The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos - An 80s nostalgia-fest with Molly Ringwald and Rob Lowe

Episode Date: October 25, 2021

Our recent episode about happiness and nostalgia prompted a lot of listener feedback. Since people seemed to really enjoy our chat with 80s star Rob Lowe, we thought it would be fun to bring you an appropriate episode of Literally! With Rob Lowe.In this edition of his podcast, Rob talks to fellow 80s icon Molly Ringwald. Find out what magazine reigns supreme (Bop! or Time), how a cowboy hat could have transformed The Breakfast Club, and what supervillain Molly would play in a film!(Contains adult language). Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pushkin. emails, and comments about was our episode entitled, Why Nostalgia Ain't So Rosy. I didn't realize just how much nostalgia and the importance of thinking about the past would hit a nerve with our listeners. So in honor of how much you all loved our episode with Rob Lowe, I'm sharing one of my own favorite episodes from Rob Lowe's podcast, Literally with Rob Lowe, where he chats with another one of my favorite 80s stars, Molly Ringwald. Think 16 Candles and the Breakfast Club. This episode is a fantastic look back at how starting as a young actor informs your life as you age. Molly and Rob look back on their time in the 80s, catch up on what they're doing now, and have fun the whole time. Take a listen and then go find Literally wherever you

get your podcasts. I hope their conversation gives you a happy dose of nostalgia. And not to worry, the Happiness Lab will be back with more episodes soon. Hello. Hi, nice to see you again. You know that you were voted idol of the millennium or something, and I was number two. Wow, that's pretty impressive. I mean, I guess that's an accomplishment of some kind when you're firmly in middle age. Welcome to Literally With Me, Rob Lowe. Today, we are kicking off season two. Literally with me, Rob Lowe. Today, we are kicking off season two.

I've had so much fun making this podcast. I hope you enjoyed season one as much as I did. And season two is shaping up to be even more fun. And we're starting it off with a little celebration of the 80s. A little throwback. We're getting in the time machine. And if you're going to talk 80s, you got to go with the number one icon, Molly Ringwald. She is our first guest of the second season. And man, we're going to get into it. But there's also more good news. We're going to do this thing called the hashtag Saks Challenge on social media. So

it's a big week and we're celebrating anyway. But let's stay on track. Molly Ringwald. She's pretty and pink. She was on the cover of Time magazine before I was. OK, I've never been on the cover of Time magazine, but I digress. Let's get down with Molly Ringwald. It can't be that the last time we saw each other was when we worked together, can it? Because that was a bazillion years ago. I think that was actually the last time we saw each other.

Oh, my God. For those of you who don't know, we did The Stand together, the great Stephen King miniseries. I loved that miniseries. Did you like it as much as I did? I loved it. I did. I really did. I know that they just did a new one, which seemed like a like sort of odd timing, either really great timing or really terrible.

Right. But yeah, I didn't see that one. But yeah, I really did like the one that we did together. I thought it was special in a good way. I tell you what was really special about it is Stephen King was there all the time and he adapted it. And super nice guy. Right. Super nice guy. And I remember going to a lot of, we shot it all in Utah. And I remember going to a lot of Utah jazz games with Stephen King. And there's this great moment where we're walking through a parking garage and we're just kind of silent. And we kind of couldn't find the car for a minute. And he was like like parking garages are scary i want to write i want to write about a parking garage i was like you know when stephen king is scared in a parking

garage it's scary and i'm sure he did write it like in a day speaking of writing i went back and re-read a lot of your writing i love your writing so much oh thank you i really i really really do i was trying to think of why like what it is that I respond to in your style. And I think you have a tremendous clarity and insight, but you don't write in a showy way, and yet it's totally evocative. And it's like, there's a great quote I have on my desk that Da Vinci said is,

simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. I've taken to collecting really good quotes. And I think you kind of right in that in that in that style. Have you who's your favorite? Do you have a favorite like celebrity memoir? Mine was the David Niven books. I don't know if you've ever read those. You know, I don't, I don't think I've read a lot of celebrity memoir books. I think I, when I read, it's mostly, it's mostly fiction. I think that's kind of what's, what's always, you know, kind of drawn me in. I think the Louise Brooks though, I think I was always, you know, I, whenever I read a celebrity, you know, biography, it's usually somebody that I'm, you know, sort of interested in for for some reason, you know, maybe thinking about playing her in a movie, or I don't know. So the last one that I really remember loving was, was Lulu in Hollywood. That's a good one. I really like the ones where it's pretty clear that the person is writing it themselves.

Or if they're ghostwritten, it's so well ghostwritten that it doesn't take you out of it. But I think there's a few that really write. I think Mia writes her own. Julie Andrews, I read hers. Hers is pretty great. Yeah. I have so Mia writes her own. Julie Andrews, I read hers. Hers is pretty great. Yeah. I have so much admiration for writers. It's such a, in my experience, it's such a

sort of difficult and torturous thing to do as opposed to acting, which, you know, I've been doing since the day I was born. So it's, it's a little easier, but, but writing is, I don't know, I just have so much respect for writers. So when somebody manages to do it well, it's inspiring. Was the first time that people were aware of your writing was when you wrote about John Hughes after he passed? Do you think the New Yorker piece, probably? I think, you know, getting published in the New Yorker for, for any, anyone is sort of like the pinnacle. I mean, it's, if you, if you want to be published anywhere, um, it sort of was like, it's, it's like a stamp, you know, like, okay, this person's an actual writer. They're not, you know, a dilettante. Um, but you know, I've been writing for years. Um, you know, I, I'd been writing sort of like, you know, book reviews and profiles, you know, I've been writing for years. You know, I've been writing sort of like, you know, book reviews and profiles. You know, I had a friend who is a writer named Dave Daly. I don't know if you've read his book. It's about he kind of wrote the book on gerrymandering called. I love that title. at a time when I didn't think that I necessarily could. Or that, let's put it this way,

