Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist - Rob Lowe

Episode Date: January 17, 2021

Rob Lowe was just 18 years old when Francis Ford Coppola cast him in the 1983 movie The Outsiders, and he quickly became a fixture of 1980’s Hollywood. In this week’s “Sunday Sitdown,” Willie Geist gets together with Lowe to talk about the pitfalls that came with that early success and how it propelled a run of nearly 40 years on screen, including in his latest show 9-1-1: Lone Star.   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey guys, Willie Geist here with another episode of the Sunday Sit Down podcast. My thanks as always for clicking and listening along. Got a great one for you today with Rob Lowe. And where to begin with Rob Lowe? I guess you started in 1983 with his first movie role at the age of 18 in The Outsiders. He starred with Tom Cruise and a bunch of other young stars. And that started a run of hits through the 80s. He was a member of the so-called brat pack. You'll remember them if you're of a certain age. Went through, to St. Elmo's fire about last night. Youngblood had that incredible stretch, got really famous, really young, had a lot of money and fame and booze and everything that comes with being a celebrity at that level. And as he talks about in our interview, it kind of ate him alive. It came to a head with that infamous sex tape that many of you also will recall if you're of a certain age. But that is the moment, he says, that shook him into sobriety and changed his life. He's been sober for 30 years now. He's been married for nearly as long, about 30 years to his wife, Cheryl.

He's got two adult sons, one of whom he now works with on his latest project. It's called 911 Lone Star. It's a procedural show on Fox about a New York City firefighter who is the lone survivor in his firehouse of the attacks of September 11th, who moves with his son to Austin, Texas and takes over as the chief of the fire department there. It's a show that is produced by Ryan Murphy, who you know from Glee and American Horror Story. So it's got a little more. It's got a little more style. It's got a little more humor.

It's got a little more weirdness, as Rob says, than your normal network procedural. Really good show. So we get into all of it with Roblo. We talk about the West Wing. We talk about those days in the 80s. And yes, we talk about his recent spotting of his new neighbor in California, none other than Prince Harry himself. Hang in for that story toward the end of the interview. So sit back, relax, and enjoy now my conversation on the Sunday Sit Down podcast with Rob Lowe.

Rob, good to see you. Thanks for doing this. No, man. Are you kidding? I love the show. Happy to be on it. Great. You know, we're talking about what everybody's been up to during the pandemic.

I make it turns out you have been making a television show shooting since, since October, I think you guys have been shooting. I've talked to different actors about what that experience has been like, stepping back in with the protocols. What's it been like for you? Well, I mean, you know, we're doing a show about first responders and they are on the front lines of this. So it's really important to get that authenticity, right? And in terms of the production, I'm just grateful that the show is up. we can work. It's, you know, it's 300 jobs, you know, it's a lot of families. I don't think people really sometimes appreciate all the behind the scenes people that, that work on a show. And, you know,

they get to support their families during this, which is great because a lot of people don't get to. It's been tough, but the show is great. I actually think it's in a weird way made us focus more. And this season, I think, is everything is just stepped up a whole other level. So for people who are just coming on board, maybe for season two, we're going to have to back up and get through season one. Just lay out the premise a little bit, if you can, of this New York City firefighter who was there on 9-11 and kind of uproots and takes on this new challenge in Austin.

Yeah, my character is the only survivor in his firehouse in New York on 9-11. And when a firehouse in Texas loses all of their people in a grain explosion, they ask him if he could come and help rebuild the firehouse because he's been through it. So he relocates to Austin. So you have this sort of New Yorker fish out of water in Austin, Texas, rebuilding the firehouse. And that's really the premise. But more than anything, we were talking before we came on the air about how we grew up watching emergency. And all those great, you know, procedurals.

