There were many inquiries, but they refused - again and again. For GQ make Arnold and Patrick Schwarzenegger an exception. For the first time, they are standing together in front of the camera. Family Star Power up two. We meet in Los Angeles, in a villa in the hills of Malibu. Patrick (25) - actor and entrepreneur - has just flown in from a film shoot from Paris. He takes his dad in his arms, Arnold (71) kisses him on the cheek, hugging him tightly.

Immediately you laugh. Patrick notices Arnold's Audemars Piguet and says, "Now we both have the same watch." Arnold counters that he's engraved with "The Honorable Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger - Governor of the State of California." And asks, "What's up with you, Governor's son ...?" Six hours of GQ shoot, six hours of Schwarzenegger energy. The style, the humor, the spirit - unbelievable how similar the two are.

GQ: How would you describe your relationship - do you see yourself as a father and a son, or rather as friends?

Arnold Schwarzenegger: One thing does not exclude the other.

Patrick Schwarzenegger: Good point!

Arnold: Apart from being father and son, we have a deep friendship. Besides, we also work together. We hope someday, if the script is good for us, we'll shoot a movie together. I love to work with Patrick because in many ways he is like me.

Is he really that?

Arnold: Oh yes! I really wanted to be an actor, he too. I really wanted to become a businessman, he too. And like me, he always asks himself: How can I use my starpower to promote a good cause? He is something of a clone of mine - I think that's wonderful. He has become a good person, that's my top priority. I count Maria high, because she was there most of the time. I was somewhere on a film set and later as a governor also often not at home. Mary raised our children, taught them values, and shaped them enormously. She was a fantastic mother, ten out of ten.

If a man thinks big of educating his children, then he's crazy. Fathers just do not see their children as often as mothers do. The whole thing was interesting for us, because for me, with my European background, discipline stood above everything. This hardness, the punishments - I had to come down a bit. Nowadays kids do not get smeared on every little thing.

Maria, on the other hand, had to become more consistent. She grew up much freer, in her family it was easy, the children were allowed to run around and say something at dinner, while I always heard that I should shut up. So we met in the middle and the kids benefited enormously.

Both Schwarzeneggers in bed with Loewe shirts, Calvin Kline underwear tank tops and Stetson hats Production: Frank Seidlitz | Styling: Rimon Robins | Hair & Grooming: Mira Chai Hyde / The Wall Group using Skuff hair and SK-II skincare | Production: Dario Callengher and Carolina Takagi / PS Studio Inc | Digital Tech: Filippo Tarentini | Photo Assistant: Fred Mitchel | Styling Assistant: Will Thomas | Tailor: Jessica Thomas | Production Assistance: Michael Lai, Peter Cacciopoli

© Giampaolo Sgura

Patrick, how does that feel when your daddy gushes, what a wonderful person you are?

Patrick: Great. Our relationship has changed over the years. We are no longer just father and son or friends. Lately, he's also talking to me about work, be it business or movies. And because there are so many overlaps between his work and mine, I can learn a lot from him. He is a mentor, that really gets me on and helps me grow.

Have you been interested in economics as a child?

Patrick: Yeah, I did some weird things It all started with a lemonade stand.

Arnold: He set up a stall and sold lemonade on Sunset Boulevard, just around the corner from our house.

Patrick: And biscuits.

Arnold: It's interesting that at the age of ten I bought ice cream in Austria, in Thal, where I grew up, for ten shillings, and then I walked around the Thalersee and sold an ice cream cone for 20 shillings again. In the evening I had 200 shillings in my pocket. From it I could buy myself a tracksuit or something else that I did not get from my parents. Or I saved the money for a bicycle. And Patrick did exactly the same!

One day I come back from the gym and just turn into our street with the car, because I see this lemonade stand. I'm letting the car window down because I want to see who that is, and then I see - Patrick. With his little brother he stood there and took off anyone who turned into the hiking trail from there, because they knew that people want to drink something before they go out and then come back to them because they drive their car Parked Sunset.

Patrick, growing up is also part of rebelling against the parents. Did you dare to do that with a father whom everyone knows as a terminator?

Patrick: I think I had such a typical teenage phase, whatever you mean by that. But there's never been a moment when I said I'm rebelling against my parents and I'm never going to talk to them again, or I'm just leaving ... We've always been close and still live close to each other today.

Arnold: Of course he had such a phase. Teenagers make shit, and then they get worked up, but they're just teenagers. I'll tell you, none of my kids are taking drugs or drinking or being violent, there was never any trouble with the police - nothing like that. Make that clear. I have really extraordinary kids, and I'm really proud of Patrick, how he always had his life under control, how he coped with the pressure. It is not easy for you to know that all kids at school know exactly who your father is and so on. You have to learn to deal with that, and you have to find a way for you to avoid living in the shadow of your father.

