Rob Lowe can still remember reading two scripts and recognizing the opportunity in front of him. Both times, another familiar name ended up attached, Tom Cruise.
“That dastardly Tom Cruise was always a nemesis,” Lowe joked in a Sept. 5 interview with the New York Post. The 62-year-old singled out Top Gun and Jerry Maguire, two movies that became defining Cruise hits after Lowe had pursued the opportunities himself.
With Top Gun, Lowe said he read for Maverick and immediately thought the movie was going to be enormous. Cruise ultimately got the part. Years later, Lowe remembered reading Jerry Maguire and once again encountering the same answer: Tom Cruise.
The “nemesis” line was playful, but the history behind it stretches back more than four decades. Lowe and Cruise had already worked together as young actors in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Outsiders, years before either could know which one would eventually become Maverick or start demanding that somebody show him the money.
‘Top Gun’ Was the One Lowe Knew Could Be Massive
Lowe’s memory of Top Gun is unusually specific. He recalled reading the material and immediately believing the movie had blockbuster potential.
Cruise ultimately became Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in Tony Scott’s 1986 film, turning the Navy pilot into one of his signature characters. More than three decades later, he returned to the role for 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick.
Jerry Maguire gave Lowe another version of the same experience in the 1990s. Lowe simply remembers reading the script and once again being told Cruise was the actor involved. Entertainment Weekly grouped both movies among the major roles Lowe pursued that ultimately went to his former costar.
Lowe’s interest in Jerry Maguire is not a newly invented piece of career mythology. In a 2014 Reddit Q&A, he also listed the role among the parts he had especially wanted during his career.
The ‘Ferris Bueller’ Story Is Different
One famous role Lowe says he did not lose is Ferris Bueller. Asked about the long-running idea that he had been considered for Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Lowe said that was not what happened. Matthew Broderick got the 1986 role, but Lowe said John Hughes was never particularly interested in casting him.
Lowe recalled meeting Hughes once despite believing there were multiple parts across the filmmaker’s movies that he could have played. “Phone never rang,” he said of what happened afterward.
He has his own theory for why. Lowe believes he may already have been too recognizable while Hughes often helped turn less-established young actors into stars. He described that explanation partly as something he tells himself to feel better about never landing a Hughes movie.
That does not mean Lowe never auditioned for Hughes. In an earlier conversation with Molly Ringwald, he recalled auditioning for John Bender in The Breakfast Club, the rebellious student ultimately played by Judd Nelson. Lowe said he barely made it beyond his meeting with Hughes, although he remembered thinking the script itself was excellent.
Cruise Was Competitive Long Before Either Became a Movie Star
The new “nemesis” joke fits stories Lowe has been telling about Cruise for years. While making The Outsiders, the young actors passed time on location by working out, running and sparring in their hotel.
Lowe told The Rich Eisen Show in 2024 that the boxing was legitimate enough for the actors to wear headgear and mouthpieces. During one session, he landed a clean punch on Cruise and believed he had rung his bell.
The advantage did not last. Lowe said the next thing he remembered was waking up on the floor after Cruise knocked him out. He described Cruise as intensely competitive even then, but told the story affectionately.
Their 1983 film assembled a remarkable group of young actors before many reached their later level of fame, including Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze, Emilio Estevez, Ralph Macchio, C. Thomas Howell and Diane Lane.
Lowe Is Now Promoting a Movie With Another ‘Nemesis’ at Its Center
The timing of Lowe’s latest career look-back comes as he prepares to release The Musical, a dark comedy that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. Lowe plays Brady, a middle-school principal who becomes the target of frustrated theater teacher Doug Leibowitz, played by Will Brill.
Doug’s resentment intensifies after Brady begins dating his ex, Abigail, played by Gillian Jacobs. He responds by plotting a student production designed to sabotage the principal’s reputation and destroy his chances of securing recognition for the school.
The new trailer shows Doug secretly replacing the expected school production with a deliberately provocative play as his motivations shift from career frustration toward outright spite. The Musical opens nationwide on Sept. 18.