And I love those shows. But this is a Ryan Murphy version. you know, Ryan Murphy of Niptuck, Ryan Murphy of American horror story, Ryan Murphy of Glee. So there's that added element that you just don't get in this genre that we do have in our show. And I think it's a sort of, it can be really weird and really funny and unexpected in the same time that it's also really authentic and full of tension. So it's kind of all over the place by design. Yeah, in a good way. And I said to you earlier, it feels different and better. Not that we didn't love all those procedural shows and some on the air now, but there's some other layer to it. So how do you explain the Ryan Murphy thing, whatever that is? What does that mean to you as an actor and somebody who's executive producing with him? Well, as an executive producer, if I could explain it, then I would be as successful as Ryan Murphy. But I will take a crack at it. I think it comes from a very specific point of view. I think all good movies.

TVs, books, music that are great. If you dig, we'll have one thing in common. There is a very particular point of view. It's not generic. It doesn't feel made by committee. It doesn't feel made by the network or the studio or the sponsors. It's not trying to tick every box. It's this really strong point of view.

And Tim Mineer writes this show, really. Ryan created it with him. And between the two of them, they just have a worldview that's different, which is let's take a genre we love, heroic firefighters and paramedics. We love everything there is about it, but let's turn it a little bit upside down

and make a different iteration of it. Let's make it a little bit, not campy because I hate that word, actually, but let's make it a little bit larger than life while at the same time making it super believable. Yeah, and it's his range, which I could say the same about you, from doing a show like Glee, as you say, to pulling off a show about firefighters in Texas is kind of extraordinary. So there is that thread of quality and that voice that goes through it. When they first came to you with this, because it is a little bit different than your previous work, what was your first thought?

Was it, oh, it's Ryan Murphy and I get to play a firefighter. I'm in? Well, Ryan Murphy and I have been trying to work together since Nip Tuck. I love nip tuck. I watched every episode of it, fell in love with it, asked for a meeting with this Ryan Murphy guy, sat down at the lunch meeting and went through chapter and verse about why I loved the character of Dr. Christian Troy. And at the end of it, the color had drained from his face. And he said, well, of course you love it. I wrote it for you.

And your agents wouldn't give it to you. What? no way and you didn't know that i did not know that and here i am at home going oh my god this is like i should be doing that that that that's what i should be doing and so for ever since then we've tried to find something i was going to be in the first season of american horror story and i was unavailable dilla mcdermott did it um we talked about 911 the original um but i've been on another show every year. This was the first year I was free and the first year he had this idea. And they called me up and said, here's the idea. Firefighter who cares as much about his skin care

regiment as he does fighting fires. I go, I'm in. I'm in. We're an actor with a skincare line, too. I mean, what a fit. Hey, man, listen, it's Kismet everywhere. Synergy. It's my middle name. that's amazing. I did not know that about Nip Tuck. That's incredible. Yeah. And if you look at it, you can see. You could see.

Yeah. It would have been great. Totally. So for the fans who did watch season one, and when this airs in a couple of days, we will be on the eve of season two without giving too much away. Where do we find Captain Strand? What can we expect?

Well, the biggest surprise for I think for the show is for people who love West Wing. There is a reunion. I think the West Wing fans are going to love. And it's me, my character in the West Wing, Sam Seaborne's long time ill-begotten love, Lisa the call girl, Lori the Call Girl, played by Lisa Edelstein. Lisa Edelstein is now on our show playing my ex-wife, who is named Gwyneth, after Brad Falchuk, our co-executive producer's wife, Winneth Paltrow.

There's a lot, again, synergy. It's our middle name. A lot of synergy going on. And, you know, I loved working with Lisa those years ago on the show. And then, of course, she went on and started House and it was great in that. And we're reunited and we're having a blast. There's a father-son element to this show that's really cool that I know you sort of bring to the set with you as your son is one of the writers on the show. That just must be unbelievable to have raised a young man and watched him do well.

in school and go to a great college and start his career and to be able to sit next to him in a room and work on a project of this scope must be unbelievable. I, you know, it's a whole other level of pride. And I know that there are people out there who are fortunate enough to be able to work with their sons or daughters. And it's so special. And I think my favorite thing about it, he incidentally wrote our upcoming co-wrote, our crossover episode, which is another thing people are going to, I think, like the cast from 911 comes to Lone Star. And we'll be doing a scene that he wrote.

