Okay, first I’ll get the gratuitous pics out of the way…

And perhaps one more for good measure (clearly I have no shame):

Basically there are two types of people – those who would consider reading Rob Lowe’s extremely interesting and well-written autobiography, Stories I Only Tell My Friends and those that aren’t even reading this post.

If you’re in the first category (and I say, ‘Well done, you’), let me a give you few reasons why you’ve made a very good decision:

01. The chapters on The Outsiders – beyond marvellous.

02. He’s grateful for his success – humble, even – and calls out his own bad behaviour. Sure, he wasn’t going into detail about the sex-tape* but he does draw attention to the irony, given that he was working on Bad Influence when the tape appeared.

When Rob was thirteen-years-old, he met John Belushi. Belushi asked what he wanted to be when he grew up and Rob replied that he wanted to be an actor –

‘…at once, I knew I’d said something wrong. His entire face fell, and his mood darkened in an instant. Then he pulled me close and whispered in my ear in a voice so thick I almost couldn’t understand him, “Stay out of the clubs.”
I should have listened. Instead, I got my first agent.’

03. For his slow-reveal on particular actors, actresses and projects –

‘I start talking to the kid from back East. He’s open, friendly, funny, and has an almost robotic, bloodless focus and an intensity that I’ve never encountered before. His name is Tom Cruise.”

04. For the truly glorious name-dropping –

‘One day I’m killing time hanging out at the Mayfair Market parking lot, I see a bunch of kids… I ask the kid who looks to be the leader what’s going on… He tells me that he is ‘filming’ a Vietnam movie and he is using the Market’s loading dock as a set. He shows me his 8mm movie camera and introduces himself. “I’m Chris Penn. I’m the director.” Now this is exciting – kids shooting their own movie! I ask him who else is doing his movie, hoping he will ask me to be in it as well. “Well, I got my best friend, Charlie, my brother Sean, and maybe Charlie’s big brother, Emilio.”‘

‘I had hoped my pal Emilio would play opposite me in Class, but it was not to be. Instead, a kid from New York named Andrew McCarthy accompanied a friend to his audition for a small role in the film. While the friend read, a casting director asked Andrew if he could take a Polaroid of him while he waited… A month later, Andrew is starring in the movie.’

4/5 Thrilling.

*settle down, it’s not a link to the tape, it’s a link to a really good interview about the tape.