanted to come to America, people said, “That’s impossible” — which was, then, very difficult to do, but it’s not impossible. So I brushed it aside and said, “Well, I will get to America somehow.” And I did. And the same thing when I was saying that I wanted to be a world-champion bodybuilder and I wanted to get into movies. They always said, “Well, it’s a dream. It would never happen.” And I did it. So don’t listen to the naysayers.

What’s the best part about getting older?

To be honest with you, I have not found a good part of it. It depends on your age and your problems. Everyone is different, but in general, age will add problems — health problems and other problems. You cannot move around as easily anymore or as quickly as you used to, and all that stuff. It has not been a problem to me yet, but I would say there’s nothing I can think of. Oh, isn’t it wonderful that now I’m 78 years old and I’m 10 years older than when I was 68 or something? I mean, no. Look, you always have to find the positive in everything. I’m still working, I’m still working out, I enjoy my kids, I enjoy my grandchildren, I’m traveling around the world. I’m doing something that is good for the people, the environmental stuff and the after-school programs, and being active with the fitness promotion. So I’m proud of that and I will continue doing that no matter how old I am.

And your grandkids must keep you young. Do you run around with them?

Yes, absolutely. They come over every week and play with my animals and feed them and help me clean the stall and all that stuff. They’re really into it. And they just love to visit Opa. That’s what they call me, Opa — “grandpa” in German. 

What’s the best part about being an opa? It’s fun how your bloodline just keeps going on and on and on. You watch your kids, your sons, your daughters, and you feel like there’s a certain part of them that’s like me, a certain part of them is like my [ex-] wife [Maria Shriver, 69]. And then you see the grandkids, and they adopt the personality of their parents. It’s really fun to watch that. What makes it also fun is that when you don’t want to be with them anymore, they go home!

​Do you have a favorite movie of your own? 

No, not really, because I don’t even know how I would look at that. Is it the favorite movie as far as how much fun I had on the set? Because then it would be Kindergarten Cop or Twins. Both of them are comedies. They’re usually much more fun to film. But the hardest movies were True Lies, The Terminator and Terminator 2, Predator. These were very, very difficult movies to make because of a lot of night shooting, and the circumstances were very, very difficult. But the outcome of it was extraordinary. So sometimes you hate the shooting and you love the outcome. 

What does success look like to you now versus when you were younger? 

I always felt like success is what you can accomplish for yourself, and at the same time give something back to your community, or to your state or to your country or to the world. So to me, it was always, OK, how can I use that success and that fame for something good? 

Any regrets?

There are regrets that I have on a personal level and on a professional level. But the key is to learn from the mistakes we’ve made and move on as better people.

Do you think you’d ever get back into politics again? 

I have no interest in going back into politics. My interest is policy. [Schwarzenegger established the University of Southern California Schwarzenegger Institute for State and Global Policy soon after leaving the governor’s office in 2012. The think tank develops nonpartisan solutions for social, economic and political issues.] How do we figure out how to work together, Democrats and Republicans, so that we can make life better for the people? I think that’s where the action is. When you’re in the center, you can accomplish a lot.