The Eighties: The Greatest Generation (w/ Demi Moore, Molly Ringwald, Robert Downey Jr., Kevin Bacon & More)

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24:34Rob Lowe:What is the question you get most asked about outsiders? What do they ask me most about it? I guess, I mean, they'll ask about the burn, like the, you know. Oh, wow. Yeah. They'll ask about like the makeup and that, then the fire and that stuff. I did say that's a youthful intrigue. Like how, how did you do that? How is that done? More so besides is Cruz cool or not? That comes up a lot. How's Tom? Yeah, how's Tom? I love you. What's he really like? You and Tom, the only people in theaters. I know, in movies right now. You and Tommy. Side by side. The outsiders are fucking undefeated. Yeah, yeah, that's right.

25:14That's right. I, um... Do you remember when Tom removed his tooth? I do. I do. Yeah.

25:20Rob Lowe:It was like... Part of his character. Do you... Okay, so let me ask you this. Whenever I see Tom doing these amazing, just beyond... Insane. Insane stunts. It's hard not to say insane, but it's... I look back at when Francis made us, for whatever reason, practice to be gymnasts. Do you remember this? Well, yeah, everyone was doing their backflip. I mean, I got away with all that stuff as the Johnny K, the introvert internal. I don't know. Yeah, I don't. Just walking by himself. Yeah, there was never any pressure on you to do a backflip. I wasn't in the rumble. I was in the hospital. That's what it was.

26:00Rob Lowe:But there was a lot of pressure on us to like learn backflips and do all this shit. And I don't know if you've ever learned a standing backflip. It's hard. It's scary as shit. No. And of course, there was only one person. Off the diving board into the pool when I was young. That was like my version because it was always a soft landing. Well, Tom was the only one who did it. And if you watch the movie, the movie's playing. But then the movie just stops. And there's a shot of Tom doing a backflip for no reason. Right. And then the movie continues. That's right. Exactly. So, but I realized that's where it started for him.

26:34Rob Lowe:Yeah. 100 % that's where it started. For sure. And then he was quite driven from day one. I mean, that gentleman had a plan. Right? He really did. So it's not just, you know, it's not, it just, it just didn't. I'm not misremembering this. No, no, no. Very distinctively, it was happening there. And it's a great, he has the back flip and he comes up grabbing the back of his head because I'm not so sure he stuck the landing, but the car. Yeah. It was out of frame. By the way, maybe it's a Texas Switch. Could be. I don't think so. Oh, my God. But it does have a Texas Switch look to it. It is a Texas Switch look to it.

27:07Yeah, it does look to it. So, Texas Switch is - Explain that.

27:09Rob Lowe:My favorite Texas Switch ever, and I watch this all the time, is I'm obsessed with 1970s television show openings. Uh-huh. Obsessed with them. And my favorite one is - Hawaii Five-0? What is it? Well, that's the best one ever. Right, right. That is, that's amazing. Yeah. But there are also some that are ridiculous. and my favorite ridiculous one is SWAT. Yeah. And it's shot of a van, just a van going down a street. Just like, oh my God, I can't believe it. And anyway, and each one of the SWAT guys comes out and does some gnarly stunt. And one guy breaks, dives through a window, falls out of frame where he's obscured by boxes.

27:49Rob Lowe:And then what's clearly the actor who did not do the stunt pops up. Right, right. So Texas Switch is one of the stuntmen. And it's the best. So maybe Tom, let's start a rumor right now. That it was a Texas switch. That Tom Cruise actually doesn't do his stunts. And we have the evidence. And the evidence is the outsiders. Right. We'll go back. It's kind of tough with the current footage that is playing on your feed right now of him not wearing a parachute. The burning parachute. Just when you think you said it, it makes my stomach hurt. It's incredible. Anyway, all right, enough about that. I'm joking.

28:33Rob Lowe:So you're still a Springsteen fan, I'm assuming. Always been. Always been. And yes, you know, from day one. Yeah, did you? I mean, because I know Swayze, myself, we were big Springsteen guys. Were you a Springsteen guy at that point or just getting into it? Yeah, yeah. No, no, for sure. Because it was The Clash, Adamant, and Bruce. And Cheap Trick I had going on the onset. I had my big boom box. Clash, Adamant. Oh, and Matt had - Matt was into The Clash. And Bowie. Yeah, Bowie. And T-Rex. Yeah. But Springsteen's, you know, always - I've never met him. I know you're friends. Wait. Never met him.

