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[on "john F. Kennedy" Set] Everybody Was Very Interested In The Accent. Even My Collaborators Were Very Curious To Know If I Was Even Going To Do It. And I Was, Like, "you Just Can't Not Do It." I Think Everybody Was Worried That It Was Going To Sound Like The Guy From... Is It The Simpsons?

-Rob Lowe

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[on "john F. Kennedy"

Rob Lowe

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[on "john F. Kennedy" Set] Everybody Was Very Interested In The Accent. Even My Collaborators Were Very Curious To Know If I Was Even Going To Do It. And I Was, Like, "you Just Can't Not Do It." I Think Everybody Was Worried That It Was Going To Sound Like The Guy From... Is It The Simpsons?

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The Script Was Given To Me By One Of My Agents And They Didn't Tell Me Anything About It. My First Reaction Was, "the West Wing? Is It About A Squadron Of Fighter Jets?" Then I Turned The Page And Saw, 'by Aaron Sorkin' And I Knew It Was Going To Be Something Good.

When I Hear That I Realize How Quickly Time Passes And How Everybody Goes On Their Journeys And They're Always Unbelievable And They Never Go Where You Think They're Going To Take You And, Quite Frankly, It Also Makes Me Feel A Little Old.

There Is No Recovery For Anyone Without Lifting The Lid On The Pain Of The Past And Letting In The Light.

I Literally Knew Nothing When I Did That Show ["tony Flanagan"]. It Was The First Time I Signed An Autograph, It Was The First Time I Got Fan Letters, It Was The First Time People Screamed When I Came Out.

I Have Been Looking Forward To This Age Of My Life For A Long Time. In My Twenties, I Marked The Days On The Calendar - I Was Sick Of Playing High-school Kids.

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When I Was Young And Crazy, I Was Young And Crazy. It Can Be Hard Enough Just To Be In Your Teens And 20s. Then Add Fame, Money, Access, And Every Single Person Telling You That You're The Greatest Person Who Ever Was, And It Can Be A Recipe For Disaster. Some People Literally Don't Survive It.

Fred Savage,he's America's Sweetheart, Like I Always Say. One Of The Funniest, Nicest, Most Decent... I Love Him Like A Brother.

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I Had No Regrets When I Did It, I Have Even Less Regret Now Because I Can't Imagine Staying On The West Wing Show And Then, Six Weeks Later, Aaron Sorkin Leaving.

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We [me,maggie Smith And Natasha Richardson ] Rehearsed [suddenly, Last Summer] Like A Play For A Month, And Then We Shot It Over The Course Of... I Believe It Was 10 Days. All Live, Basically. Long, Uninterrupted Takes. And For Me, A Lot Of It Is Me Going Head To Head With Maggie Smith. And Anybody Who's Ever Had That Opportunity Never Forgets It! It's A Real Career Highlight, And It Was Everything I Ever Thought It Would Be, And More.

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Directors Are Not Worried About Casting Beautiful Women, But They Are Not Sure That They Want To Cast Great-looking Men. My Looks Have Prevented People From Seeing My Work Objectively.

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[doctor Cukrowicz In Suddenly, Last Summer Is] Is One Of The Most Unpronounceable Roles In The Modern-day Theater Day Canon, And One Of The Most Boring!

Your Interests Change. I Used To Feel That If I Spent Evenings Reading, Or Watching A Film, Or Just Doing Nothing Up Here At The House, I Would Probably Be Missing Something That Was A Lot More Fun. I Don't Have That Sense Anymore.

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When I Was A Teen Idol, I Was So Goddamn Pretty I Wouldn't Have Taken Myself Seriously.

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I Also Listened To Hours And Hours And Hours And Hours And Hours Of [j.f.] Kennedy, And I Sort Of Built [ Accent]. And Then I Got On Set [of 'j.f.kennedy' Movie ] And Forgot It.but That's What You Want To Do. You Want It To Just Be Real. And I Think Authenticity Was Better Than - People Always Talk About When An Accent Doesn't Work, And The Phrase You Always Hear Is, "it Was Inconsistent."

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[jim Belushi] And I Have A Great Thing Going, And A Really Weird, Offbeat Story. [living In Peril] Is The Type Of Movie That I Don't Even Know If It Would Be Made Today. Just A Very Odd Film. But A Very Fun Movie.