And afterwards, you know, you huddle with a director and the writer and you talk about, you know, how it went. And he'll give me a note. And he'll be like, um, so Rob, I think. And it makes me, it's like one part kind of makes me sad. One part kind of feels like, is it disrespectful? And then the other part is it's kind of really cool. But what I'm what I really,

my real takeaway from it is I listen to him like he's not my son. Like I value his input in a way that I would value the input for any coworker who I had a ton of respect for. And, and that will dawn on me. It would be like, oh my God, that was, wait, that was the kid I was changing diapers. Right, right. So yeah, his name is John Owen, John Owen Lohn. We have a really good time. His brother, incidentally, is a lawyer now,

and I'm hoping I don't ever have to work with him. I'm going to stay out of his field. I think that's pretty wide. Now, does he ever call you Rob off the set, or is this a new thing that just shocked you when he came up to you? I'm a huge fan of anthropological studies of human behavior, and like I'm I'm I'm I'm Margaret Mead with a different gender and bone structure. That's the way I look at I consider myself.

And I've noticed in my studies that language is changing and there's a thing with 20 somethings where they don't call their parents, mom, and dad. And I don't know if it's because we're living together again, but I've seen it not only with my own kids, but I've seen it with other with their friends. And it's even gotten to the point that they don't call my wife, their mother, Cheryl. They don't even call her Cheryl. They use the name of her company as her name. So it'll be like, Dad, sorry, Rob, I just got off the phone with Cheryl Lowe designs. And she was five minutes late. That's what, what's going on?

You know what? I've noticed that too. And I didn't know if it was just the families that were different than mine growing. My kids are too young still, but I noticed that too. And they are there in their 20s or early 30s. And it's, hey, Mike and Mike's his dad. I'm like, I'm obsessed with when phrases come into our vernacular out of the blue. Like when did it become too much work to say the word family?

And it became fam. How's the fam? See, when people ask me, how's the fam? Here's what I, here's my takeaway. They don't care. Right. They don't really care. It's just something they're saying. If they say, how's the family? They care. Well, that's sort of an extension of text culture, don't you think? Sometimes it's harder to write the

abbreviation than to just write the word thanks or to write Y-O-U to find the you and all that. I don't quite get it. And we both, by the way, right now, sound a hundred years old. No, I'm the guy. Listen, I'm doubling and tripling down on being the meme. of the old man yelling at the clouds. By the way, the fact that I even know that that's a thing, I think I should get some cred. Cred. There you go.

See? Yeah. There's your abbreviation. Oh, OLL. Hey, guys, thanks for listening to the Sunday Sitdown podcast. Stick around to hear more from Rob Lowe right after the break. Welcome back to the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Now more of my conversation with Rob Lowe.

I love hearing you talk about your first. family, because it seems to me from the outside is like you have achieved, and I think you've worked at it, some semblance of normalcy, you know, a long, happy marriage, successful, happy kids. Is that a product of the way you came up so differently when you were 18 years old becoming a movie star? Yeah, I think it's a lot of, a lot of things at play. And by the way, thank you. That's a wonderful compliment. I think it's a, I think it's a, it was, you know, we all want to recreate what we didn't have. And we want to learn from, our parents are around to make mistakes that we're going to learn from. That's what they're

there for. I know in some way, albeit my kids seem to be great. I know in some way we've screwed them up, my wife and I. There's no question. That's what we do. There's parents can't help but do it unwittingly. Some obviously are really egregious, obviously. But even the ones who are present, who are paying attention, who are doing the best, are going to do stuff that their kids are going to react to and try to do better. And look, I had a great, I went through, listen, I was a teen idol young and young movie star and an alcoholic and a lot of money. And it was a great mix. What could possibly go wrong?

and I lived a big life. I loved it. I don't regret any of it. But when I was done, I was done. Yeah. I was done. And what seemed great to me then was, you know, the things that people should want, which is, you know, consistency and family and, you know, being together with people and, you know, not needing to live a big life anymore. And, you know, I made that sort of paradigm shift a long time ago.