I didn't think that anyone would accept me as a writer because I sort of grew up in this time, as did you, but I'm a woman, where you're only supposed to do one thing. And if you do anything else, then no one's going to take you seriously. And so I like to sing and I like to write, but I thought, ah, no one's going to take me seriously as a writer. And my friend Dave was just relentless with, here, I want you to, you know, he knew that I liked, oh, no one's going to take me seriously as a writer. And my friend Dave was just relentless with here. I want you to you know, he knew that I liked, for instance, the magnetic fields.

And he would say, I want you to write. Are you interested in doing a profile on Stephen Merritt, you know, or whatever? And so he would just he was the person that kind of really encouraged me and to sort of kept me writing. And then and then I just got better, I think, because I don't think anybody, well, maybe some people start as a good writer, but I think it took me many years to, to really get better and to really kind of call myself a writer. My writing journey began with ghost, for lack of a better term, ghostwriting screenplays that I would end up in, like, it'd be a script I'd be in and I'd be like, yeah, I'll do it. And then you're kind of like at lunch in your trailer,

scribbling out different speeches and what have you. And I did that a lot. And that's what got sort of started. Did you ever do any ghostwriting or like body and fender work on any of your movies? Oh, yeah, I definitely did. I mean, I in the John Hughes movies that I did, you know, so much of that was, was improvised. I mean, the scripts are really great to start out with, but he was really open to, to improv and to, you know, just making shit up. And, you know, but, but I don't think everybody was like him. I've worked with a lot of people who are really precious about their writing and make it really difficult to change even one word. And so after a while, you sort of, you know, throw up your hands

a little bit. But in my experiences, the best writers are actually the ones that are the most open to what you're talking about. I don't know. Has that been your experience? I mean, I would say that, and then I think of Aaron Sorkin, who's a great writer, and you are not changing jack shit. Well, I was talking to Brad Whitford, actually, the other day, who you worked with in West Wing, and I said to him what I just said to you, and then he brought up Aaron 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 listening, Aaron, you're in your, you've made it. You're in the same breath as Shakespeare. I, you know, it'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 nineties. And then I never was in a John Hughes movie. John Hughes was not calling my number for, and I've been thinking about it for a while. I was like, why is it? Cause I auditioned for Breakfast Club. Did you? Yeah. For which part? For Bender, for the part that Judd Nelson played. Okay. Did you go the distance or did you just do one audition?

I don't think I barely made it out of my interview with John. My only memory was the script was great. Yeah. It was great. It was great. You're like, oh, this is going to be great. And I just remembered the Bender character in the script wore a cowboy hat. He did? I promise you, because 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. 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 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 Sixteen 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. So, so then he offered me a part at the end of, of that. And I remember reading it on a plane. He wanted me to play Alison 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 role. They'd only think of me as the weird girl and, you know, the introvert and all of that stuff. 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? And I was like, yeah, but you know, it's a really different script. And he's like, what do you mean? And I said, I, 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 cut 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. He didn't like to rewrite because he felt like they just didn't get better. So, I mean, I've never experienced that before where a writer director was like,

pick your favorite parts. 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 was it. That's what they want. That's what they're looking for. Yeah. I used to, 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? Sometimes I did it.

Sometimes I turned it down. But it was always on page. I think every script written in the 80s, if you can get it on microfiche at the library, my favorite word, on page 72, you'll see the characters having something steamy. Just had to do it like, you know, nude teachers swim. That's 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 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 got to make it as creepy as possible. Like if you swim nude and nobody watches, did you really swim nude? Did it happen? Did it happen? That's really the question. Yeah, so I auditioned for John. And 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. No ringy dingy. No phone call-y. 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, would you think it would be unfair to say that John had a little bit of Svengali in him? Oh, yeah. Definitely. Yeah. Definitely. Well, 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 Svengali.

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, even 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? 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, straw cowboy hats are definitely like rural Indiana, rural Illinois, for sure. 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. That'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. I mean, really, I think the only it was he was unremarkable. The only thing I the only reason I remember it is because I knew it was going to be it was a very movie everybody wanted to be in and it was really going to be good. And, you know, like you've said before is, you know, this was a breakfast up 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 with fast times at Ridgewood high, like they're real movies.

Yeah. And you know, we weren't offered movies like that. They weren't making movies like that. So, um, to be in a, you know,

a real movie, um, was, was an exciting thing, although it was not to be, and I blame the fucking cowboy hat. Hang on, I'm just going to let my dogs in because they're going to win.

Yeah, let them in. What kind of dogs you got there over there? Oh, I have a few. I have five. I have three dogs. I have, I have a little tiny dog. Oh yes. This is Millie Ringwald.