[hank In The Sex Tape] Such A Fun Part. That's How Jake Kasdan And I Ended Up Doing The Grinder Together, Because We Had Such A Great Time On Sex Tape.

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In School, I Had Two Or Three Best Guy Friends, But Mostly If I Was Just Hanging, I'd Like To Talk To The Girls, Because They Were More Interesting. I Think They Were Smarter.

I Have A Lot Of Great Memories, But I Can't Imagine Anything More Exciting Than The Life I Have Now.

I've Always Found Women More Interesting Than Men.

There Are So Many Family Dinners You Can Do. I Eventually Had To Go To Them And Say, 'look, I Don't Do Spatula Work. I Don't Do Scenes With Oven Mitts. If You're Looking For That, You've Got The Wrong Guy. I'm Not Doing Scenes About Casseroles. It's Not Happening.

I Have Such Amazing Memories [about The Hotel New Hampshire Movie], Because Tony Richardson Was Such An Amazing Director, And The Subject Matter Was So Bizarre, And Yet It Was The Most Sought-after Part At That Moment. And Then It Had The Good Fortune To Come Out On The Same Day As Splash.

I Am Getting On In Years, And I Have A Very Extensive Imdb Page, And I Cannot Keep Track Of My Own Credits.

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I Have Never Felt At Any Point In My Life, Good Or Bad, Any Ill Will Ever From The Man Or Woman On The Street.

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It's The Media That Take An Isolated Incident And Make It A Deciding Factor In A Presidential Campaign, As Opposed To The Real Issues, Like Abortion, The Homeless, The Deficit. The Same Is True With Actors And Their Lifestyles.

[maggie Smith] Brings New Meaning To The Phrase "doesn't Suffer Fools." She Has Just The Most Amazing, Dry Timing Of Anyone Ever, I Think. I Think Everyone's Always Known About It, But With Her Resurgence On Downton Abbey, A Whole New Generation Has Been Introduced To It, Which Is Just Great.

I Think My Thing Is That I Try And Pick Up On Things That Other People Have Maybe Not Picked Up On.

Whether You're A Presidential Front-runner, Or An Academy Award-winning Actor, Or Head Of A Tv Ministry, If You Stay In The Public Eye Long Enough They're Going To Try And Find A Scandal.

All The Shows We Did Pre-airdate, And I'd Come Out - "rob Lowe!" - And It Was [offers Bored Applause.] After The Show Aired? I Came Out - "rob Lowe!" - And The Place Was, Like, Bedlam. And Then The Next Week, They Wouldn't Let Anyone Under The Age Of 20 Into The Audience. And I'm Going, "so That's How It Works! Okay!"

The Really Good Thing About My Career Is That I Never Went Through A Phase Where I Played Characters Who Had Names Like "partygoer," "waiter," Or "guy #1."

[tony Richardson ] Just Liked Me, Knew I Was Going To Be What He Wanted [in The Hotel New Hampshire], And That Was The End Of It. It Was Unbelievable.

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Nothing In Life Is Unfair. It's Just Life. To The Extent That I Had Any Inner Turmoil, I Had Only Myself To Blame. I Also Thought Of My Two Boys And What Kind Of Example I Hoped To Be. I Would Always Want Them To Take Charge Of Their Own Futures And Not Be Paralyzed By The Comfort And Certainty Of The Status Quo Or Be Cowed By The Judgment Of Those On The Outside Looking In.

You Show Me A Perfect Person And I'll Show You Somebody Who Has Lived A Very Closed Life.

As Far As My Work For Causes Or Social Issues, That's Something I'm Doing As A Private Citizen.

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Knowing Who You Are

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[on "john F. Kennedy" Set] Everybody Was Very Interested In The Accent. Even My Collaborators Were Very Curious To Know If I Was Even Going To Do It. And I Was, Like, "you Just Can't Not Do It." I Think Everybody Was Worried That It Was Going To Sound Like The Guy From... Is It The Simpsons?

I Went From Doing Something That Was Very Original, Sort Of Subversive, And Specific In Its Voice - The Grinder - And Loved Every Minute Of It, But Having Done That, I Was Anxious To Do Something That Had More Broad Appeal And To Embrace The Good Things About That.

