Rob Lowe is one of the most commendable actors in all of the entertainment industry, and especially one of the most long-lasting ones. For one who started his career at a mere 15 years of age, the now-59-year-old actor cum producer cum talk show host has come a far way from there.
And through the way, he has bagged some of the most critically acclaimed roles as well.
Yet, there was one role — for which the creators initially wanted Tom Cruise but couldn’t get him due to unavoidable reasons — for which he auditioned like there was no tomorrow since he was still considerably new to the acting profession.
In fact, he auditioned so hard for that role that he eventually had to be carried out on a stretcher!
Rob Lowe Took an Audition to The Extreme, and Ended On a Stretcher
In 1984, the dance-musical story of Ren McCormack in Footloose gained massive approval from general audiences as it made it to the theatres. But little did fans know that the dashing Rob Lowe in his teenage years auditioned for that film as well.
However, things didn’t go all too well for him as his vigorously performed audition ended up giving him a torn ACL, requiring him to be escorted out of there on a stretcher. Recently appearing on the Six Degrees with Kevin Bacon podcast, the 9-1-1: Lone Star actor shared the story of the audition process, saying:
“Cutting to the chase of it, it’s a dance audition at Paramount. Dance. I think it was to a Styx song, of all things. And the end of the dance was a knee slide across the floor.”
While it sounded easy for a young and enthusiastic Lowe, little did he know how much trouble he would end in by the end of the audition. As he continued:
“I hit my knees and slide across the floor into a lineup of, like, Sherry Lansing, Dean Pitchford, Craig Zadan, and Herbert Ross, and my knee explodes. Explodes! Pop! And they take me out of the soundstage on a stretcher.”
Eventually, even though he tried his best, The Outsiders star was met with the terrible news that he wasn’t made so much for the movie, after all, and that his popping his knee to give a tremendous audition was just an incredible effort gone down the drain.
“And this tells you everything you need to know about Hollywood,” he continued. “The producers, who were friends of mine and were very pro me doing this movie, come up to me and go ‘Hey man it’s cool. At the end of the day, we really decided we’re just going to hire a dancer for the part.'”
Thus, the then-teenager-Rob Lowe was out of the list of contenders for the role of Ren McCormack in Footloose. Even then, the producers didn’t keep their promise to the full, eventually wounding up with an actor instead of a dancer!
The Role Eventually Went to Neither Tom Cruise Nor Rob Lowe
As it turned out, even before Rob Lowe, the one that filmmakers were looking forward to joining the crew was none other than Tom Cruise. A charming presence in his 20s, he almost played the role of the city-boy transplant Ren.
But he eventually ended up turning it down due to scheduling conflicts with his other film, All the Right Moves, as reported by The Chronicle (via Pop Sugar).
Ultimately, the role instead went on to the one who transformed into a cult icon with Footloose, and whom fans have come to love and adore as Ren McCormack over the years: Kevin Bacon. (Yes, the very same podcast host on whose show Lowe was sharing his story!)
The fact that his producer “friends” ditched him for another actor all the while claiming they would go for a dancer instead was what truly got to the Unstable actor about the whole movie thing. As he revealed:
“A week later, they hired you [Kevin Bacon], and I’m like ‘God damn these guys! That’s a real actor.'”
Well, Rob Lowe may have been ruled out of Footloose, but it also opened doors for him to join other major hits like The Outsiders and Class, which ultimately led him to a successful enough career that has been raging on for over four and a half whopping decades.
Footloose is available on DIRECTV in the United States.