Millie Ringwald. Millie Ringwald. Yeah. That's the greatest. Has her own Instagram. I mean, come on. Like she, the greatest. Has her own Instagram. I mean, come on. Like, this needs their own Instagram. She needs her own Time Magazine cover.

Yes, she does. Why don't you do that? Ain't she sweet? Ain't she sweet? By the way, I remembered that that's what the tagline was. Yeah. How can you forget? I wasn't crazy about that.

When I saw that, I was like, OK, there you are there. There's your now you're going to be typecast pretty much for the next 40 years. How did that when they tell you you're going to be on the cover of Time magazine and how old were you? 18? I was. Yeah, I was 18. What's that like? I got I got the cover of Bop magazine. That's where my career was. Tiger Pete. I didn't understand that it was as big of a deal as it was. It was actually Warren Beatty, who I'm still friends with, who was the one to tell me that it was a really, really big deal.

Because I was like, you know, I was really psyched about Seventeen magazine. I mean, I was a kid. And so Time magazine, I just didn't, I wasn't reading Time magazine at the time. I didn't really care all that much about it. But I knew that everybody else really cared about it. And of course, now I realized that it was a big deal. Today, now that no one cares about Time magazine or any other magazine, they care. Yeah, that's right.

That's true. But I still feel like it's an honor. I remember going to a party in the 90s where everyone who was ever on the cover of Time was invited to, with the exception of three people. And see if you can guess who those three people were who were not invited. OK, what time what you need to know what year it was. This was like 90 these late late 90s. Momar Gaddafi. He well, I don't know if he was invited, but no, that's not one of the three.

Monica Lewinsky. Yes. Bing, bing, bing, bing, b's not one of the three. Monica Lewinsky. Yes. Bing, bing, bing, bing, bing. Ding, ding, ding. And two more. Hang on. Hang on now. Hang on now.

Okay. Who are the other two? Who are the other two? Ken Starr. Yes. And OJ Simpson. Yeah, OJ couldn't make it. Yeah.

Those are the, and everybody else. I mean, I invited my friend Victoria and it was one of these experiences. I mean, I'm sure you've had these experiences where you're just like, wow, anybody that I would ever want to meet is in this room. And, you know, and who who is it? Like, who do I really want to talk to or have a conversation with? And so my friend I'm pretty shy. But my friends who I invited is not at all. I mean, she will meet and talk to anyone.

And I always like to be around people like that because it makes me a lot more outgoing. And she said, let's pick two people each and go and meet them and talk to them. And I said, okay. So my two people were Anita Hill and Toni Morrison. And her two people were Bill Gates and Gorbachev. I mean, by the way, that sounds like an actual dream.

Yeah. So I met Anita Hill, and then I talked to Gorbachev. It sounds like a dream. Yeah. It was pretty cool. And everybody seemed really excited to be there and, you know, and happy to, to be social. And it wasn't, you know, it, it, it felt kind of exciting. Yeah. So, I mean, when I think about Time Magazine and what that means, you know, I was, I was, I felt pretty

proud to be, you know, cause I've never gotten awards or been nominated for anything. I think I was nominated for one thing, like Best Newcomer at the Golden Globe Awards, but lost out to Sandal Berkman, who was in that movie, Red Sonja. Yeah, Red Sonja. What are you going to do? Red Sonja beat me.

I've lost to a long line of luminaries, believe me. Tell me, because I'm a huge Warren baity fan and know him a little bit but not not like you do and not like a lot of my friends do and he's i mean he's one of my idols it's like yeah who i kind of you know um thought like he was it i did have one great one amazing evening at his house where we heed a Burt Reynolds double feature. He had just won the Oscar for Reds. He had just won it. And the notion that he had to really do a deep dive on Burt Reynolds' oeuvre kind of made me laugh. Yeah, I wonder what he was doing. I mean, he must have been researching something. I just remember him turning to me in the screening room. I mean, he insisted that I, yeah, I was with my girlfriend and he was with

his girlfriend of the moment. And he insisted that I sit next to him and that in halfway through the movie, he turned to me and he goes, hmm, yes, I see. And I went going, whoa. Oh, my God. How does he know what lens? Yeah, he's pretty amazing to talk to and not just about his technological prowess and his understanding of films, but he pretty much has met everyone. Everyone. Not just met, but has had a conversation or a story about everyone. And I really wish that he would, he would write,

you know, his, his memoir, because I mean, I know a lot of the stories, but I've, I've never written them down. And I just, I think it's just so interesting and fascinating. And there's just not that many people, you know, in our business that are that are left that have that kind of, you know, sort of access to like old Hollywood, old theater, you know. And and also, I mean, he had a, you know, an experience with Marilyn Monroe, you know, like it's just. That story is amazing. The Marilyn Monroe story. Yeah. It's just and I'll butcher it. I don't really I've heard it apoc. That story's amazing. The Marilyn Monroe story. Yeah. It's just, and I'll butcher it.

I don't really, I've heard it apocryphally a bunch, but. Okay. I was going through your credits, credits, credits. And were you in the short film of Sling Blade? I was. What? Yeah. It was interesting.

I was living in France at the time. And kind of, you know, I would say I put my career firmly on the back burner. But stuff was still sent to my parents house. And, and it was my mom who called me up in Paris. And she was like, you know, there's the script that I got that I just, you know, I think is really interesting. And it was this short film called Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade. And I came back to shoot it. It was not directed by Billy Bob. It was directed by a man who has since died named George Hickenlooper. Did you know him?

