With four major upcoming projects—ranging from a highly anticipated Emily Henry rom-com adaptation to a gritty 1950s crime thriller—the 32-year-old actor is officially entering his leading-man era.
When your father is the legendary action superstar Arnold Schwarzenegger and your mother is Peabody Award-winning journalist Maria Shriver (making you a member of the Kennedy family tree), a life in the public eye is practically inevitable. But navigating legacy and expectations in Hollywood is a delicate balance. For Patrick Schwarzenegger, the strategy has always been about putting in the work and proving his versatility.
After starting his career as a teenager with a successful modeling stint (including campaigns for Tom Ford and Armani) and securing minor roles in comedies like Grown Ups 2, he slowly built a diverse acting portfolio. He stepped into the romantic lead space opposite Bella Thorne in Midnight Sun (2018), but it was his recent pivot to critically acclaimed television that truly changed the trajectory of his career.
His chilling performance in HBO’s true-crime miniseries The Staircase and his wildly charismatic, tragically flawed turn as “Golden Boy” Luke Riordan in Amazon’s The Boys spin-off Gen V proved he has serious dramatic chops. With a highly anticipated appearance in The White Lotus Season 3 that earned him praise, Schwarzenegger is now translating his television success into a major feature film breakthrough.
Here is a breakdown of the four spectacular upcoming movie projects that are about to cement Patrick Schwarzenegger as one of Hollywood’s most sought-after leading men.
Beach Read
Director: Yulin Kuang
Co-Starring: Phoebe Dynevor
BookTok, rejoice! Schwarzenegger recently scored the highly coveted male lead in 20th Century Studios’ feature adaptation of Emily Henry’s massive bestselling romance novel, Beach Read. He will be starring as Augustus “Gus” Everett, a cynical, acclaimed literary fiction author suffering from severe writer’s block. He stars opposite Bridgerton alum Phoebe Dynevor, who plays January Andrews, a romance writer who has completely lost her faith in love. When the two end up as neighbors in Michigan beach houses for the summer, they strike a deal to swap genres to break their creative ruts. Rom-com fans are already intensely buzzing about the on-screen chemistry between Dynevor and Schwarzenegger.
Bunker
Director: Florian Zeller
Co-Starring: Penélope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Stephen Graham, and Paul Dano
Moving away from the romance genre and diving headfirst into prestige psychological thrills, Schwarzenegger joins an absolutely stacked, Oscar-heavy cast in Bunker. Directed by Florian Zeller (the Academy Award-winning filmmaker behind The Father), the film centers around an architect whose marriage is put to the ultimate test when he accepts a lucrative, highly secretive project to build an underground bunker for an eccentric billionaire. Holding his own alongside heavyweights like Bardem, Cruz, and Dano proves that Schwarzenegger is actively seeking out complex, challenging auteur-driven cinema.
The Bookie & The Bruiser
Director: S. Craig Zahler
Co-Starring: Vince Vaughn and Theo James
In what might be his most ambitious acting challenge yet, Schwarzenegger was recently cast in a dual role for this gritty, 1959-set New York City crime thriller. Directed by S. Craig Zahler (Bone Tomahawk, Brawl in Cell Block 99), the film follows two World War II veterans (Vaughn and James) who partner up to run an illicit gambling operation that puts them in the crosshairs of the Mafia and an Irish gang. Schwarzenegger will be flexing his acting muscles by playing twin brothers: Augie, a desperate gambler whose massive debts trigger the violent turf war, and Bernard, his respectable, family-man counterpart whose life is violently upended by his twin’s mistakes.
Love of Your Life
Director: Rachel Morrison
Co-Starring: Margaret Qualley, Aaron Pierre, Gabriel Basso, and Catherine Keener
Produced by Ryan Gosling and Jessie Henderson under their Open Invite Entertainment banner, Love of Your Life is an upcoming romantic drama that pairs Schwarzenegger opposite Maid star Margaret Qualley. Directed by Academy Award-nominated cinematographer Rachel Morrison (Mudbound, Black Panther), the Amazon MGM Studios feature was shot across multiple European cities last fall. While specific plot details surrounding Julia Cox’s original script are being kept tightly under wraps, the expansive European production and the phenomenal ensemble cast mark it as one of the most anticipated romantic dramas on the upcoming release calendar.