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The '80s Were About Trying To Establish Myself As An Actor With A Career. And Being A Teenager Enjoying The Fruits Of Being Successful With Lots Of What I Think Is Appropriate For That Age.

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I'd Done Light Comedy. In Some Quarters, About Last Night... Is A Romantic Comedy. So It Wasn't Like I'd Been Doing Sophie's Choice My Entire Career. But For Whatever Reason, Nobody Had Really Given Me The Room Or The Ability To Be Out And Out Funny. And Lorne [michaels] And Mike [myers] And Chris [farley] And Dana [carvey], That Crop Really Helped Me Do That.

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William Devane Was Amazing [ In The Grinder] - That We Were Able To Reinvent An Acting Legend As A Comedy Star - That's Very Gratifying.

I Think I Have A Pretty Good Ear. I Mean, Even Just Starting With, Like, Austin Powers, Where I Did Young Robert Wagner. People Were, Like, "how Do You Imitate Robert Wagner? What Does He Sound Like? What Does That Even Involve?".

I'm Not Going To Stop Talking To People Who Come Up To Me In An Airport. I'm Not Going To Worry About What May Be Their Ulterior Motive.

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I Believe In Ceremony. I Think Ceremony Is Important, Pomp And Circumstance, Tradition. I'm Into Those Things.

I Feel Like Every Movie Is Definitely The Last One That I've Had My Moment; That I'm Going To Be Selling Autographs At Malls.

Somebody Once Told Me - And I Could Be Wrong About This - That The West Wing Was, On Any Given Episode, $300,000 Over, On Average. Now Today, If You Were $10,000 Over Budget, They Would Cancel You. For Sure.

Did You Eat A Lot Of Paint Chips When You Were A Kid?

The West Wing And The Outsiders Are The Gifts That Keep On Giving.

My First Lessons In Comedy, How To Construct A Joke, I Learned From Eileen Brennan, Who Had Unbelievable Timing.

I Enjoy Experiencing Life. Being A Celebrity Can Really Stand In The Way Of That.

Anything That Is Stifled Will Eventually Ferment Or Explode.

Sampling, Statisticians Have Told Us, Is A Much More Effective Way Of Getting A Good Census.

I Wouldn't Go Back On My Old Days, Though; Everybody Needs To Have Their Wild Years. It's Just A Question Of When And I'd Rather Have Had Them Early Than Be Doing It As A Mid-life Crisis Type Thing.

Ridley Scott's Company Makes Great Work In Whatever Arena, Whether It's Movies Or Commercials Or Television. They Just Do Really Quality Stuff, So You Know It's Going To Be Quality.

[j.f.kennedy] Is An Iconic Figure. And To Make It Even Worse, He's A Hero Of Mine. And Every Actor Will Tell You That You Can't Play Heroes. And You Can't Play Villains. You Can Only Play Human Beings.

Trying To Execute That Kind Of Intricate Staging In The West Wing At The Same Time You're Doing Intricate Dialogue - It's Like Patting Your Head And Rubbing Your Stomach!

I Was Sick Of Playing High-school Kids. I Liked Being A Teenager, But I Would Not Go Back For All The Tea In China.

Fake Confidence On The Outside Often Trumps Truthful Turmoil On The Inside.

When I'm Angry I'm An Incredibly Tough Person, Because I Don't Get Angry Easily.

About Last Night... [movie] Still Stands Up For Me. Like, I'm As Proud Of That Today And Still Have The Kind Of Faith In It Today To Show It To A Young Couple As I Did When It Came Out.

It Was Sort Of The First Movie [the Specials ] Where I Really Got To Let My Comedy Freak Flag Fly. And Everybody In It Made Me Laugh Really Hard. I Wish More People Had Seen It.

When People Consent To Do Something, They Should Be Able To Do Whatever They Want.

To Go From "gnarly" To "literally," That Shows I'm Growing Up, Right?

As An Actor, You Deal In Fantasy, Imagination, And Concentration. Those Are Your Three Weapons. Those Are Your Bullets.

["john F. Kennedy" Movie] Was Just Really Clever Storytelling.

In The Business Of Acting, Those Are The Actors That Make The Trains Run On Time, You Know? There's Nothing Without Them.