29:15Come on. Never met him. And my family's pissed at me about that, but I'm like, I'm not that guy. There's also, it just never happened. I mean, I did, I've seen him a thousand times. Yeah. No, a thousand. And not quite, but I've seen him a bunch. Saw, I went to the Broadway thing twice. I actually sent a note backstage for my wife saying, you're sending him a note backstage, you know, because he's underscored my entire life. Yeah, life. And so I did. And in my shitty handwriting, I said, but I can't, can I type it? No, you can't type it. All right. because I stopped writing when the phones came out.

29:52All you can do is write your autograph. Yeah, that's it. I could sign. All your hand does. That's it. And that pays off way better than any other kind of writing. But so I did send a note backstage, just a respect note, not like, hey, can we meet? It was that. You didn't say I'm in aisle double C. I'm in aisle C2 off the aisle. It'll be me. I'll be waving. No, it was really totally respectful note. I think that night Patty wasn't in the show. You've seen the Broadway show. So she wasn't because and he commented that there was something, something going on with the one of the kids. He said, I think his comment was, you know, I thought at this point I'd be just participate in an advisory position.

30:41But for some reason now we got to go in full Monty. so we're dealing with this crisis so Patty isn't here so maybe there was something going on so I never heard back but I'm just a my god what a career just listen to the song The Wrestler just gorgeous one trick pony just a gorgeous piece of you know the story for that

31:08Rob Lowe:he got boned on the Oscar that's ridiculous what is it the rule it has to play within In the narrative, it can't just be credits. Right. But I guess Philadelphia played in the narrative. It's some weird thing. Says someone who's been boned by the Oscars on. Well, it wasn't the Oscars, but like I did a movie called Behind the Candelabra. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I, my character. Jerry Weintraub. There's another connection. Michael Weintraub. I know you're listening. Yeah, he is. Yeah. He's with Ted right now listening. He's with Ted. He's in Sarandos. But there was like a screen time limit. And I got everybody else won every award and I won absolutely.

31:57Well, but I just remember your face. Yes. It was awesome. It was fun. Yeah. What a great, what a great fun role that must have been. So fun. You don't have to carry it, but you could come in and kill, add the color. It's awesome. That's what I'm looking for now. You know, after all this awesome franchise stuff and God, I mean, the Karate Kid, just that from 1984 to now, how many movies, television, and that it's relevant for four, almost four generations now. They could all, you could have your grandparents and your nieces and nephews all watching a piece of that same thing. And I kind of was the Luke Skywalker of that franchise.

32:40franchise but to to that type of less angry at george lucas a little bit less mark hamill yeah that's what i am right now well give me a week right no who i saw lucas i'm segwaying like crazy because with francis coppola's afi oh tell me that oh well we got to go there yeah go in order

32:59Rob Lowe:no no i got in order this is all bullshit tell me tell me about tell me so i had francis on the show That's great. And it was, I cannot tell you what it was like for me. I did. I listened to some of that. Yes, yes, yes, I saw that. I almost could get super emotional talking about it now. Yeah, I'm with you. I mean, I don't even know what it's, I don't know what to compare it to. It's going back to high school reunion to the principal or the teacher you thought didn't like you or did like you or whatever. It's so full of like baggage in a way. Right. But for you, because of the film's initial cut and then the complete novel cut, that narrative is just an awesome, you know, fully realized.

33:45Right. You know, with a third act now.

33:48Rob Lowe:It was great. I mean, having that cut, the complete novel cut out and having Francis say, because it was a mistake, a mistake that he made. I always wonder, was it the studio? Was it running time? He said when he would get angry, I think his, correct me if I'm wrong if you know this, but he would say when he got no, you know, when he butted heads with the studio, he usually would just cut stuff and make it shorter. That's amazing. Yeah, I think he's on record for saying that. And when he looks back at that, you know, that's something he wishes he could have course corrected. And now you kind of can, maybe not for the theatrical release, but, um, and, um, so I think that was, you know, he had to, he had a longer movie.

34:35You either follow the Curtis brothers or you go up to the church in Windricksville. And, you know, fortunately for me at that point, I was in all that stuff. But, but on the, on the flip side, you lost the brothers and you lost that beautiful scene that you, you, you have. And, and, um, and so it's, it's great. Being with Francis and the whole that's on, do a plug for that, TNT June 18th. That'll air the AFI lifetime achievement. For Francis. Yeah. And George was there and. Lucas was there, Spielberg. It was nuts. Lucas, Spielberg, Ron Howard, Pacino, De Niro, Hoffman. Me. No, sorry. You know, and.

