The “Parks and Rec” alum recalled two blockbuster movies he lost out on to an ex-costar.

Rob Lowe reveals his ’80s ‘dastardly’ nemesis who got the roles he auditioned for

The “Parks and Rec” alum recalled two blockbuster movies he lost out on to an ex-costar.

By Daysia Tolentino

Daysia Tolentino

Daysia Tolentino is a writer at *. *She has written for * *since 2025. Her work has appeared in NBC News, Vulture, GQ, and InStyle.

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September 5, 2026 1:19 p.m. ET

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Rob Lowe attends ‘The Musical’ premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. Credit:

Cindy Ord/Getty

- Rob Lowe revealed that he lost out on several roles to his former *The Outsiders* costar Tom Cruise.

- Lowe also addressed rumors that he was nearly cast as Ferris Bueller in 1986’s *Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.*

- The *Parks and Rec* alum shared the reason why he was never cast in a John Hughes movie.

Rob Lowe kept coming up short against this Hollywood A-lister.

Recalling the roles he auditioned for in the 1980s and 1990s, Lowe shared that he lost out on two big blockbusters.

“That dastardly Tom Cruise was always a nemesis,” the 62-year-old told the *New York Post** *in an interview published on Saturday. “I remember reading *Jerry Maguire* ... and they were like, ‘Tom Cruise.’ I also remember reading *Top Gun* and going, ‘Oh, this movie is going to be f--ing massive.’ They were like, ‘Tom Cruise.’”

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He also addressed rumors that he had been in the running to play Ferris Bueller in 1986’s *Ferris Bueller’s Day Off*. The role ultimately went to Matthew Broderick, but Lowe said he had never actually been considered to play the iconic teen slacker.

In fact, Lowe asserted that late director John Hughes, who had created a plethora of coming-of-age hits like *The Breakfast Club* and *Sixteen Candles*, was not interested in him as an actor.

“John Hughes never got what I was selling,” Lowe claimed. “I met with John once and it’s not like he didn’t have a lot of parts I could have done. When you really look at it, there were more than a few parts, multiple parts in some movies. Never. Phone never rang.”

Tom Cruise on the set of ‘Top Gun’.

Paramount Pictures/Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty

The *Parks and Rec* alum has a theory about why Hughes, who died in 2009 at the age of 59, didn’t cast him. Lowe believes he was “already too well known,” while the director preferred to tap fresh faces for his movies.

“He made people well known,” the actor continued. “At least that’s what I tell myself to make myself feel better for not getting a role in *The Breakfast Club*.”

And while Cruise and Lowe emerged around the same time, having both starred in Francis Ford Coppola’s *The Outsiders* in 1983, the latter has previously admitted that there was a point in the ’90s when he thought his career was over.

Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, C. Thomas Howell, Patrick Swayze, and Tom Cruise in ‘The Outsiders’.

Warner Brothers/courtesy Everett Collection

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“One day I woke up and go, ‘I haven’t worked in two years,’” Lowe told *Entertainment Tonight* in 2022, adding that he and wife Sheryl Berkoff had just welcomed sons Matthew, now-32, and John, now-30, at the time. “In fairness, I’d kind of taken my foot off the accelerator a little bit.”

Of course, that wasn’t the end for Lowe, who went on to snag several iconic roles for himself, even if they weren’t Maverick or Jerry Maguire. That includes a stint as Number Two in the *Austin Powers* franchise, which star Mike Myers confirmed is soon making a comeback with Lowe returning as his villainous character.

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