Oh, I know the name. I didn't know he was involved in that. Yeah. So he directed it. And Billy Bob was in it, and I played the reporter who comes to interview him at the hospital. And it was really interesting because when we met before at a diner or something, he said, you know, I kind of do this, this character. I don't know, do you want me to just, you know, wait, do you want me to do it now? Or do you want

to wait? And I was like, you know, save it, save it. I want I want to see it the like the first time. So the first time that I ever saw him do it, the camera was on me. No. And that was like, was on me no and that was like a completely authentic I mean I was not acting in that I was just amazing I mean he was amazing he completely transformed and and yeah it was it was extraordinary I was really uh happy to be a part of that I was not so happy that he didn't call me back to uh to be a part of the movie I sort of was really bummed out about that. But I guess the movie really didn't focus on that. It really focused on him outside of the hospital. Yeah, I don't even remember the reporter being in the movie. Yeah, I don't think it was. But yeah, that was really, really something.

That character. People forget, and I know Billy a little bit. In fact, Billy is the person who told me i should write oh he's he was my guy that was like you should be writing and so i'm indebted to him and and i've always been a huge fan but he told me the story he's and i can't do a billy bob thornton impersonation i used to be able to but it's been too long but i wish i could because it helps the story but he said he was sitting in some like honey wagon on some awful movie that he hated and waiting to act and just like, is this my life? Is this I'm like the seventh lead in a shitty movie up in fucking some freezing Canadian town in the middle of the winter. And he's looking at himself in the mirror and he just made that face.

He made the Carl Slingblade face. Yeah. And then did it. Yeah. Yeah. And he started just fucking around, like just because he was bored, just entertaining himself.

Yeah. That was the origin of Carl. And that was the origin of, of S that was the origin of of sling blade and and then he told me he wrote a short and i said wait it was a short and then to see that you were in it it's definitely one of my cooler credits like that one and and like jean-luc godard i kind of like put that and working with cassavetes i sort of i put all of those sort of at the top of the list. Yeah. Do you still talk to him?

I haven't seen him in a long time. I talked to him a lot when he was, because my best friend was, who passed away a few years ago, was Bill Paxton. And Bill and he were really, really good buddies and did numerous movies together. One False Move is a great great sam raimi movie so that was sort of my you know intersection with with uh with billy bob um god i love him and that i can't believe i'm so jealous who else was in the movie was it just my my my i feel like it was like shot in a black box with a dangling light and it's just you and billy That's what I feel like it was like. Yeah, no, it was, it was another really fantastic actor who I think might've been in the, um,

the actual movie. Um, and I'm blanking on his name and it's JT Walsh. Yeah, I think that was him. I bet it was. He was, he was another patient.

it's him. He's insane. He's unbelievable. It's unbelievable. Yeah. He, he, he, he's died since then it was he was he was another patient yeah it's him he's insane he's unbelievable it's unbelievable yeah he he he he's died since then but he was he was amazing suzanne cryer played the do you know suzanne cryer um that was her first job she never she came out of yale drama and had never even been on film before and i remember you know telling her like what marks were and i kind of like you know favor the camera a little bit, you know, and, and, you know, and then of course, she went on to have a great career. I'm trying to think of who else was in it

Billy Bob. Oh, oh, you know, who was in it is Jefferson Mays. Oh, Jefferson Mays. Great actors. Yeah, great actor. Yeah, it was it was a really cool project. Do you ever feel because you've been acting as you were literally, you're not kidding, like a baby, right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so that stuff like favorite of the camera, what marks are, it's so in your DNA. Yeah. It's like it's in your DNA you don't even think about it, haven't thought about it in years. And then you work with somebody who's brand brand brand new and

you're like oh bless them yeah listen if you can't see the camera the camera can't see you yeah do you have to do that with Emilio Estevez you did didn't you you had to be like Emilio these are marks I know your papa didn't have them in the jungle when he was making Apocalypse Now. But this is a library set. No, Emilio had done a few things before we did Breakfast Club, right? Yes. He did Repo Man. He did, well, of course, The Outsiders.

He did a few stuff. Yeah, I was just buzzing. I mean, all of those people. I mean, I'm trying to think so ally i did two movies with emilio i did two movies with um judd i did one movie with that's sort that's that's the main group of the breakfast club right yeah well anthony michael hall anthony michael never worked with him i loved him he was so good in those movies and still is. He's an amazing actor.

Yeah, he really is. He he's so funny, so smart. I don't know if you've been watching the Bo Burnham inside. Of course, there's something I mean, I'm kind of obsessed. And, you know, now I think I've watched it like five times all the way through just because I'm so I'm so intrigued to know how he how he did it. Basically, like I want to like take it apart like a watch and put it back together again. But there's something in Bo Burnham that reminds me a lot of Anthony Michael Hall. I don't know. It's like the, just how incredibly smart and sharp. And also when I

knew Michael, he was really tall. Like he grew just overnight to, you know, I think he's way over six feet and he's kind of gangly and, you know, love George Carlin. There's, there's just something in the two of them that I, that I think is really similar. Um, but I haven't, I haven't seen him for years. I visited, I can't remember what set it was. Which one of your movies was Joan Cusack in? She was in 16 Candles.