35:17It ain't bragging if you've done it. Yeah, that's right.

35:27here's molly ringwald sorkin and my response to that is aaron sorkin is in his own you have like shakespeare over here and i you know i honestly think you have aaron sorkin over here so he doesn't count we just like take him out of the equation exactly when he's he's listening aaron

35:41Rob Lowe:you're you're in your you've made it you're in the same breath as as shakespeare um i you know what's funny is when people talk about the Brat Pack, they always assume, first of all, that maybe you and I had done more movies than we did together. We never did. We'd never worked together at all until the 90s. And then I never was in a John Hughes movie. John Hughes was not calling my number. And I've been thinking about it for a while. I was like, why is it? Because I auditioned for Breakfast Club. Did you? Yeah. For which part? For Bender, for the part that Judd Nelson played. Okay. Did you, did you get like, did you go the distance or did you just do one audition?

36:21Rob Lowe:I don't think I barely made it out of my interview with John. I, and the only, my only memory was I, the script was great. Yeah, it was great. It was great. You were like, oh, this is going to be great. And I just remembered, um, the Bender character in the script wore a cowboy hat and I'll never forget his life. I promise you. Cause it's not something I would just like make up and like, why do I remember that? A cowboy hat? I'm telling you, Molly, in the original draft, Bender was wearing a cowboy hat. And then, of course, when I saw Judd with his, you know, literally that is Judd Nelson's actual outfit with the untied shoes.

36:57Rob Lowe:That man never tied a shoelace in his life. Well, you know what John did? I don't know if you know this, but he he asked me to do the Breakfast Club just as Sixteen Candles was ending because he had actually already cast it. with local Chicago actors. In fact, Joan Cusack was going to play Allison, and John, I think, was going to play Bender. And then the studio wanted to do 16 Candles first because it was much more, I don't know, like, I mean, even though it was a female lead, it was kind of more of the teen movies that everyone was used to in terms of, like, big parties and, you know, all that stuff.

37:34So then he offered me a part at the end of that, And I remember reading it on a plane. He wanted me to play Allison at first. And I lobbied for the role of Claire, who was called Kathy at the time. I like lobbied hard. I was like, please, you know, no one would ever think of me in this broad day. They'd only think of me as the weird girl and, you know, the introvert and all of that. And so and so then I did it. But by the time that we got to I think this was I think we filmed in February and he had offered it to me at the end of summer. By the time we actually got to rehearsal, he called me up and he's like, are you excited?

38:12And I was like, yeah, but, you know, it's a really different script. And he's like, what do you mean? And I said, you know, it's just like so different than the one that I read. And he was like, huh. And then the next day he brought in a stack of Breakfast Club scripts. that he had written and he just handed them out to all of us and and and said okay pick your favorite pick your favorite part and these speeches just got put back in and characters were caught because he was he was trying to appease the studio you know so he had like a like a nude teacher swimming and he you know had this and that but you know he he always maintained that his scripts really never got a lot better in rewrites um he didn't like to rewrite because he felt like they just didn't get better.

38:58So, I mean, I've never experienced that before where writer director was like, pick your favorite parts.

39:04Rob Lowe:By the way, if you take nothing away else at all away from this conversation, just know that the way to appease a studio is nude teachers swimming. Back in the day, that's what they want. That's what they're looking for. Yeah. I used to, um, I always knew that on page 72, I had the page 72 rule on page 72. Invariably, that would be when the character they wanted me to play would be nude. It was always on page 72. Always. And what did you do? Did you do it? Did you turn it down? Did you have a body double? What? Sometimes I did it. Sometimes I turned it down, but it was always on page. I think every script written in the eighties, if you can get it on microfiche at the library, my favorite word on page 72, you'll see the characters having something steamy.

39:52Rob Lowe:Just had to do it. Like, you know, nude teachers swim. That's what they do. And, you know, that's what they do up at school. Come on. Yeah. Evidently, nude teachers like to hang out on a Saturday and just swim nude in the school pool. Like, any teacher is going to want to be at a school where they work on a Saturday. It made absolutely no sense. But the other part is somebody has to be watching, of course. Oh, of course. Of course. Of course. Yeah. You've got to make it as creepy as possible. Like if you swim nude and nobody watches, did it really did you really swim nude? Did it did it happen?

40:26Did it happen?

