Lily Collins: The Tweeds and the Wellies
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That's right. Discover automatically doubles the cash back earned on your credit card at the end of your first year with Cash Back Match. Now that's a real crowd pleaser. Everyone knows how it ends. Double the cash back. See terms at discover.com slash credit card. Lily, I think it's possible that we've met each other, but you would be so young that you wouldn't remember. I was going to say the same thing. I didn't think you'd remember. No way!

Hey, everybody. It's literally and it's me, Rob Lowe. Well, listen, I might be the only man in the world that watches Emily in Paris. I know a lot of people watch Emily in Paris. It's a huge hit.

Very huge hit. And I'm confident enough in my own masculinity to say that I watch Emily in Paris. I do. And the reason I watch Emily in Paris is because of Lily Collins, who is amazing. And I'm very excited about her movie Windfall. She worked with her husband who directed it. And one of my faves, Jason Segel, which I believe is on Netflix. She's...

Oh, wait, that's an amazing dog.

Tell me about that dog. He is so killer dog. Oh my gosh. He's a little rescue. Thank you. Yeah. My husband and I adopted him pre-adopted before he was eight weeks. And these are our little pride and joy, but yeah,

You know, as in quarantine, he became a quarantine dog. So now he's just extra lovable. So he'll be joining us today. Oh, good. But yeah, I was born in West Sussex in England in the countryside. And I grew up there until I was about five turning six. And that's when I moved to California. But I still have my childhood house there that I that I was basically born at.

And we used before, before COVID, I would go back every Christmas or new years and a couple of times a year, um,

But it's just so calming. And, you know, you're driving down fields and there's sheep and cows and farmland. And it really is. You can just breathe easily. The air is clean. And, yeah, I love it so much. I have a kind of a fantasy that, like, I could retire as a gentleman farmer to Surrey. I don't know if it's ever going to come to fruition. Oh, you totally could, by the way. I could totally see that. A gentleman farmer. I mean, you know. With my tweeds and my wellies.

Yes. You have to have the tweeds. You have to have the wellies and a family crest of some sort. Oh, I made a phony baloney family crest. Oh, really? Oh, sure. Absolutely. A phony baloney family crest. I mean, come on. I love that. How regal. And it's the pinky ring on the guys, right? In England. Oh, yeah. This is Americans. We don't realize these things until you spend time in England, which I've

done so much because I've worked a lot over there, but like, I love the, like the bros with their little, it's the equivalent here of what would be the American equivalent? It'd be, it would be the guys in the vineyard vines who back East that like, are like Wall Street,

Oh, probably. Right? Yeah, exactly. Old school. Like you have family, generations and generations of people that have like lived there or the house that kind of has been passed along or something like that. Oh yeah, definitely. Now, what store did your dad, your grandpa own in Beverly Hills? Tavelman's. So my mom's dad.

I own Tavelman's and it was a gentleman's haberdashery. A haberdashery? Yes. That's where I would go to get my clothes as a gentleman farmer. I'm going to, I would go to Tavelman's. Yes. Oh my God. Yes, exactly. You and the Marx brothers, because the Marx brothers also went there to get their gentlemanly clothes. Yes. My mom used to work in the store occasionally. I think like,

maybe like folding clothes. And my grandmother worked in the store as well on occasion. She was a ballerina, but she also would work in the store with them. And it was on Wilshire in Beverly Hills.

I remember it. And I want to say that it then turned into Nike years later, which seems very odd. Or absolutely perfect, depending on your view of society. Exactly. The modern day haberdasher. Yes. Yeah. So that was cool. I have so many good factoids. You met Princess Diana when you were a toddler. Legend has it. There are actually photos that I've seen. It was at a Princess Trust event in...

and there's photos of it, but I was presenting her with flowers.

a bouquet of flowers. And when she went to take them, I then tried to pull them back away as you do, you know, I guess I just didn't know protocol. Can't say that I do the same thing now, but yes, when I was, when I was younger, I did meet, I did meet her. Do you remember, you obviously remember it. Very little. I mean, I also met

I was told that I met Prince Charles and we were playing with some toys that I had. And I think it was like a toy telephone or a toy car. I think it was a toy telephone. And he was playing with me and I threw it at him. Again, not...

You just don't do that. You don't do that. But as a kid, you're like, no, I'm playing with you. I don't know. I don't know any better. So, yeah, I think I went to quite a few events and met really, really fascinating people, but was probably too young to really have many memories of

But the memories I do have are always, you know, non-protocol ones. Now you are an actual debutante. I guess you could say I am. Oh, no, wait. I have to read because this is so good.