She played the neck brace girl. Right, that's, yes. And is Michael Schoefling in that? Yes, of course he is. He's the guy. Yeah, Michael Schoofling is the guy. I visited that set. Didn't meet you, but I was there one day. In Chicago?

In Chicago, yeah. I was doing class. Oh, yeah. And John Cusack was in class. That's right. Right? And Andrew McCarthy. That's right. So I came and I remember meeting everybody. And then my girlfriend at the time was going off to do a movie with Michael Schofling then later. And I was like, ooh, that handsome little bastard. I was very jealous of Michael Schofling.

And Michael Schofling's just like disappeared. I mean, just completely from public eye anyway. He just tapped out. He said, I've had enough. I'm taking my winnings and leaving the casino of Hollywood. Yeah. And I think he's the last I heard, he's like a carpenter. I don't know if that's just like an urban legend or what, but I'm into it. No, that's Daniel Day-Lewis. No, he's a tailor, isn't he?

Oh, that. Yes. Isn't he a tailor or making shoes or something? Or is he a cobbler? Maybe he's a cobbler. I think it's a cobbler. Maybe he's making cobbler. Daniel Day-Lewis is fruit cobbler? Maybe he's a cobbler. I think it's a cobbler. Maybe he's making cobbler. Daniel Day-Lewis's fruit cobbler. So insane. Okay, I'm obsessed with the pickup artist because here's what I remember about the pickup artist.

Okay. That was another one that like as a young actor, everybody's like, ooh, the pickup artist. Like James Toback, ooh, edgy James Toback. And Warren Beatty, he was like under his auspices and everybody wanted to be in it. And it was all very misterioso. And, you know, I just picture these meetings at Warren's Mulholland Spaceship House. And I just, it's become Warren's Mulholland Spaceship House. It's become this mythical movie to me.

And then there's the urban legend that Toback is such an inveterate gambler that he chose the locations to be close to the off-track betting sites. Have you ever heard that one? Yeah, that doesn't surprise me at all. Yeah. Wait, did you do any of the – I know that Warren had a lot of readings at his house, sort of like trying out different people. Did you ever do any of those? No, again, Warren, like John Hughes, was not calling my number. And I don't know what it means. I'm very disappointed that my hero was not. I know.

But he's always said nice things about you. Oh, I love hearing that. I'm a huge Warren fan. What can I say? He's the man. But I was very now I remember why I remember it so much. Because I was in therapy over it that I never got to go to.

That was a cool house, though. You went to the spaceship house, right? Right. Okay. So my memory of it, okay, this is great because I've never, this is, oh, thank you. Because my memory of it is it's a fucking spaceship. And when I went, there was no furniture or very little furniture except the Oscar was on the mantle for Reds. And he and he and he said, yeah, I'm sorry.

I just haven't had a chance to really furnish it. I've been away shooting for a couple of years. I was like, yeah, I know. I think maybe you went to the spaceship house before I did, because by the time I went there, there there was some furniture, not a lot. It was a pretty sparse house. But I remember this big, huge grand piano. Yes, I think that was there. And because Warren plays piano, actually, he did piano bar before, you know, while he was, you know, supporting himself as an up and coming actor. And then I remember, you know know the next time i was there there was just a degas statue that was just sort of casually placed on the piano i was like what you got the

degas i got the oscar that's that's that was his move just oh by the way yeah um were you were you always the the feet like like So who did you read with? Who are the different people that you came up and read with up there at the spaceship house? I never read with anyone, but I I knew that that readings were half like I really wanted to do it because I just really wanted to work with Warren. Yeah. You know, I mean, I would have loved to have, you know, been in a movie that Warren directed and Warren kind of, I mean, Toback was the director, but you know, Warren was involved. So he was, he was directing everyone, um, all the time. Um, but I remember he would call me and say, you know, what do you,

Hey, Hey, what do you think? Uh, what do you think of Demi Moore? What do you think of, you know, Susie Amos? What do you think of? And he would, he would ask me what I thought of all these other actresses and it was driving me crazy. I was like, just cast me. I want to be in it. You know, but he was like, I don't know if this part is big enough for you, you know, cause this is after Pretty in Pink and you know, everything. But I liked, I actually really liked the idea of, of playing supporting roles coming out of those movies. I really wanted to kind of not feel like a movie was sitting on my shoulders. So I like that idea. And I like the script. I thought the script was funny.

Of course, it would never get made today. None of them would. Yeah. I know. I mean, it's hard when you go through your resume, when one goes through one's resume. It's I mean, Breakfast Club, I can't imagine that ever getting made. It certainly wouldn't get made as a movie to be in the movie theater, if barely at all. I mean, it'd be made for absolutely a shoestring and it would be, you know, a Sundance movie if you're lucky.

Yeah. Yeah. And I kind of miss that. I have to say I miss movies that aren't spectacles. I mean, I enjoy going to spectacles too. I just went to see The Black Widow with, you know, with my kids. And, you know, I'm not a big superhero kind of movie. But, you know, I enjoyed it.

But the part that I enjoyed the most was the relationship with this. The acting. Yeah, the acting and the relationship between Scarlett Johansson's character and Florence Pugh. Yeah, I thought they were amazing. And I thought that the reason why it's a good movie is because you are invested in these people, you know. I think you'd be great in a Marvel movie. Yeah? As a Marvel mastermind.