40:28Rob Lowe:That's really the question. Yeah. So I auditioned for John and it's listen, it's not like John only made one or two movies that I would have been right for. I mean, let's fucking get real for a minute. I could have been in a lot of John Hughes movies. Nope. Yeah. No ringy dingy. No phone call. No incoming phone call. He was not having what I was selling. And I've spent a lot of time trying to figure out what it is. And here's what I think it is. Here's my philosophy. And I know you have many philosophies on John. And just from a 50 ,000-foot view, I think you're spot on. But I think – do you think it would be unfair to say that John had a little bit of Spengali in him?

41:10Oh, yeah. Definitely.

41:12Rob Lowe:Yeah. Definitely. I was a lot of things, but I was definitely not the kind of person that you went, ooh, that's a guy who needs a Spengali. I think you were probably too good looking for him. I think he was very intimidated by very good looking guys. And I mean, you're still a good looking guy, but at the time, I mean, no, you're a great looking guy. I mean, let's be real here. But at the time, I think you were just like Apollo. And he was super intimidated by that. God, you were with a cowboy hat? I couldn't take the curse off of it? Wait a minute. I want to know, did you go to the audition with a cowboy hat?

41:59Rob Lowe:No. Oh, here's the other thing. Here's the other thing. It was a straw cowboy hat. Not just any cowboy hat. I was thinking straw. I guess it's kind of a Midwestern thing. I guess it is. Yeah. No, I straw cowboy hats are definitely like rural Indiana, rural Illinois, for sure. You can get you can get away with it. But no, I'm not a hat guy. I've never been able to pull off a hat. And I knew that if I did put on the hat, there's no way I was getting the part.

42:33That's so funny. So what was he like in the audition? I actually never auditioned for John. Yeah. So I'm always curious to know what that experience was like for other people.

42:44Rob Lowe:I mean, really, I think the only – he was unremarkable. The only reason I remember it is because I knew it was going to be – it was a movie everybody wanted to be in and it was really going to be good. And like you've said before is this was – Breakfast Club to this day, I show it – I mean, it is for me the movie of the 80s. It stands up. I mean, there's stuff in it clearly that's very, very dated, which you've written eloquently about. But it's like revolutionary, like along with Fast Times, along Fast Times at Ridgeway and High. Like they're real movies. Yeah. And, you know, we weren't offered movies like that.

43:22Rob Lowe:They weren't making movies like that. So to be in a, you know, a real movie was was an exciting thing, although it was not to be.

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45:10Rob Lowe:Robert Downey Jr. Okay, so we first met in history class? That is correct. At Sammo. Santa Monica High School, to be exact. Did you ditch a lot? Because I don't recall you being there a lot. I know. I mean, you had a surprisingly good attendance record considering you were working half the time you were in school. It's true. And I was scared to ditch. I was scared. I was such like a good boy. I made up for it later. But I was such a good boy. Oh, yeah. Good boy. I couldn't even imagine ditching. You had a champagne-colored Mazda 626 that only fresh money. could grab you the lease on. That's some real ABC holding deal money.

45:56Did I just sound like I have emphysema?

46:02Brother, I remember you driving by in that car to go into the parking lot, and I was like, well, that's how the other half lives. You're like, one day. And yes, in history class, I'm surprised that we weren't drawn toward one another immediately. But to answer your initial question, I was in school as infrequently as possible. And I actually managed to figure out how to climb the only super tall fence. Yes. Which led out onto Lincoln because that was the only place that hall monitors weren't looking for people trying to ditch school. Had to have been a 28, 30 foot tall fence. I remember it. Yep.

46:44So you were happy to ditch. I never understood the pacing of school. And I missed a few algebra classes. And when I came back in, I realized I was never going to catch up. Plus, Janae Gravino had a typing class and she was a smoke show. And so I used to drop by there after I was teacher's assistant to Mr. Jellison. Mr. Jellison. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Theater, right? Correcto. Theater 101.

47:15Rob Lowe:See, I was being such a little snob bitch then. You were actually working. That's right. So I couldn't possibly be bothered with high school theater. I want to say I was jealous, but that's not deep enough. I want to say that I didn't understand how anyone could get where you were, let alone still have attendance in school. it just seemed like there was something so high functioning going on that there was no point for me to even attempt to understand it. Well, listen, you were wired similarly and also super differently. Like you would be impossible to pin down, I would think for that kind of structure at that point in your life.

48:05Yeah, it was a hot mess.

