Entertainment

Rob Lowe Opens Up About Losing Top Gun and Jerry Maguire Roles to Tom Cruise

By Maddy Lennon

Rob Lowe has revealed that he was once in contention for roles in the films Top Gun and Jerry Maguire, both of which ultimately went to Tom Cruise. In an interview with the New York Post published Saturday, September 5, the 62-year-old actor described Cruise, 64, as a longtime professional rival, saying, 'That dastardly Tom Cruise was always a nemesis.' Lowe explained that he had read the scripts for both projects before discovering that Cruise had already secured the parts. The two actors previously appeared together in the 1983 film The Outsiders, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, which also featured other emerging actors of the era, including Emilio Estevez, Matt Dillon, and Patrick Swayze. During the interview, Lowe also addressed longstanding speculation that he had been considered for the lead role in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, a part that eventually went to Matthew Broderick. He confirmed this was not the case, calling it 'a big regret.' According to Lowe, the film's casting team was simply not interested in him. He said director John Hughes 'never got what I was selling,' adding that despite meeting with Hughes once, he was never contacted for any of the multiple roles in Hughes' films that he felt he could have played. Lowe was also among several celebrities featured in a widely discussed music video released earlier this year.