I want you as, I see you as a mastermind, though. Yes. Yeah, with those hands. Like that vibe. Yeah, I would actually love that. I would love to play a supervillain. By the way, just the notion of you, your name, like, and guess who's playing.

Um, I don't know. I don't know. What's it? What's give me a super villain name. What's it like? It just, uh,

let's make up your own. Well, I always thought, I mean, it's not a Marvel property. I think it's DC, but I thought if I ever did a, a super villain,

I would want to play bookworm. Oh, great. There you go. I mean, how cool would that be? I think. Oh, great. There you go. I mean, how cool would that be? I think it'd be super fucking hip. Yeah. Well, let's put it out there, Rob. Let's put it out there in the universe. Yeah. Uh, you be bookworm. I want to be green Hornet. Oh, okay.

I believe I could be green. You know, I mean, it could happen, you know, they're going to run out of actors at some point at some point. Yeah. And feel like uh it would just be it would be such a great opportunity to get in shape you know like i really want to be put on that like marvel marvel diet like i just you know yes right and take those those whatever they're doing to to look like that you know i want some of that. I say that same thing all the time. I go, the whole point of being in Marvel is to have Dr. Feelgood.

He probably carries a Marvel doctor bag that has the Marvel logo on it. And he shows up to every actor who's 20 pounds overweight, who just signed to play the green henchman or whatever the fuck character it is, and opens up that bag. And the play the you know the green henchman or whatever the fuck character it is yeah and opens up that bag and the next thing you know you're on drugs and you are just shredded yeah you don't know what hit you that's what i want that's what i want

i mean it's quite something do you think there's like a special floor at the Marvel building where they have like actors on treadmills? Like where they do animal experimentation except it's on actors. And they're like, have you seen Kumail Nanjiani? Look at him. He's went from a 36-inch waist to a 28-inch waist. He's got a tortoise shell abs. Yeah, I'm sure. They are all ripped.

I mean, they all look better than they will ever look in their entire lives so so yeah i i feel like if if that could happen i would definitely be up for a superhero movie do you know that i never you know who the first person who ever got me to to work out was who okay let me know this is a good game okay this is oh oh i know who it is i know who it is i know absolutely who it is who amelia it's amelia totally i knew it i knew it i fucking knew it i knew it i never even i don't even think i i understood the concept of working out i mean it was like you had pe at school you you know maybe took a couple tennis classes you know but like working out actually you know yeah he hooked me up with this guy jackson sousa

get out i swear he came to my house in his van my parents house i don't remember his car no it was in my in the back of it because I was still living with my parents when I you know was doing these movies um and I remember and I was pretty skinny I mean I was just like very naturally a skinny kid but I remember him pinching me and telling me up you know what that is that's that's subcutaneous fat fat. I'm like, what? Yeah. I've never, never even, uh, I, I'm not sure I knew what subcontainious meant. Um, and never, ever was called fat in any way, shape or form, but by yeah, Jackson Sousa. But that, that was the first time I ever worked out with a trainer. Thanks, Emilio. He was my trainer too, Jackson Sousa. And he'd show up in a van and sometimes we would find a street, literally a cul-de-sac,

and pull over and he'd put all his shit out in the street and we'd work out in the middle of the street. Oh, wow. And that was an Emilio. Emilio used to wake me up. I'd be asleep and I'd wake up and Emilio would be standing over my bed. And he would be fully dressed in his dolphin shorts and his tank tops, and he would hold my running shoes in front of my face and wake me up in the morning. And he always said, wake up, it's your worst nightmare, an actor in running shoes.

And that's what he said. And then I would have to go run with him from Point Doom to Trancas and back. Wow. Are you still friends with Emilio? I haven't seen him in a long, long, long, long, long time because I think he's living in Ohio part-time and stuff and then he's shooting up in Canada. Yeah. Same. I see Martin a lot. Um, we did the West wing reunion and he's, you know, just the best. And, um, and every once in a while I'll, uh, I'll get

a really funny phone call from Charlie. Um, and I had McCarthy, I had Andrew on the podcast a few weeks ago. He was so great. I hadn't seen or spoken to Andrew in so many years. And his book's amazing. If you haven't read it, it's quite great. he didn't have to but I I thought that was really nice of him and he was very respectful and you know um he's a really good writer I mean he's he's another one who's been sort of writing for years and getting progressively better and um yeah he's a he's a good guy his son played my son in in his first movie which was weird because it was, I would have these moments where I would look across and I would just see Andrew's eyes. Like they don't really look a lot of like, but they have the same eyes and they're both a total pain in the ass. So I'd be like, oh my God, I'm like back in time. Oh, well, my, my youngest son, um, is an actor and starred in his first movie this summer, big independent movie. Well, independent, I don't think it is, but it's independent movie. And his dad was played by Andrew.

Oh my God. And so it really feels like the, like the matrix is about to break. Yeah, I agree. My daughter, uh, Matilda has just started acting, just did her first self tape. Oh, my God. And it's so it's so funny because I I feel like I've gotten to the point now where, you know, rejection doesn't sting as much as it always did. Because, you know, I've had incredible success. But like any actor, you know, you go through, there's always somebody else that they want, you know, no matter how much you do, there's always that, that sting of

rejection. But I finally have gotten to a place where I get a lot of my creative, um, you know, juju from somewhere else. And so I don't really need it as much. Um, and then now that my daughter's doing it, I feel rejection so much more. And I'm just like, Oh, my God, now I have to start all over again, feeling all of this stuff. And it's way worse when it's your kid. I don't know if you feel that way. But I mean, I feel that way. Like, how could anybody not just think, you know, is, and she's really good. I was really, that was another thing I was really nervous about is what if I have an actor kid and they just suck? You know, what am I going to say?