48:06Rob Lowe:I mean, I was, God, I remember those days. You'd walk by the bulletin board and then be like, I'd call Rob, call your agent. And I'd go to the phone booth and call these. Could you imagine what it was like for the rest of us at Samwell High to see that notification for you? Take that. I was like, Robert, no note necessarily on the board for you. You're fucking suspended. Did you go to the prom or anything? I have vague memories of the prom. I remember that senior decided, there's no fun I'll rent you a fucking tux yeah so I wore a mohair black sateen suit yes that I typically only wore when I was singing madrigals at the Santa Monica Place Mall I was so embarrassed but I found a black dress shirt and a black tie so I went to prom like a gangster I believe with a gal named Kelly McReynolds who understandably didn't like me very much after prom night I remember you in Madrigals you used to throw down in Madrigals thanks baby for those of you who don't know Madrigals is Latin music basically yeah it can mean anything acapella oh really so it's like the whiffin puffs the harvards whiffin poofs those guys too yes by the way I don't know why we were talking about whiffin poofs just a few days ago I love the whiffin poofs I suddenly heard my own breathing.

49:41Rob Lowe:Well, because you're thinking about speaking from your diaphragm because it's a magical training. Yeah. And if the diaphragm slips out, that was always bad. Yeah. We never liked that. Then I remember... Do you remember how many political rallies do you think we ruined together? As many as we could. Offered. Do you remember when we were on the bus? 100%. Were we stumping for Dukakis? No, we were stumping for... California needed to clean up its drinking water. So it was the Caravan Proposition 68, California Clean Water Act. Isn't that astonishing, the recall? It was one of the first ballot measures ever in California.

50:28Well, all I know is the long-suffering, fine example of a woman, and Sarah Jessica Parker, used to attempt to redeem me in some ways. And that would be, come on, we're going to actually do something. You were always aware and active and educated and useful. I know there was a few incidents that seemed to pop to the front of the news where shenanigans happened, but I think it sucks because it takes away from the fact that our generation was motivated, albeit probably all a little bit too far to the left exclusively. but nonetheless, there was an ample amount of public service going on.

51:14Rob Lowe:I mean, listen, I remember getting the phone call. Sarah Jessica probably got it because you guys were together and she would have been the receivie of the phone call. But I getting the phone call from Jane Fonda going, hi. And we'd never met. And she'd be like, I'm putting together a little salon at my house to discuss the Sandinistas. Yeah. And you'd end up over there with like, you know, two Nobel laureates and Daryl Hannah. Tom Hayden. It was nuts. It was nuts. By the way, what a winning combo. Anything plus Daryl Hannah. Oh, come on. I'm in. Daryl Hannah, 1983? Yeah. Let's go. I wound up doing arguably Bob Altman's worst film called The Gingerbread Man in Savannah, Georgia, and really got to know Daryl a little bit.

52:02And she is just a delight.

52:03Rob Lowe:Delight. Delight. I met her when I was doing the movie Class. Oh, yeah. She was living in Chicago with her family still. Wanted to be an actor. Maybe had done like Summer Lovers or something. Wow. But it was completely unknown. I didn't know who she was. It was Thanksgiving. The Wexlers were nice enough to invite me. And I'll never forget Daryl was wearing a fairy princess outfit. complete with wings. Tell me about this psychological space you go to that reminds you of my Benny shell.

52:41You know, if there's a natural place to start the podcast, it's going to be there. We can always jump back to this other garbage. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Ask me that again. I was walking you through this rather odd and fabulous structure. We have a Benny shell and And you said you were having a kind of lucid dreaming moment.

53:02Rob Lowe:Yeah. So the Benny, well, first of all, you should describe your house, the Benny shell that you have here. The Benny family and Nick Benny most recently does this sort of architecture called pneumiform, where you inflate these construction bladders. You put shot. With hair. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, with gelatin. You never know. You're right. You know what? I think for the audience, we need to clarify what the bladders are being injected with. You inflate your bladder, and then you put a stint in it, and bang, you have a house. If anybody just Googles Bini shells, B-I-N-I shells, you'll see what we're talking about.

53:39But you came in, I was giving you a quick tour, and you kind of bugged out.

53:42Rob Lowe:I did bug out because I've been having a reoccurring dream that I'm in a hallway that looks like what I now know to be a Bini shell house. And here you are in one of them. It looks exactly like my reoccurring dream, complete with the hallways are not level. Like they're sloped. That's right. Inside the house. You can certainly do that if you plan for it. Which is, you clearly did. But that's one of the things that's weird about my dream is the doors are misshapen doors and the hallways are curved. Yes. And the floors of the hallways are sloped. And so I don't know what that means. I don't know what the significance is.

