Rob Lowe Remembers Being Knocked Out During a Battle by Tom Cruise
Rob Lowe is not a combatant; he is a lover. The actor of 9-1-1: Lone Star talked about his time working on the 1983 movie The Outsiders and remembered being knocked down in a sparring match by co-star Tom Cruise.
In an interview with The Rich Eisen Show on Monday, Lowe discussed working on the highly anticipated Francis Ford Coppola picture and disclosed that he, Cruise, and a few other youthful cast members would engage in physical altercations during their free time. “He’s [Cruise] so competitive that we used to box in the hallway of the hotel we were staying at during Outsiders,” Lowe said.
“So much testosterone,” he said, going on. We’re a group of boys, eighteen, who are stuck here. We would so put on headgear, put on mouthpieces, and engage in genuine fighting.”
In addition, Lowe observed that Cruise was more “jacked” than he was at the time as the Mission: Impossible star was more focused on his fitness than Lowe was. He remarked, “Tom is like this beast.” “And I gave him a really hard blow and rang his bell.” The next thing I knew, I was awake and lying on the ground. He pretty well knocked me out.”
The former West Wing actor claimed that “I hit him hard and his eyes went black,” suggesting that Cruise’s defense mechanisms went into overdrive after Lowe’s assault. Lowe continued, “But that’s the stuff we did, that’s what guys do, it’s like Fight Club.”
The Outsiders is based on the same-titled book by S. E. Hinton. The movie, which takes place in a tiny Oklahoman town in 1964, centers on the animosity between two gangs, which intensifies when one gang member unintentionally kills another. The Outsiders stars C. Thomas Howell, Ralph Macchio, Matt Dillon, Emilio Estevez, and the late Patrick Swayze in addition to Cruise and Lowe.
