Hot young stars Bella Thorne and Patrick Schwarzenegger heat up the big screen

Los Angeles — On an unusually chilly Friday morning in Los Angeles, the Burton Room at the Four Seasons Hotel suddenly warmed up when hot young stars Bella Thorne and Patrick Schwarzenegger — yes, Arnold’s son — walked in to chat with us about their latest romantic drama together “Midnight Sun,” among other things.

With her long red hair and wearing a white cropped top which she designed herself, a pair of hot pink vintage pants, vintage belt and a black beret, Bella, 20, looked like one of those anime characters. Her bubbly energetic personality was refreshing.

Bella and Patrick. All photos courtesy of Janet Susan R. Nepales/HFPA

Patrick, on the other hand, the son of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver, was the complete opposite with his more formal persona. Wearing a midnight blue jacket and pants, and a gray shirt, the good-looking and charming USC grad was mature for his 24 years.

"Midnight Sun" is based on the 2006 Japanese film by Norihiro Koizumi of the same title, the Scott Speer-helmed movie was shot in British Columbia, Canada. It's about Katie Price (Bella) who has a rare life-threatening illness where she is sensitive to sunlight. As such, Katie only ventures out at night to play her guitar. Her life changes when her longtime crush, Charlie (Patrick), invites her out one summer.

Below are excerpts from our conversations with two of Hollywood’s hottest young stars this year:

Bella Thorne

On preparing for the role and if she was aware of such a disease:

I had never heard about the disease before. I researched it. Unfortunately there’s really not a lot online about it so what I ended up mostly doing was watching YouTube videos of people that have the XP and just how they feel, what’s their daily life because one of the main parts about Katie is that like anybody with a life-threatening illness or a disability, often you feel like that is all you are to everyone around you.

You’re this disgusting thing that is constantly a problem. Katie has that to the backside of her but that’s not what she wants to be. So director Scott Speer and I tried to figure out how to let that light in the back because we don’t really want to play it and glorify it. It’s a story about a girl who happens to have a disease not a story about a girl who is a disease.

On her outlook in life:

You know it’s hard to talk about positivity if you’re having something super negative coming around. I can be positive but I can also very negative. I’m kind of a yin and yang to myself. The glass is half empty usually in my opinion; I like to call myself a realist.

But then other times I’ll be like, God Bella, look at you being so negative. Shut up, oh my God, stop talking. Say something positive, my goodness. But one of the things that I’ve taken away from life and also from this film was dealing with death at a young age.

One day you wake up and you’re there and you’re so lucky to be there. Work more, be a better person. Katie Price is this character who literally lives her life to the fullest extent. It’s quality over quantity.

On whether she was aggressive with boys or not:

I’m super agro. I’ll barely be talking to someone, I’m looking at them like…are you going to ask me for my number or not? I’m definitely out there. I also believe that life’s too short. If you want to go out and get the girl, get the girl, just go do it. That’s exactly what we do in this movie so I definitely think I’m much more aggressive.

On whether she has seen the original Japanese film:

I have seen it now but I didn’t watch it when we were filming because our director Scott Speer didn’t want us to. He wants this to be very separate [from the original].

On working with Patrick and what she knew about the Schwarzenegger family:

I met Patrick before we did the movie. We were friendly. I knew him through friends, we had a bunch of mutual friends. He went to USC and I was thinking about going to USC as well. 

I always thought he was nice. He was always really friendly and I never heard anything bad about him. I was like, this kid’s cool. I hung out with him a few times and he was really nice. I really like his whole friend circle. I’m friends with his boys, you could say.

Then he called me up and I knew he was coming in for this chemistry read and he was, hey, do you mind meeting me before? So then we just went to a random hotel that he picked and we rehearsed the scenes that we were going to do later on that day for the chemistry read and then we did them.

I met his mom, Maria, and she’s so sweet, a little fairy goddess walking on set.

His dad, Arnold, came to the set and I wasn’t there that day. I was practicing guitar which I had to learn in a week.

On learning how to play the guitar and learning six songs in a week:

I never picked up an instrument before in my life. And my hand/eye coordination is so off. So playing that guitar, I was really stressed in all those scenes because I really wanted to do it well. Anything you are, let me try this, of course you want to do it the best that you can or good at least. But I played in the movie and it came out good. But I don’t play acoustic guitar anymore, I play bass. I’ve got an electric lime green bass guitar with a fun little strap on it.

Patrick Schwarzenegger

On his mom and how she has influenced him:

My mom and I are super close.  We hang out multiple times a week.  My sisters always say if I am in a relationship, the girlfriend better really like my mom because my mom third-wheels a lot on a lot of dates. But she is really great.

She has a new book out right now called “I’ve Been Thinking.” And she’s given me, both my parents have given such great advice and words of wisdom and stuff that I have learned from them.