This is because I do a lot of prep for my guests. And this is the greatest. So glad this made it in. I know. You're like, that Rob Lowe, he asked me the worst questions. No, but I'm fascinated with this stuff because no one else is going to ask you this. And I'm obsessed with this. You were, and this is my favorite word, presented as a debutante at the Ball des Debutantes in Paris in 2007. Yes. Yes.

I was. This is true. It was the Creon Ball, and it used to be at the Creon Hotel. I don't really know where they take place anymore, but I was asked. I was in high school. I think I was 18 years old. And you know what? When I signed on to do this, I was doing it, A, because I was like, this is really cool to be asked, and B, I know that I'm going to have some pretty...

crazy, cool, funny memories from this that I just think I need in my life. Yes. It was pretty special. I'm not going to lie. Also, kind of just hilarious in a lot of ways. I mean, there was waltzing lessons with your parents. There were fittings with all the different designers. So every girl was dressed by a different fashion house. And so that actually began my relationship with

because I was the young debutante chosen to be dressed in Chanel. And so there's just all these elements as a girl who grew up loving fashion and loving, you know, to go into kind of the archives and pick an outfit is pretty

So did you go to Chanel? Did you go to the... You're in Paris. It's a proper Chanel house. Yeah, so we were in Paris. We went to the official, the archives. And you go to where Coco's apartment and kind of where the archives are. And they just opened them up and said, well, what...

looks nice to you. What looks appealing? What would you like to wear? And it was, it was really that kind of magical moment of this is going to be kind of a joke, like this can't be real. Um, and so I, I picked the dress, we had the fitting and I think I had another fitting after that. And I still actually have the shoes cause they, they made shoes to go with the dress and

you're doing so much press during the day, which sounds weird. There, there were a lot, there was a lot of press surrounding this debutante ball and you're running around the hotel from like room to room to do it and do like these shoots and stuff. But my dress kept getting caught in the elevator. So there'd be these like,

I'm hoping that you've pitched this as a storyline for Emily in Paris, somehow. Yeah.

Oh, my God. That's a great idea. Right. I kind of love that. No, I haven't. Maybe it maybe you heard it here first. I mean, I just want I want writer's credit because that's an episode I want to see. It actually it's kind of great because it's also girls from all over the world. I mean, there were girls from every country there. So it would it would make for a it would make for a good episode. Rob, not gonna lie.

I kind of love this. Will you tell Darren it was my idea? You know what? I'll play this episode for him. Oh, my God. I love that. Well, why don't you just come to Paris and take part in it? I know. Darren and I have been trying to find something to do for a billion years.

And we just have never found maybe, maybe this is, could I play the, who's the guy, who's the king of the ball? Like who's the guy that runs the, the king of the ball, debutante ball. You of course, there was, you know, like a, a French lady who, who ran it, who was the one responsible for kind of gathering together all these different people. And, and then most, it's actually quite funny because most of the,

the girls were presented alongside their Chevalier, who was either not like, I don't think there was any princes. I mean, I would have known about that, but they were kind of,

you know, young men that came from well-esteemed families or just different types of men from all of young boys from all over the world that would like partner with a girl. How did, okay. I got to know about your Chevalier. So my Chevalier, I'm still friends with, and he actually now runs, um, Tatler magazine in England. Uh, yes, he is like the head editor in chief over there. And at the time he was writing, uh,

His name's Richard Demmon. He's a wonderful, lovely human. And we had the best time. We were kind of like the rock and roll duo of the ball. Um, cause I think we had the most fun. This is the greatest. How is this not a thing? This is the more you tell it, like this is such a season finale. I'm not even, it's like unbelievable. It's really, that's so funny. I'm, you know, I'm going to pitch it. I'm not going to, I'm totally, I'm going to take this conversation and run with it.

It's so good. The Chevalier. By the way, your show is populated with young men that look like Chevaliers. I've never seen more good haircuts on a television series in my life than on... Well, you know what? Our hair department did just win best hair in a limited series or miniseries or TV show at their Guild Awards. So I'm going to give them credit for those. I watched that show. I'm like, okay, first of all...

Tell me. Men's hair. Because, you know, I'm obsessed with hair. Men's hair, more so even the women's hair. And losing it and not wanting to lose it. Or people who have lost it or people who haven't lost it. That's a big topic of my life. And those young, young chevaliers have manes. I mean, it's a thing. They do have manes. They do have manes. Yeah. And, you know, our hair department,

is just so, they're so wonderful at dealing with men's and women's hair because, you know, it takes a lot to be able to do both. And, um, maybe, maybe that was something that Darren was looking for. I don't, I don't know, but you know, you're right. They do have great hair. I have only shot in Paris once and it was both maddening and so romantic. What is, what's your, cause it's hard to shoot in Paris, super hard to shoot in Paris. Yeah.