54:24Rob Lowe:Maybe somebody listening who understands dreams can call the low line and tell me what I've been dreaming about. Dude, there's the high line in Manhattan and there's the low line out west. That's right. Mine's more fun. Now, best delivery so far. All right. We have one in competition. I want to say this too for the audience at home. We are wearing our headphones upside down because we got a bit of a blowout from Rachel. Yeah, Downey was insistent that we have full glam makeup and hair. I said, Downey, it's a podcast. Yeah. He doesn't care. No, content is content. We won't give the people what they want.

55:01Rob Lowe:Well, you know, like R.J. Wagner used to say, you got to wear street makeup, kid. He is so, old Hollywood, old Hollywood wore street makeup. You know, Fred Astaire doesn't go out without it. And I was like, oh, thank God, all my peers, I should really pay attention. You know, Ruffalo, he's always a full face of makeup. Ruffalo, surprisingly, is only ever done up when he doesn't have a choice. And au natural. Of course. He looks fantastic. But we have a full face of makeup and hair, and we're wearing our earphones, our headphones with the thing below our chin. It's like a chin strap. My throat is a tiny bit sweaty right now.

55:43I hope that's not translating to the listener.

55:45Rob Lowe:I call this Kim Carnes style from We Are the World. I think if I'm not mistaken, that's how she wore her headphone. But by the way, it's to preserve the hair. That's right. Yes. Once you got the hair right, you don't want to, I'm sorry, I should take this. Oh, you got somebody? You got somebody going on? Oh, it's actually for you. Is that some Marvel shit? You got some, you got to break some stories here? Uh, not just yet. You know, you know what I say? Huh? The phone's going to ring baby and I want to be on, I want to be. Yep. I want to be on that call. I want to be negotiating for you. I know what your deal is.

56:22You do?

56:23Rob Lowe:Yeah, here's what you do. You go. I'll come back and I'll play Tony Stark again for you guys. You fucked everything up. But I want a gazillion dollars, and I actually know what that number should be, and I want first dollar gross of every ensuing movie. This sounds quite hostile. That's what I would do. By the way, historically, you are an excellent negotiator and you're almost always out in front of your negotiations. You are a beautiful advocate for self. Thank you. Across the board. As a matter of fact, as far as I know, you were really the first of us to put down the bottle and pick up the mantle of living a sober, structured life.

57:08Rob Lowe:I think I'm, I mean, I was. yeah, I mean, if not the first one of them, for sure. I remember I remember Demi got sober after St. Elmo's to get St. Elmo's fire. She had to get sober. When did that ever figure into anyone's decision pattern in the 80s? I know. I mean, that's when you could buy Coke on the set. Yeah. Robert, we're doing this less than zero film. We're going to really need you sober for it. Oh, okay. Well, thanks for offering. Yeah. No, they didn't do that. They didn't do that. But back to negotiation. Oh, yes, yes. You truly do know how to, maybe it's just because you know the business.

57:50So, well, that was the other thing too. I was like, I figured, and it's crazy, man. You went to junior high across the street from where we're sitting doing this. This is unbelievable. And lo, these many years later, we are here with a few fabulous furry friends. Yep. and I just want to acknowledge the closing of this circle and the fact that we've kind of reconnected really over like the last five, 10 years. Not that we weren't always happy to see each other and running into each other. I'd come up to Santa Barbara, I'd see you, but there's been something about this post 50 gig that I feel it's almost like we're veterans and it's just been really valuable.

58:35Rob Lowe:Well, and same. You know, I've watched you from, the first time I remember watching your work, was it Weird Science? Probably. Yeah, because we were shooting St. Elmo's in the lot next to you. And I'm going to give you your prop. Your props are coming. Don't worry. I'm getting your props. When that theme song came out, I was like, this motherfucker's got a theme song. Dude, how sick was that? It's a good theme song. Da, da, da, da, da. I'm just saying I'm a fire. I'm burning in me. I can feel it. But then that little squirt, Michael J. Fox, beat me out with Power of Love. Oh, God, that was good.

59:15We had, of course, Oingo Boingo. World science, yeah. It's alive. Weird. Right? That's what they said. This might just be a soundbite cornucopia.

