Rob Lowe - actor - Interview

Interview, Feb, 2000 by Ingrid Siscy

Interview by Ingrid Sischy

On a recent episode of the acclaimed new TV series The West Wing, Sam Seaborn, the deputy communications director at the White House, played by Rob Lowe, announced, "There's two kinds of trouble here: actual trouble and PR trouble." For Lowe, the humor of that line was surely not missed, since he himself in the '80s alone went from darling to damned in less time than it took most kids his age to complete college. Now, however, with the success of The West Wing, he's once again on the hot list. But Lowe knows better than to substitute the ins and outs of fame for an authentic sense of himself.

INGRID SISCHY: Hey, Rob. Do you want to hear a funny coincidence? I happened to be in L.A. last week, and I was in your brother Chad's house.

ROB LOWE: You're kidding me. See, we were meant to reunite. What brought you there?

IS: A shoot with Bruce Weber for an upcoming special issue of Interview about people and their pets.

RL: Chad and Hilary [Swank] really love those animals. Let me get rid of the other line that's ringing. Hang on. [pause] I'm back.

IS: So things are good for you these days.

RL: Yes. You're catching me at a great moment. Things are fantastic. Last night our show [The West Wing] had its biggest ratings ever.

IS: You started out on TV, right? You were in A New Kind of Family.

RL: Yeah. That was my very first major job. I was fifteen years old.

IS: What's interesting is how you went from teen idol to something else.

RL: You know, at various times in my career, I've been fortunate enough to have hooked up with some fantastic mentors. At a very critical juncture of my life, after A New Kind of Family, Francis Ford Coppola used me for The Outsiders. After that, it was Tony Richardson, who incidentally led me to my first Interview cover, which was for The Hotel New Hampshire, which he directed, and in which Jodie [Foster], who interviewed me for the Interview story, co-starred.

IS: That's right. Let me read you something from that interview, Rob.

RL: Oh my gosh. Should I sit down at this point?

IS: Yes. It's pretty hilarious. Are you ready? It begins with the operator, of course, saying, "Collect call from Franny to Rob. Will you accept the charges?"

Then Jodie says, "Hurry Rob. It's Jodie. I'll pay you back."

You answer: "OK, I accept, Operator."

Jodie says: "Listen, I've got a great idea. Meet me in New York next weekend. I've got two days off from work." You reply: "Hooray!"

Now she says: "Shh. I'll explain later. Get a hold of a little tape recorder. Bring your telephone book, my madras shorts you borrowed, your ghetto blaster. Don't forget the Gladys Knight tape. Bring some Otis Redding and some Aretha. Oh, yeah, bring the TV Guide! That's the most important. I've gotta go. Got all that?"

You say: "You bet, buddy. Hey sis."

She goes: "What?"

You tell her: "I miss you terribly."

She says: "Me too. Keep passing the open windows."

Then it goes on to say, "Watching television together, one week later at the Park Lane hotel in New York." And that's how your first Interview cover story and interview with Jodie Foster begins.

RL: When I hear that I realize how quickly time passes and how everybody goes on their journeys and they're always unbelievable and they never go where you think they're going to take you and, quite frankly, it also makes me feel a little old. [laughs]

IS: Actually, it wasn't that long ago--May 1984. But in another way it is ages ago. Then there is your second Interview cover story, done in March 1990, just after I got to the magazine. That interview, by Mike Sager, was done at a very difficult time in your life--the whole hoopla that went on over the sex videotape involving you and a girl whose mother brought a civil suit against you. I know it meant a great deal to our readers that you trusted them and us enough to talk about it in an open way.

RL: Well, Interview has always reached an audience that has such a wide breadth of life experience. It's why I chose the magazine to be the one I spoke out in. I felt that I was among people who would understand.

IS: That's right. So catch us up about what's happened since then.

RL: I got sober. I'll be sober ten years and married nine soon. Sobriety was the greatest gift I ever gave myself. I don't put it on a platform. I don't campaign about it. It's just something that works for me. It enabled me to really connect with another human being--my wife, Sheryl--which I was never able to do before. I wouldn't go back on my old days, though; everybody needs to have their wild years. It's just a question of when and I'd rather have had them early than be doing it as a mid-life crisis type thing.

IS: Now catch us up on your career.

RL: Although I did some work in the '90s that I'm really proud of--The Stand, Bad Influence, my alternative career in Wayne's World, Tommy Boy, and Austin Powers--I really devoted the decade to giving myself a real life, which I did not do in the '80s. The '80s were about trying to establish myself as an actor with a career. And being a teenager enjoying the fruits of being successful with lots of what I think is appropriate for that age. I read your magazine and I see all the kids today and I say, Oh boy, I've been there. But I entered 2000 with a new inspiration: Aaron Sorkin, who is the creator and executive producer of The West Wing.