Rob Lowe says Tom Cruise went 'ballistic' about having to a share hotel room while filming 'The Outsiders'
Rob Lowe revealed that Tom Cruise once acted as a bit of a diva, refusing to share a bunk with him during the filming of the iconic 1983 drama 'The Outsiders.'
Lowe made the revelation during a recent appearance on Dax Shepard's podcast 'Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard.' Although Lowe and Cruise ended up working in the movie quite closely, Lowe revealed that the 'Mission Impossible' star threw a fit when he found out during auditions that the duo would be staying in a hotel room together.
"All of the L.A. people survived the L.A. auditions, and then the hand-picked people had to go to New York to face the New York version," Lowe explained. "So it was me and Tom Cruise and Emilio [Estevez] and C. Thomas Howell. [It was the] first time I ever stayed at The Plaza Hotel, and we check-in and Tom finds out that we’re sharing a room and just goes ballistic."
In the movie which was based on the 1967 novel of the same name by S. E. Hinton, and directed by Francis Coppola, Lowe starred as Sodapop Curtis with Cruise, who portrayed Steve Randle. Despite Cruise's little tantrum, Lowe said that he held no hard feelings against the actor because he appreciated the fact that Cruise knew what he was worth from day one.
"To me, what’s great about the story is, there’s certain people who have always been who they are, and that element of them has powered them to where they are today and the rest is history," Lowe said. "And the notion that an 18-year-old actor with a walk-on part in Endless Love and like the 7th lede in Taps could have that kind of like wherewithal."
He added: "I remember going, 'Wow, this guy is the real deal. I mean it made me laugh, it was gnarly. But in the end of it, you can't argue with the results. He’s had his eye on the ball since day one."
Shepard agreed with his guest on the podcast. Implying that there will ever be only one Tom Cruise, he said, "No one [just] knocks on anyone's door and says 'Hey, you wanna f**king be in 12 Mission Impossibles?'"
Lowe continued to shower praises on his former co-star, as he talked about Cruise's "relentless" efforts to learn the stunts for 'The Outsiders.' "He ended up being the only one who could do a backflip. It is in the movie The Outsiders for no reason," Lowe said. "Just to do it."
The movie, which also starred Howell (Ponyboy Curtis), Matt Dillon (Dallas Winston), Ralph Macchio (Johnny Cade), Patrick Swayze (Darrel Curtis) and Estevez (Two-Bit Matthews), celebrated its 37th anniversary last month.
Cruise's latest film - sequel to 1986's 'Top Gun' - 'Top Gun: Maverick' is scheduled to be released on December 23, 2020, by Paramount Pictures. Although it was initially supposed to be released on June 24, 2020, on April 2, it was announced that the film release was delayed until December 23 due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.