Patrick Schwarzenegger's 'Inspired' After Joe Biden's Win: But 'There's Obviously a Clear Divide'
Matt Baron/REX/Shutterstock Patrick Schwarzenegger
Patrick Schwarzenegger is feeling "pretty inspired" by the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
"I thought that after [Joe] Biden and Kamala Harris had their speech where they presented him as President-Elect, I thought that that was really a beautiful time," the actor, 27, tells PEOPLE in a virtual interview while promoting his new movie Echo Boomers, out now.
Schwarzenegger says a "lot of people have been hoping to cling onto a beautiful moment in America right now, with COVID and everything that's happened this year. And I think that gave them a little spark — that moment of people coming together."
"But at the same time, it's tough, right? I mean, 70 something million people voted for Donald Trump and 74, 75 million people voted for Biden," he continues. "So there's obviously a clear divide and it's going to be a tough task for Biden to come together and bring people together. But I think that he recognizes that and hopefully they'll do that."
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The actor, who stars opposite Michael Shannon and Alex Pettyfer in the heist film based on a true story, says he's "always very optimistic about America."
"Being an optimist is this showing that you believe that tomorrow will be better than today," he says. "So I'm always optimistic about America's future and knowing that we will grow as a better nation."
In Echo Boomers, Schwarzenegger plays Lance, a small-town boy who moves to Chicago only to find himself becoming embroiled in a scheme to steal from the city’s richest through his cousin and his four friends.
The actor says it was "a dream come true" to work with Shannon, saying, "It was like an honor to work with him."
As for who else he'd like to work with, Schwarzenegger is aiming high: "Shia LaBeouf is number one."
"Will Ferrell," he says is the other. "Right there. That's it."
Echo Boomers is now in select theaters, digital and on demand.
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