You Can't Believe Everything You Read. It's Never Been More True.

We Had Shot Six Episodes Of The West Wing Season When 9/11 Happened. An Extraordinary Thing That Would Never Happen Today Is Aaron Going To The Network And Saying, "i Think We Need To Go Back And Reshoot, I Have Something I Want To Do," And The Network Just Kind Of Let Him Do It.

Of The Many Horrors Of Divorce, The Most Egregious Is That It Robs A Kid Of The Best Of Both Worlds. Dads Can Do Many Things That Even The Best Moms Can't, And Vice Versa.

The Best Part Is Not The Biggest, It's The One That's Most Memorable.

I Just Had Such A Blast Coming Up With This Corporate Dweeb [in The Sex Tape], A Sort Of Nerd Who Was Also Doing Coke And Listening To Death Metal And Was Obsessed With Walt Disney Art. I Just Felt It Was A Type Of Guy You Hadn't Really Seen Before, And I Was So Happy With How It Came Out.

We Always Reminisce About How Everyone Tried To Get Diane Lane's Attention, To Very Little Success.

Congratulations

[bad Influence]was David Koepp's First Big Screenplay. It Was Actually A Writing Sample That Was Around Town To Get David Work At The Time, And Steve Tisch - Now The Owner Of The New York Giants - Found It, Loved It, And Together We Put It Together. But I'd Say That Would Be The One I'd Tell People To Go And Look At If They Haven't Seen It.

My Looks Have Prevented People From Seeing My Work.

[doctor Cukrowicz] Was Basically A Role Where You Have Two Diva Actresses - Maggie Smith And Natasha Richardson - And My Role Was To Say, "and Then What Happened? Tell Me More." But I Wanted To Do It Was Because A) It Was Tennessee Williams, A Great Writer, And B) It Was Richard Eyre, An Amazing Director. And To Work With Those Two Amazing Women!

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They (teenage Boys)don’t Really Listen To Speeches Or Talks. They Absorb Incrementally, Through Hours And Hours Of Observation.

[the Outsiders] Was Very Competitive, In The Best Possible Way. Full Of Love, Full Of Companionship And Fellowship, Pranks And Practical Jokes And Ball-busting.

Can Someone Explain The Vitriol Whenever Ayn Rand Comes Up? 'atlas' Is The Greatest Motivator For The Individual That I Can Imagine.

Last Night, We Were All Watching Harry Potter In Bed, And I Thought, 'this Isn't Something You Have When You're Single, That's For Sure.'

I Don't Like Any Sport Where You're Already Exhausted When You're Done Putting On The Equipment.

I Think That In Today's World The Right To Privacy And Freedom Of The Press Are Set On A Collision Course.

I'll Be Sober Ten Years And Married Nine Soon.

It's Always A Good Day When I Get To Work With Jim Belushi, Who I Adore.

When I Had My Comedy Central Roast, David [spade] Was My First Choice To Be Roastmaster, Because I Adore Him. He's Funny As Hell, And Nobody Is Meaner.

You Can Meet People Who Are Really Beautiful. Then, When You See Them Angry For The First Time, All Of A Sudden They're Not Beautiful Anymore. They Didn't Just Step Into The Other Room And Have Plastic Surgery; They're Still The Same Physically. It's Just That Something Inside Of Them Has Changed. They're No Longer Attractive.

Contrary To Popular Belief, I Don't Go Out Very Much. When I Do Go Out, A Lot Of Times It'll Be To Something Like A Heavyweight Fight, And I'll Be Photographed, So That People Have This Conception That I Go Out A Lot.

Intelligence Is That Aspect Of Human Cognition That We Haven't Managed To Emulate Yet.

It's Part Of Your Job As An Actor To Put Your Personal Problems Behind You And Work. Good Actors Can Do That.

It Was A Little Company That Released [bad Influence], It Was Really Ahead Of Its Time... I'm Really Proud Of It. And It's Curtis Hanson. He'd Directed A Small Movie Before That, But It Was His First Directorial Work That Really Worked.

There Is Good And Evil In Each Of Us, And You Can Easily Be Led To The Dark Side.

I Happen To Be A Movie Star, But I'm Not Saying, "hey, I'm A Role Model. Imitate Me."

