EXCLUSIVE: Patrick Schwarzenegger continues his streak of landing high-profile roles as he is set to star opposite Phoebe Dynevor in Beach Read, 20th Century Studios‘ adaptation of the New York Times bestselling novel from Emily Henry.
Published in 2020, Beach Read is a romantic comedy following January Andrews, a successful romance novelist who struggles with grief and writer’s block after her father’s death and the discovery of secrets he’s long kept hidden. While spending the summer in his Michigan beach house to prepare it for sale, she unexpectedly reconnects with Gus Everett, an author who was once her rival in college. Both creatively stuck, they agree to a writing challenge over the summer, swapping literary genres while promising that there will be no romance between them. Of course, you know what they say about the best-laid plans.
The search for Gus was an extensive process that took place over many months and while initially he was a dark horse candidate and an unexpected choice, Schwarzenegger’s tape and chemistry read with Dynevor blew away filmmakers and the studio.
Yulin Kuang, the co-writer of Netflix’s People We Meet on Vacation — another Henry adaptation — is directing the feature take from her own script, with Neal H. Moritz producing via his Original Films. Karina Rahardja will exec produce. Sarah Shepard and Catherine Hughes are overseeing for 20th. The literary affairs team, led by Clare Reeth, spearheaded efforts to land rights to the book.
This role marks another big win for Schwarzenegger, who also ended up with lead opposite Margaret Qualley in the upcoming Amazon MGM Studios romantic drama Love Of Your Life. Schwarzenegger beat out a number of young actors for that part and a number were also chasing Beach Read, marking two big wins in a row for the rising star.
Schwarzenegger most recently starred as Saxon, the eldest Ratliff sibling, in the third season of Mike White’s Emmy-winning series The White Lotus on HBO. The role earned him some of the best reviews of his career and is sure to have him in the mix this award season as Emmy voting is about to come to a close.
Other credits include starring as Tim Tebow in Ryan Murphy’s American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez, HBO Max’s Emmy-nominated limited series The Staircase and Prime Video’s The Terminal List and The Boys spinoff Gen V. Schwarzenegger also starred in the Netflix film Moxie, directed by Amy Poehler, and filmed the sci-fi thriller Warning.
Schwarzenegger is represented by UTA, Entertainment 360, and attorney Patrick Knapp.