59:32Rob Lowe:That is correct. That's all I remember. And every beautiful actor was in it. Yeah, including the guy from The Hills Have Eyes. I mean, that was a film that was already meta and then it had someone from The Road Warrior coming through the party scene. It was very wild. Very, I remember that. And then, of course, then you work with my guy, Andrew McCarthy. Yes, who we were speaking about glowingly earlier. Glowingly, such a sweetheart. And I just watched that the other day. That was a studio big summer or spring release. It's so depressing. It's so good. It's unflinching. It was not well-received.

1:00:20It didn't make any money. Brett Easton Ellis' book was phenomenal. It was the catcher in— Less Than Zero. Yeah, Less Than Zero was the catcher in the rye of my generation.

1:00:40Rob Lowe:John Cryer. Yeah, you know, you never know. You never know what's the thing that's going to be the thing that resonates with people. You never, you never, ever know. Oh, so you auditioned for St. Elmo's Fire. I did, in fact. And that got very, oh, that was full of drama. Oh, let's hear it. Because the director, Joel Schumacher, at least in the auditions, was lovely beyond belief. I don't know what he was like to work with. Amazing. Yeah, it's so lovely and giving and really just you felt like, wow, he wants you to give the best possible audition you can do. And that's really incredibly valuable.

1:01:21Everybody feels like, you know, you go into an audition and it's going to be Simon Cowell judging you partially. And that happens sometimes, but it's actually, thankfully, fairly rare. Usually everybody wants you to succeed. And Joel Schumacher was that in spades. I mean, he was just so helpful. But he put me in a little bit of a bind. And it was also Lauren Schuller was producing that. Oh, yes. Who had done Pretty in Pink, who had just finished, or actually not long prior to that, had finished Pretty in Pink. And I came in and I read the part that eventually went to Andrew McCarthy. And they said, well, just so you know, we we love to me more who I had done my one of my first my second technically movie with.

1:02:08And they said, you know, where's she at? Because we'd love to hire her for this troubled character. And I said, well, I 100 percent fell in love with her while we were shooting. but she also 100 % is that troubled character, you know, and, you know, I don't want to, you know, she had, she had, she has since then, you know, come forward to say she was having a serious cocaine issue at the time and all that stuff and going through a lot of stuff that a lot of us were going through at the time. But I felt like I didn't want her to not get the part because of me, because I actually thought she'd be fantastic.

1:02:49But I also wanted to be honest with them as filmmakers that she's got an issue, you know, and you're going to have to deal with that in some way. And I heard later that they did. I mean, you went through the whole thing. You know, I don't know what that was like for you.

1:03:03Rob Lowe:I will. I remember I met Joel the same day that Demi came in. And I'll never forget being on the Warner Brothers lot that you know well and headed to the office, looking for the office to find Joel's office and seeing this vision walk out between the sound stages. The sun was backlighting her hair. At that time, she had almost strawberry reddish blonde hair and her long hair, but pulled up over and surrounding a straw hat. I've never seen that before or since. I don't know what that was. and I was like, who is that person? And halfway through my meeting with Joel, he goes, I'm going to bring this other actress that I'm seeing to me and it was her.

1:03:52Rob Lowe:And we, from that moment, were kind of inseparable for like the next two weeks. Oh, gosh. Okay. And there was a lot of fun going on. Yeah. So, you know, she's one of the most fun. One of the fun. People certainly back in the day. And they did. And they, and Demi talks about, they were like, you got to get it together. And she did. And she was the first, and I, and I give her, she was a total inspiration for me because she got sober and I'd never seen anyone get sober. I didn't know, I didn't know anything about it, how you could do it. Never occurred to me. What I thought it was, but whatever I thought about it, watching Demi do it was the inspiration when I finally decided that I was done.

1:04:33Rob Lowe:I was like, if Demi can do it, maybe I can do it. Wow. And so, but it started right there with St. Elmo's Fire with them going, hey, you got it. You got to get it together. And she did. Wow. That's, yeah. Because I had a similar thing, not quite the same, but when she and I were cast in No Small Affair, we were together like magnets. And I had two of the most fun weeks of my life just going around Los Angeles with her and, you know, and being a part of her life. And the hair thing, yeah, she would tuck her hair up into the band of a hat. Yes. And I remember I was doing Torch Song Trilogy at the time with Harvey Fierstein.

1:05:13And he met her and he said, who's the girl with the hairy hat?

1:05:23But, you know, she was like one of those unforgettable people, you know, and you can see why she gets cast and stuff is because, you know, when she walks through the room, you don't forget it. You know, no, they don't.

