Rob Lowe had plenty of competition for blockbuster roles in the 1980s and ’90s – and one Hollywood heavyweight repeatedly stood in his way.
“That dastardly Tom Cruise was always a nemesis,” Lowe told the New York Post.
“I remember reading ‘Jerry Maguire’ … and they were like, ‘Tom Cruise.’ I also remember reading ‘Top Gun’ and going, ‘Oh, this movie is going to be f—ing massive,'” he recalled. “They were like, ‘Tom Cruise.'”
Despite losing out on what he considered to be big roles, Lowe found his stride as a core member of the Brat Pack. He starred in several career-defining films of the Brat Pack-era, including “St. Elmo’s Fire,” “The Outsiders,” “Class” and “Oxford Blues.”
Yet one major piece was missing from Lowe’s ’80s résumé – a coveted role in a John Hughes movie.
Lowe admitted he was never in the running for the coming-of-age hit “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”
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“No, that’s a big regret,” he said, noting Hughes was not interested in casting Lowe for the role that went to Matthew Broderick.
“John Hughes never got what I was selling,” Lowe explained.
“I met with John once, and it’s not like he didn’t have a lot of parts I could have done,” he added. “When you really look at it, there were more than a few parts, multiple parts in some movies. Never, phone never rang.”
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Decades later, Lowe has come up with his own explanation for why Hughes never came calling.
“I have a theory about it; I think I was actually already too well known,” Lowe said.
“John put in people who [weren’t] already well known,” he explained. “He made people well known. At least that’s what I tell myself to make myself feel better for not getting a role in ‘The Breakfast Club.'”
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Lowe’s early movie roles established him as a teen heartthrob, but he later built a remarkably durable career spanning film, network television and streaming projects.
A major second act came with his role as Sam Seaborn on “The West Wing,” which earned him Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. He later showed off his comedic side as the relentlessly upbeat Chris Traeger on “Parks and Recreation.”