My mom obviously brought me up and my dad was someone who worked his whole life and had strange hours that actors and politicians have.  I can’t thank my mom enough for the life that she’s given me and how she’s raised me.

My mom comes from a family of public service. Her mother started the Special Olympics and obviously her uncle was JFK. Her father started the Peace Corps and her brother started Best Buddies and the other one does Save the Children. So it’s a lot of political and charitable giving back. That’s what I have learned - finding ways to use my platform, use my life to give back and help people who aren’t so fortunate.

On when he decided to become an actor:

I fell in love with film and the creation of film and film sets at a young age.  My favorite activity and if I was a good boy during the week, I got to go to the set. That was the ultimate gold star for me.

I got to go with my dad and it was like a kid’s dreamland to go to the movie sets with him and watch him come in as dad and with the hair and make-up as Mr. Freeze or as the Terminator. Then during breaks, we got to take the golf cart around and go to the “Jaws” ride or “King Kong.” So I think I just fell in love with the idea of film and acting at a super young age growing up in the industry.

My parents wanted me to get an education and so I finished my college degree. I got a business degree and a minor in cinematic arts and film. I actually filmed this project while I was in school. So I did part time, going back and forth between Los Angeles and Vancouver, because I went to USC.

As far as politics go, same thing. I have learned from my dad as well that you can have your eggs in different baskets and you can have multiple jobs and passions and careers, but you have to be focused on all those eggs like you have them all in one basket.

Right now, I am focused on films. If politics come out one day, they come out one day. But again, it could only be in a situation where I could find ways to give back.  It’s not right now. I am thinking probably in 20 years I could definitely be doing such in politics.

On his principles about his career

There are a lot of things in my life that people have maybe told me to do and act a certain way and if you aren’t yourself, then at some point in your life you are going to realize that you are not being yourself and you are not true to yourself. I don’t think it’s a problem if you quote unquote mess up or do something wrong or act a certain way, that is not a failure.  A failure is when you do it multiple times in a row, and that is called stupidity. When you do it once and you learn from it and you change, then that is called learning a lesson.

On his relationship to fashion

I love fashion and I think fashion is an art of itself and expressing through clothing or through photography or through film. It’s all a form of art. I personally love clothing and fashion.

Two weeks ago we went to New York Fashion Week and to be a part of that. I have had the honor and privilege to work with Tom Ford, who is not only a brilliant man as far as behind the camera, behind the scenes of creating the clothing, but also as a businessman, a writer and a producer.

On being a part of a family where you have to keep up with an image

Again, I don’t try to keep up with a certain image. I have learned a lot from the Kennedy side, from the history and from my mom’s side and from my grandmother and grandfather especially. And then finding ways to use what I have learned in my own life, because you have learned in school that teachers can throw as much information as you want, but it’s what you chew and swallow and retain.  It’s not just all the information that comes, so no matter what you learn what your family is or what the background is, it’s how you take that in and use it in your own life. So as far as what the Kennedy dynasty or mythology is, I just try to use certain components of it that can help make me a better person.

On his favorite directors

At USC, we took a full year class on Alfred Hitchcock, and then we watched every one of his films and how he impacted Steven Spielberg.

So they are probably my favorite directors because I know the most about them.

People ask me that a lot whether I feel like I am in a shadow. At the end of the day no, because my dad, in my opinion, is really unique and one of a kind. He really conquered multiple career paths. So if I am one tenth as successful as he is, amazing.

But again, it’s all what you define as successful. He always tells us that you can go hunt for the money and the fame and that will only lead you so far. It’s once you find ways to use that platform and fame to give back, that it ultimately where you are going to find the most levels of success.

On what it means to be himself

What it means to be myself and follow what I love is everything to me.  I totally believe in following what you love to do or what interests you, because then it’s not so much a job, but it’s something that you try to use every day to get your interests and you are keen to know more about that profession and get better as a person in that specific space and then just as a human.

I am 24. There is probably so much more still that I am going to learn and that I want to learn about myself and about the film industry and about business.

It’s true that there’s definitely a little weight on me of having the name Schwarzenegger. But again, would I go back in time and switch it? No. I am healthy and I really have a great family. I am happy to be alive and part of the family that I have. I wouldn’t change my name, the last name is my last name.  It’s like why would someone else change their last name when they go into the acting world?  I just don’t see it. 

Maybe I have to work extra hard to prove certain things, that’s fine.  Maybe certain people will judge me because of my last name, that’s also fine.  Maybe there’s also other people who will meet me because of my last name and that is fine too.  So there’s always positives and negatives with every situation.

But to focus on the positives in ways that it’s going to help me, I think that is what I try to focus on. But every person, no matter what your last name is or your family background or what your parents have done, it’s all about finding what you love to do, that’s what it comes down to. My dad has always been an advocate of that, that he would support us whether we would want to be an actor or a politician or teacher or fitness coach, whatever it is, you have to love what you want to do. And that is how you find yourself. — LA, GMA News