1:05:33Rob Lowe:They don't make them like that anymore. She's truly the voice, the looks, the talent, all of it. She's the whole she's the real thing for sure. Yeah. And it was interesting because on No Small Affair, she was really it was her first kind of lead in a feature. And she was really, really nervous about it, you know, and I and she had been doing general hospital for years. So I just assumed she she felt like an old pro, you know. But no, she had managed to be terrified. And I was terrified, too. So I was like, shit, we're both terrified. This is not good. But yeah, but now how was St. Elmo's as a shoot?

1:06:08Because it's like, you know, many people consider like the Brat Pack movie, you know.

1:06:14Rob Lowe:It is. It kind of. By the way, the best Brat Pack movie is The Breakfast Club. For sure. Yes. I won't argue with you on it. That is like head and shoulders. It's like The Goodfellas.

1:06:28Rob Lowe:of the genre. But boy, people do love this. They love them some St. Elmo's. It was great because I had the part of a lifetime. I had, they wanted me to play the Judd Nelson square preppy part. I wanted to play, I wanted, and that was what they wanted me to, everybody wanted me to do that. Joel, the studio, everybody. I wanted to play the part that ended up getting. And they were like, no, we don't really see you in that. So I showed up drunk to my meeting with Joel, the day that I met Demi. I showed up with a six-pack and drank through the entire meet. I was like, oh, you don't think I'm a fucking wild man?

1:07:06Rob Lowe:Really? Here, try this on for a size. And I ended up getting the part and the rest. And so I felt like, I don't know. You know what it's like when you're in an ensemble and you just, you feel like you have the fucking best part and you can kind of just run amok. Yeah. So for me, it was heaven. I mean, it was just. You feel like, you know, it's like those times when you go, I know that guy. Yes. I so know that guy just turned me loose. Yes. You know, that's an incredibly lucky feeling. And yeah, I, but that's, I did not know that you were originally supposed to do the Judd Nelson part. That's fascinating to me.

1:07:40Rob Lowe:Yeah. I mean, it's, which is a great, which is a perfectly good part, but I felt like, you know, I'd been playing preppy. I played a couple of preppy, you know, the spade, you don't want to go, you know, Spader's got that lane covered. We can't, we can't compete with Spader. Exactly. You set the standard.

1:08:18Rob Lowe:Kevin Bacon. Okay, here's what I have to ask you about, because I remember this vividly, this moment in time in a career and the business. I had just done, I think, The Outsiders. And there was this Broadway play that everybody wanted to be in called Slab Boys. And I remember this like it was yesterday. And you did it. and with Sean Penn. Was Matt Dillon in it? No, Matt wasn't in it. Who else was in that cast? Sean, Jackie Earl Haley. Oh, yeah. Val Kilmer. Val. Brian Benben. Madeline Potter. Madeline Potter. I did a play of Madeline Potter. Yeah, I had actually done the play at the Actors Theater of Louisville earlier that year or a little bit earlier or whatever.

1:09:22It's a fantastic playwright, John Byrne, I believe. I mean, I don't know if they're still married or not, but was married to Tilda Swinton. And he was not only a playwright, but a fantastic artist and a really interesting character with this unbelievably great Glaswegian accent, which I can't do, still can't do. And a giant, giant mustache that was often just kind of tinged because he smoked these filterless cigarettes. And the bottoms of his mustache and his fingers were kind of brown. And I remember, and he was just a fantastic character. And somebody at the Actress Theater had found this play.

1:10:13Back then I was auditioning and doing regional theater whenever I could. And I went to Louisville to do Slab Boys. It ended. And then somebody decided to do it on Broadway. And I didn't audition for it because I had already played the part. Wow. And they asked me to do the part. If my memory serves me correctly, I don't think that the critics quite got it in the same way that we did. It was almost a working class Scottish drawing room comedy in a funny kind of way. You know, a lot of people running in and out of doors and all sorts of intrigue and stuff like that. I love doing it.

1:11:05You've been listening to Literally with Rob Lowe, produced by me, Sean Doherty, with help from associate producer Sean Calvano. Research by Jeff Fox. Engineering and mixing by Joanna Samuel. Our executive producers are Rob Lowe for Low Profile and Nick Liao, Adam Sachs, and Jeff Ross for Team Coco. Booking by Catherine Cook. Music by Devin Bryant. Special thanks to Hidden City Studios. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time on Literally.

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