Yeah. What do you do? That's a real issue. I'll tell you what freaks me out is all of the self-tapes. Because when we were in, there was no self-tape. I remember when it was a big deal for them to have a camera in the audition. Like they had to tell your agents they were going to do it. You had to agree to it. It was super frowned on. Yeah. It's like you would always say, you know, she'll do the meeting, she'll do the reading, but she won't do the self-tape or,

you know, or she'll meet with you, but she won't read. I mean, yeah, there's all these rules about it. And the self-tape, they would always say, oh, it's just for blah, blah, blah. It's just to see the chemistry or it's just for this. Nothing's ever going to happen with it. But of course, like they're all on YouTube now, or, you know, I just got, I just got, I had to sign off to have a self tape that I did or not a self tape, but, you know, a videotape because they're releasing the, the behind the scenes for Labyrinth, which I auditioned for back in the day that Jennifer Connelly got. And I was part of me was really annoyed just because they told us, you know, that these weren't going to go anywhere. And then the other part of me is like, fuck it. I don't care. The Outsiders auditions are out there a lot. And they're

they're so not they're so mental. My favorite one is Kate Capshaw. Wow. And it's like so incongruent. You're like, wait, that's Steven Spielberg's wife. And they're like, and how old are you? And she goes, ah. Good answer.

Yeah. Those old audition things are so crazy. I love Matilda. Matilda, I love that. That's so good. Maybe she and Johnny can doilda. I love that. That's so good. Maybe she and Johnny can do a movie together. Yeah. How old is your son?

He's 25. Okay. And did you do the thing where you didn't let him act for a long time or were you always? Yep. Yeah. It's the Gwyneth Paltrow rule, I call it. What's that? So I'm very friendly with the Paltrow family and have been since gwyneth was

probably 15 and it was like patently obvious that she was a a sensation in waiting it wasn't even up for debate yeah and you know people throwing movie roles at her modeling contracts she's like a 15 year old girl doesn't she's like whatever yeah and and i would and then when she finally she finally did you know work and won the oscar so early i remember at the party talking to her dad bruce peltro who created many great television series and i had young kids and i was fearful that they wanted to be in the business and i said bruce what did you do with one i was like how did you handle it and he said we just had one rule. She had to go to college, and she did not act until she was at least 18.

And now, by the way, Gwyneth immediately dropped out of college. But that was the rule I had with my boys, too. The Paltrow rule. Okay, well, that's good. I wish I had known the Paltrow rule. Okay, well, that's good. I wish I had known the Paltrow rule, because I have been I have been suffering for years. Why won't you let me why won't you you know, and I'm like, Look, you can you can act you can learn to act. I got her teachers, you know, I feel like I could teach somebody else's kid how to act, or I could teach them to be a better

actor. You can't do that with your own kid, or at least I can't. So I got her with a really good teacher. And I'm like, you know, you're just, you just need to have a really big toolbox because, you know, maybe more doors will open for you, but people maybe might be a little bit more critical than they will with the average, you know, person. But I wish i would have known the the paltrow rule because that would have made my life a lot easier but it's hard though like if they get like uh somebody comes to them with something that's really great you're like there's something i want to ask you actually please turn the tables are you still still married to the mother of your children?

Cheryl, yes. Cheryl and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary last week. Congratulations. Thank you. That's amazing. So I'm sure people have asked you this before, but what do you attribute to the longevity? Because I think, you know, especially in Hollywood, that's not so easy to be with the same person forever. I always say the same thing.

I believe it's Alfred Hitchcock. It might have been another director. It might have been Billy Wilder. But when they asked them, what do you attribute the keys to a hit movie? And he said, casting. And I think that's what it is with a marriage. It's, it's casting and, you know, picking the right person, you know, and I really believe that that battle is won and lost right there. And, you know, for, you know, for me, Cheryl is and was and is my best friend. Right. And so no matter what we started from that place and the rest of it all followed. ebbs and flows and look, you know, there's good days and there's bad days in any long-term relationship. But if the baseline is best friendship, like when something good or bad happens, it's the first person you want to talk to about. Or if you have, I remember I had one,

I had the ability to bring somebody on a press tour around the world on a movie. Anybody, when I was single, anybody. And there are times when I brought male friends, my best buddies. And when I met Cheryl, I was like, I'm gonna bring Cheryl. And, and that's sort of when I was like, yeah, if you have one seat on a worldwide tour and you want that person to be with you. that. I'm going on, next February will be 21 years with my husband. No, that's a long time. Yeah. Who also, as you can see, was also my IT guy. I love that. But yeah, I feel the same way. You know, I really feel like if I was going around the world, he would be the person I would want to go around the world with. And he's, he's the one I want to talk to at the end of the day and, you know, the morning. And that really has never gone away. And so, yeah, I feel really