Show Me Someone Who Doesn't Have Some Sort Of Experience That They Would Be Uncomfortable For People To Know About And I'll Show You A Dullard.

You Wouldn't Want Somebody In Office Who Hasn't Experienced Life.

Anybody Who Doesn't Have A Scandal I Have No Interest In Meeting Because They Haven't Lived Their Lives.

My Life Is Really Based Around My House And My Friends And My Family At The Moment, And Has Been For A While Now.

There's This Unbelievable Bias And Prejudice Against Quote-unquote Good-looking People, That They Can't Be In Pain Or They Can't Have Rough Lives Or Be Deep Or Interesting.

Bias And Prejudice

I Really Make A Point Of Never Worrying, Or Trying Not To Worry, About The Way I'm Perceived. You'll Go Crazy Otherwise.

Everybody Is God. Everybody Is The Devil. And If You Don't Realize You Have Both Parts, That's What Really Causes Problems.

People Have A Responsibility, Especially With Today's Media, To Read Between The Lines.

If People Find Me Attractive, It Would Be For Reasons That Anybody Finds Anybody Attractive. It's Something That Comes From Within, And It Manifests Itself Physically.

You Show Me Someone Who's Led A Perfect Life And I'll Show You A Dullard.

I Don't Like To Let My Celebrity Interfere With Me Living My Life. I Like To Meet People, I Like To Talk To People.

[ed Lauter] Was An Actor's Actor. I Love Working With That Class Of Actor. You Know, They Come In, They Do It, No Bullshit. There's No Artifice, There's No Fanciness, They're Just Honest And Tough And Direct.

I Think [the Outsiders] Really Forged Who I Am As An Actor, And It's One Of The Reasons Why I Keep Being Drawn To Big Ensembles Where I'm Surrounded By Strong, Successful Actors Or Personalities. Because That Was My Initial Foray Into Movie Making.

David Mamet, Tim Kazurinsky, And Denise Declue, Who Adapted [ About Last Night]. Between The Three Of Them... I Mean, It's Always Down To The Writing. You're Only As Good As Your Writing.

We Shot Every Scene Of Mine In The Entire Movie In Five Days. All My Coverage, Everything. I Left. They Went Back And Shot Everybody Else Around Me. Insane. The Part [billie In Crazy Six] Called For A Handsome, Coiffed Cool Guy Romantic Lead, And I Showed Up Like You See Him In The Movie. And They Let Me Do It.

Sam Seaborn Is The Best Character That's Ever Been Written For Me, Certainly. By Far. And It's A Timeless Show [the West Wing], One That's Having Another Resurgence Now, With People So In An Uproar Politically.

I Go Through Phases Where I'll Overuse Words. S.e. Hinton, Who Wrote The Outsiders - She And I Have Been In Contact For The 50th Anniversary Of The Book - And She Said, "you Still Owe Me The 10 Dollars That We Bet That You Couldn't Stop Saying The Word 'gnarly.'"

To Achieve Longevity You Will Have Cycles. No One Gets There In One Straight Shot.

People Should Be Allowed To Do Whatever They Want In The Privacy Of Their Own Home Or Their Own Hotel Room.

['john F. Kennedy] Movie Is Based On A Massive Best-selling Book, Which Is Always Helpful. And Then The Script Was Amazing And Answered My Question, "why This? Why Now?" And The "why Now" Is That It's 50 Years Since The Assassination, And The Country Needs To Have And Will Have A Conversation About That. And The "why This" Is The Construct, Which I Think Is Sort Of Ingenious.

Kids Are Growing Up And They Don't Know The Difference Between Fact And Fiction. The Line Is Getting Blurry. I Can Handle It, You Know; I'm A Big Boy. And The Entertainment Industry Has Always Been Crazy. But The Problem Is, It Spills Over Into Some Very Serious Issues, In Politics And Real Newsworthy Stuff.

I Like The Tradition Of Ordinary Men In Extraordinary Circumstances And How They React To Events Which Force Them To Be Heroic In A Way That Is Not In Their Natures.

I Have Had A Lot Of Blessed, Interesting Things Happen To Me And Have Bumped Up Against Some Amazing People.

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Karl Pilkington

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