He did that amazingly well. I never had to call anyone to play in a movie, and he never asked me for it. He gets good roles, he works his way up, and it's wonderful for me to see him living his life, being his own master, having his own business ideas. He has bought a house with the money he has earned through his investments. Not once did he ask me for money. That's really extraordinary.

Patrick, why did you decide to become an actor as well? In any other profession, you could have prevented being compared to your father.

Patrick: I do not think I'll always be an actor. Arnold has taken three completely different career paths, including bodybuilding, acting, politics, and showing the world that you do not have to confine yourself to a job. If you're an actor, why not be a businessman at the same time? You've seen it well in the past ten years with Mark Wahlberg or George Clooney.

At the moment, I'm very interested in film, but equally so in business, and in ten years' time I may be interested in non-profit work or fashion, who knows. If you follow what you love and what you are burning for, you will be successful - that's what our father taught us to children, he teaches it in his speeches to university graduates, he teaches the whole world. And there's one more thing I've learned from you: just because something's heavy does not mean that you should not do it anyway. Overcome yourself - this often gives the best results, and in the end, it feels great. Nothing in life is easy, whether you're a plumber or a teacher or actor. There are hard times for everyone.

Do you have to prove yourself more because you are called Schwarzenegger?

Patrick:The situation is the same for everyone in the film industry: there are people who are for you, and there are people who are against you. And it often happens that you are rejected, in the film and in other life. I applied for a role hundreds of times - and nothing came of it. The same with investments that did not work. But you can learn from it, that helps you to become better in your job and to grow as a person. It may be that some people look at me more critically because my name is Schwarzenegger, but what the hell, I want to go out there and be the best version of myself. And yes, there are times when I ask my father for advice when it comes to an investment or a film, but then again, not because I want to do it alone, and if I can not do it,

Patrick: leather jacket by Amiri, jeans by Frame and cowboy boots by Tecovas. Arnold wears a leather jacket by Amiri, jeans by RRL and cowboy boots by Lucchese

© Giampaolo Sgura

Arnold, you mentioned that Patrick in many ways reminds you of you as a young man. How do you handle that, in a way, he's different from you?

Arnold:That's totally alright for me. There were two people who raised him, Maria and me. So, hopefully, he inherited qualities from me and from her. She is a very strong woman, a great visionary, she is generous and she has passed that on to the children. Maria took the kids to the Special Oympics, they also came to me in the Capitol in Sacramento and could experience up close, what I do. Katherine and you, Patrick, you asked, Daddy, what are you doing here in Sacramento? It's frustrating! Just look at the people here, you said, everyone wears suits, they're all so stiff. We had much more fun on the movie sets! They also did not like that I was away so often. But if you are responsible for the fifth-largest economy in the world, then there are many things which challenges you and makes you worry. The kids had to make sacrifices. But they have learned something. And we made it through this time as a team, everyone held together.

Patrick, what's your favorite childhood memory?

Patrick: It was great on the movie sets. We have made trips that I love to think back to. For example, one week of skiing at Christmas, we still do. But - because we talked about business - there's a scene that I'm clearly aware of, namely how we went to Fargo Bank ... Do you remember?

Arnold: Of course.

Patrick: ... and opened my first bank account. With the money from the lemonade sale, that was $ 53, I think. I remember exactly how we sat there and filled out the form. Going to a bank and opening an account was the coolest thing ever.

Arnold: Whenever they make money, I'm with the kids to the bank to understand how saving works: You go there, you take your $ 53 from the soda stand and pay it into your account. When he later looked at the account balance, there were a total of $ 4,677 on it, and then he proudly showed it around. This is how the children have learned to save their own money - and that they do not always have to run to me. They all had their accounts, and we insisted that they deposit their savings there.

The trips have been very important for us. For the Special Olympics, we were flying around the world. The kids learned that it's important to give something back. We met Nelson Mandela in South Africa, I remember how excited you were. The kids were also in the White House when I chaired the President's Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition.

Patrick, please tell us in the end yet: What about politics? Could you imagine …

Patrick: Well, I'm 25. When Arnold was that old, he just did bodybuilding and later tried to get into the movie business. With me came first business and then film. How old were you when you went into politics?

Arnold: I was 56.

Patrick: I have not the slightest idea what I will do in my 50s. Right now I'm focusing on business and film because that's the thing that makes me happy.