grateful for that. Yeah, I'm happy for you. That is good. And people listening is like, that's a really good litmus test. If it isn't that person, you maybe want to rethink it because the rest of it comes, goes, whatever, but that never goes away. Yeah, and also somebody that can make me laugh. I mean, he makes me laugh like crazy, and that's always been really important for me. That's actually something that I realized about you because I didn't really know you. I mean, I feel like we had all these people in common, but I didn't know you until we did the stand together. And I remember sort of like, oh, my God, he's so funny. Like, I just thought of you as this like good looking guy. And then you just made me laugh so, so much. Do you remember that scene that we had to do where it was like

the camera, we all we had to respond to something and the camera was like moving in really fast and we had to be like do you remember that day yes i do you know i think we shot it for 100 years i mean we literally shut it was like a it was a six month shoot in in utah six months yeah six months so um i had never we're talking about acting and acting learning acting acting coaches i was pretty much self-taught and and started working from such a young age i learned on the job but my wife as is her want will say things to me like you know this is a really good part honey thank you maybe you should get an acting coach thank you i think I think so. So when, um, I got the stand, um, I'm playing the, the character who, you know, can't talk, can't hear. And so she's like, this is really an opportunity. So I, I went and I studied with Roy London. Now Roy London, if you don't, he was the man

in Los Angeles. Yeah. the guy. The guy. And so he had, I think, Brad Pitt when he blew up with Thelma and Louise, was a big Roy London. Sharon Stone from The Jump was Roy London. Gary Shandling. And so I met with Roy's, you know, he says, send me the scripts and then we'll come talk about them. I send him the scripts.

He reads all the scripts. I come and sit with him. And he says, so tell me what you're thinking. And I said, well, you know, I don't know. He's, he's deaf. And you know, I'm deaf in one ear as well. I can barely, I can't hear at all on one side of my head. So, I mean, it might be an interesting thing where I get a device and, you know, like a

titanus, whatever the tinnitus device and put it in my ear so I could put a white noise in it so then I don't hear it. And he goes, let me just ask you, why would you want to do that? I said, well, what do you mean? Because he's deaf. And he goes, yeah, I understand that. But you're playing the part and you're not deaf.

I said, yeah. He goes, why would you ever want to add another level of falsehood to your performance? Because I'm thinking about like people who are blind, so they put a fucking mask on and stagger around their house for eight weeks, all that shit you hear about all the time from actors. And Roy's thing was, that's exactly what you do not do. And his thing, and this is the most counterintuitive, bizarre thing. And by the way, I don't use it all the time.

But he was like, the fact of the matter is you hear. So what you have to do is figure out why your character hears and chooses to let people think he doesn't. And he goes, and of course, you must not ever tell anyone. Molly Ringwald, this has been so fun. This makes my heart just swell and be happy. It's really, really great to see you again, talk to you. I'm so glad. Congratulations on living your best life, as the kids say today.

Thank you. You too. And I hope that we get a chance to work together again, maybe in a Marvel movie. And I'll see you at the Marvel, the super secret Marvel gym. I will be in the treadmill next to you, hooked up to an IV. Right on. Thanks, Molly. Thank you. Well, that was fun. She's so thoughtful and smart. It's always good to see somebody who's been there, done that, and is living a great life and loving their life and in a great place and just legitimately makes my heart happy.

I hope you had as much fun as I did. Okay, so before we wrap up for the week, I know you're ready. I know I am. It is time. Yes, it is for the low down line. Hello, you've reached literally in our low down line where you can get the low down on all things about me, Rob Lowe. 323-570-4551. So have at it. Here's the beep. Hey, Rob. This is Dakota here in Nebraska. I was wondering if you actually like the Atkins products, kind of looking heavily into that, you know, low carb, high protein,-protein, low-sugar too. Also, I want to know how things are going with 9-1-1 Lone Star.

Can't wait for the new season. So, yeah. Bye. Dakota in Nebraska is great. It could have been Nebraska and Dakota just as easily. So, thanks for the call. Not only do I love the Atkins stuff, like one of the things

when I was talking about getting into business with Atkins, because I've been eating the Atkins way for years and frankly wasn't even aware they had products at first, was when they sent me the protein shakes

and they were like literally like milkshakes. And I was like, this has to be bullshit. It has to be. Like these protein bars are so yummy. They can't possibly be as good for you and have the ingredients that they have. And they do.

So yeah, I'm a big believer in low carb life. It's made a real difference for me. And same with low sugar, although that's hard to beat. That's a struggle that I one step forward, two steps back. 911 Lone Star, thank you for watching. We finished the year as the number two rated show in all of television, two or three in all of TV. So we will be back for our third season and we will be premiering in January of

this coming year. We will not be back in the fall. We're going premiering in January of this coming year. We will not be back in the fall. We're going to be in January on Monday nights, same place on Fox. And really, really super good stories coming up. I'm really, really excited about year three. And I love doing it. And I love that people are loving it as much as they are. Thanks for calling.

We'll be back next week with more Literally. Don't forget to subscribe. Hit that subscribe button. It's very good for the Literally family. Thanks so much. You have been listening to Literally with Rob Lowe, produced and engineered by me, Rob Schulte. Our coordinating producer is Lisa Berm.

The podcast is executive produced by Rob Lowe for Low Profile, Jeff Ross, Adam Sachs, and Joanna Solitaroff at Team Coco, and Colin Anderson at Stitcher. Our talent bookers are Gina Batista, Paula Davis, and Britt Kahn, and music is by Devin Torrey Bryant. Make sure to leave us a rating and review, and we'll see you next week on Literally with Rob Lowe.