News > Lowe Knows Political Roles
November 17, 2006
Content taken from AOL:
Rob Lowe's decision to turn down the role of Grey's Anatomy's Derek "Dr. McDreamy" Shepherd, he says, was "the first time in all of my career that I picked wrong ... definitely a biggie." But if he's lucky, Lowe may now get a shot at the McPresidency.
Sunday (10 p.m. ET/PT), he joins ABC's Brothers & Sisters as Sen. Robert McCallister, a California Republican with one eye focused on the White House and the other on Kitty Walker (Calista Flockhart).
"There was a need for someone of Rob's pedigree to match the power of Calista," says executive producer Jon Robin Baitz, who calls Lowe's performance "Kennedyesque."
Baitz says Flockhart and Lowe's chemistry is "immediate" when the senator guests on Kitty's talk show to discuss a messy divorce that is threatening his political ambitions. Having served as deputy communications director Sam Seaborn on The West Wing, Lowe says, "I always wanted to play the guy in the campaign instead of the guy behind the campaign. Sam was a big nerd who read pamphlets in his spare time. There's a maturity to this character that's totally different."
There is a similar maturity to Lowe that defies a face that has barely aged from his '80s Brat Pack years.
Lowe, 42, campaigned for pal Arnold Schwarzenegger's two successful bids for California governor. Before the world heard "the Governator" utter his famous "I love doing sequels" line, Lowe knew it was coming. "I had seen it in the advance draft and had quietly told my wife and some friends, 'Just wait ? he has the greatest opening line,' "Lowe says.
To authenticate his performance as a man involved in a messy divorce, Lowe has been referencing kid brother Chad's split from Hilary Swank. "It has been unbelievably painful and yet unbelievably liberating for (Chad)," Lowe says.
"But it was only when Calista asked me how Chad was doing that I started to realize, 'Oh right ? my brother's going through a divorce. I know what that is to him. Maybe I should use some of that in this.' "
Lowe has been married for 15 years to Sheryl Berkoff, with whom he has two sons, Matthew, 13, and John Owen, 11. Their secret? "Somewhere in my callow, misspent youth, I was smart enough to marry my best friend."