And, you know, it, it's, this is, this is what you work for and this is when it pays off. Do you look back on that guy, the 18 year old and the outsiders and St. Almost fired all those years and the partying and the booze and all that until you were 30 years old, I think is when you got sober. Do you look back on that? I have 30 years. Excuse me. Hey, listen, don't, don't short me on my sobriety. Sorry.

Those years are hard earned. 30th anniversary. Excuse me. Do you look back on that guy and recognize him if you see him in a movie or you hear a story about him somewhere in a magazine? Do you remember that guy? Barely. Yeah. Barely.

It is legitimately another lifetime ago. I've been sober, way longer than half my life. Is that right? 30? Yeah. No? Getting there. I don't know.

I'm terrible with math. That's why I became an actor. I, I, the thing that really blows my mind. is I look back at that 18 year old and the outsiders and realize my kids are way, way, way, way, way, way, way older than that. I wouldn't, I would be worried putting them now in that position. It's just, you know, look, nobody's going to do a pity party or have a telephone for all those suffering 18-year-old movie stars, you know, but like, you know, my, I get it. I get like how, you know, everybody goes through their time in the barrel, Justin Bieber or whoever it is now.

It's always going to be somebody every 10 years. There's going to be somebody new. And everybody has to go through that thing. And it's very specific to, you know, being that person in the culture. And there aren't that many people to go through it. And you either come out on the other side of it way, way, way better or way, way, way. worse, I think. And not everybody comes through it, as you know well.

I'm sure you're friends with some of them who haven't come through it. So how did you survive that so well and have such longevity and done such good work on different planes, whether it's movies or you've got a podcast now or the parks and wreck, all these places you pop up and you've stayed around and been welcomed by people. I know you had valleys in between your sort of teen idol years and your sobriety and everything else. But how did you survive? What do you chalk it up to? Well, listen, recovery, sobriety, therapy. I'm a big believer in all that stuff. Work on myself, hard work, but you have to want to do it. That's always the message. I do a lot of work with adolescents who are struggling with drugs and alcohol

and their parents. And that's the thing I always tell them is that, unfortunately, no one can get healthy for their job or for their relationship or because of their court case or or because of mom or dad or sister or brother they can only do it when they want to do it honestly it's really simple and it's and it can be very demoralizing but it's not going to happen it's not going to happen for you it only happens if they want to do it so i wanted to do it i was done i was ready I did it and, you know, got into recovery. And recovery really does work for people who work it. And then in terms of my career, you know, I'm always trying to find something new to keep me interested.

And the podcast that I'm doing now called Literally, that's its name. By way, you can get it wherever you ate your podcasts. I had to explain to my dad who's 80 what a podcast was. I bet. I bet. I was dad. So I think it was something. He thought it was like you had to go into it.

do a pod, I think he was worried about an actual pod being involved. And I was like, no, you, you can just type Google. Yeah. Google, you can find on that computer you have and Google Roblo podcast. It's going to come up and then you just download it. And by the way, don't have to pay for it. Right. It's a radio show on the internet. I think he was more excited that he didn't have to pay for it. Yeah. Than that I was actually on it. But that's such a good, that's such a good format for you, though, Just as a talker and a storyteller and a guy who listens and has a sense of humor, it's really good. It's Team Coco. And they do great stuff.

And you just sit down for an hour with a buddy of yours and we get that fly-on-the-wall experience. Did you get the podcast world when it was pitched to you? Was it something you were interested in doing? I honestly didn't. Because I am, like I said, the meme of the guy, the old man looking at the clouds. I am that guy. I was like, this podcast thing, what of it? But what I really did get was that we,

and that's one of the things that's great about your show is for the most part, the long conversation interview is dead. Yeah. And, you know, you used to be able to go on Johnny Carson and talk. Now if you go on a talk show, they want you to play pin the tail on the donkey.

Right. And so, you know, Howard Stern is a great influence on me in terms of his conversations. You're working in the same field. Joe Rogan does it well, where, look, if I have Michael Jordan on the podcast, I don't need to ask him about winning five rings. I don't. I want to know if he's ever seen a UFO. Do you know what I'm saying? Yes.

Yes. what I'm interested in. Totally. That's funny you say that. My favorite podcast, which are yours, Conan does a great one, SmartList with Bateman and Will Arnett and those guys, whoever the guest is, oftentimes they don't even talk about the project. And then at the end they'll say, oh, by the way, he's in the show 911 Lone Star.

You know what I mean? Because it's just stories and fun and it makes you invest it in the person like it, and then you go seek out whatever they're working on. Here's the other thing I love is every once in a while I'll get somebody on that I've always wanted to ask something. Like, like I wanted to ask Michael Strahan

who, did he ever want to kill somebody on the football field? And does he remember his most vicious hit? Oh, that's good. He was like, oh, oh, yeah, Gus Farrat. And he was like, and this is my one of my favorite. He said, I remember running to him,

he couldn't, see me coming and I was like, ooh, I like it like that. And he said, I wanted to make his spinal column come out front of his rib cage. Very descriptive. Yeah. So like that's the kind of, you know, I don't need to go. So I was good morning America. The other thing I asked him, which I liked was if he had a blindside shot at George Stephanopoulos playing quarterback, how many universes would he knock him into? That would be ugly. Poor George, bless him.

We got to protect the pocket with George. You can't, yeah, you've got to protect with my man, George. That's awesome. Well, it's great. It really is good. And people who watch your show, I'm sure, are already listening to your podcast. But it's, again, another great gear for you. Before I let you go, I'd have to ask you something very important that you disclosed.

I think it was last night that you have original reporting that suggests print Harry may currently be sporting a ponytail. Can you fill the details here? Well, listen, I, I appreciate the sensitivity of this issue. And I don't want to stake my long-term credibility as a celebrity stalker on it. However, in the glimpse, and it was a glimpse through the VIP, sexy smoke-filled glass of the vehicle, which I will not name the type of vehicle because I am cognizant of the security threat. Sure. I think the dude was wearing a ponytail. So a big red ponytail in the back? Well, here's what it was.

Let's get specific. Let's go on a deep dive. The man's got good hair. Sure. His brother may be the king of England. But for my money, Harry's got something better than his brother, hair. and it's there was like a like a real like a tightness going through that all I can think of if it's that tight on the side it's got to be being held back by something right ponytail wow and are you

sure it was him it wasn't just a red-haired dude and a nice car driving around southern California no no he he's my neighbor okay he's my neighbor and I and I and he turned into he turned into the driveway so I know it was him a question known as is there a ponytail involved? And I think, one thing I know right now, the British paparazzi are all over this one. I've put blood in the water. There's going to be, there's going to be $500,000 bounty on the first photo of Harry with a ponytail or not. And then I'm going to be the bad guy. Harry's grateful for the attention, I'm sure. I'm sure. Well, you'll have to come back next week and update us on your reporting, Rob. Yes, I will. I take it very seriously.

like, Rob, it's so good to see you. Congratulations on season two, the podcast. Everything you do is always fun, man. It's great. Good to see you. Thank you. Thanks for having me on. Appreciate it. My thanks again to Rob for a great conversation, such a funny guy, such a smart guy, and just a guy who's lived a lot of life, got a lot of stories. You can catch the second season of 911 Lone Star Mondays on Fox. And you can listen to Rob's podcast, literally. Yes, pronounced literally, just like a as character in Parks and Rec wherever you get yours. And thanks as always to all of you for tuning in again this week. If you want to hear more of my full-length conversations with guests every week, be sure to click subscribe so you never miss an episode. And of course, don't forget to tune in to Sunday today every weekend on NBC. I'm Willie Geist. We'll see you right back here next week on the Sunday Sit Down podcast.