What's your experience like? I, okay, so I've been to Paris many times before working there. But to become a resident of sorts while you're there for about four months is such a different experience in any country, let alone a city that you already feel like you know pretty well. So year one was very different than year two. In that year two, we were in the thick of a pandemic and quarantined most of the time and having to really

Stick to our cast and crew and not go out and also when we first got there There were no other travelers from anywhere around the world. Did it feel super deserted? Was it shocking? Yes, it was shockingly deserted There was nothing open but supermarkets and pharmacies for the first couple weeks and then things started opening up and it was weird because the place where where I I

was living where we were living, um, is, was like in the heart of an art artistic haven. Yet during the pandemic, everything was closed up. So when I first got there, it reminded, it made me forget where I had chosen to have an apartment because it was so quiet that all of a sudden overnight when restaurants opened up again, all these like doors and walls opened up and there were just heaves of people. And I went, where, where, where,

are we? Like, are you, are we going home? And my driver was like, your apartment's right there. And I didn't even recognize the street because it had gone from nothing to hundreds of people in the span of hours when they finally reopened everything. But I really love working in Paris. It's hard because this show is, it is demanding. It's, it's a lot of hours. It's a lot of moving around from place to place, a lot of costume changes. Um, but to find yourself in

In a place like Versailles or even just a back alley that's so beautiful. And you're just going, how is this not just a set created on the back lot? Like it looks too real. It looks too fake sometimes because it is so beautiful. But I feel really lucky. And when I watched the show, I was like, oh, yeah, it's a green screen. And you're like, nope.

Oh, because it looks... No, it's shocking. It is pretty wild. We were able to actually go to all the locations we were, especially during the pandemic. But I guess that's just...

Darren star show. And one, one also that the city and in the French people have so embraced the show that we feel so much love and support when we go there. And the French embassy in the United States is so supportive. And so it really feels like,

Like we've been able to partner with the city in a lot of ways. It's it's really fun. I'm really excited to go back. And I love our cast and crew so much. And by the way, for those of you who don't know Darren Starr, who we're talking about, created 90210 and and many and a few other great ones that I'm missing that I'm not remembering at the moment. Have you been to the American Embassy yet?

Have you had a reason to go there? So we, no, I have not. I've been to the French embassy. Right. But I have not yet been to the embassy in France. It's amazing. It's so beautiful. Is it stunning? Well, maybe Emily needs to go there too. Or you just, you're just pitching all the ideas. And then I think we need to do an episode about Louis, which is that restaurant that every American wants to go to when they go to Paris, which has all the chickens.

Oh, my God. I don't even know about this place. Come on. You have to know this. I have never heard of this place. Get. OK. Let me. Friend. So not cool. So friend of Louie's. Let me. Let me. Oh, I've literally never heard of it, by the way. And it's dope. It's so like the gigantic slabs of pate.

like slabs of pate and roast chicken, french fries, salad, fresh vegetables, and there's only like nine tables. And it's every American who's in Paris. Yeah, it's insane. I have not. Wow. But it's so iconic. It would be like if you were shooting Sex and the City and hadn't done a scene in Times Square. Yeah.

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Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. I grew up speaking French, but I stopped practicing it because I...

wasn't in school anymore and I didn't have homework. And then my little brothers who are half Swiss, um, their, I mean, their English became so good, better than my French that I just stopped speaking to them in French, lost the confidence. And then I was cast as a girl who knows nothing, uh, about the French language or culture. And so I'm, it

kind of being encouraged to not know much, you know, as the character. And it made it difficult for me on weekends to,

practice it because I was just there's so much dialogue during the week that I just like wanted to relax but season two I started picking it up again and I even started dreaming again in it because when I was a teenager I started dreaming in it because I was pretty fluent wow but yeah I just I really need to dedicate myself season three to getting a lot better did you find what what I find with a language like that that you knew fairly well and then have it's atrophied

that, um, I can read it still better than I can speak it. Yeah. I could read a French paper and, and, and be, I think probably at least 80%. Like, you know, that's amazing. I, yeah. You know what? I agree. I, I can read it. I can, um, I can pick up more from what people are saying, but then when they like turn to look at me, it's like the conjugations and they're like,

But yeah, I freeze because then all of a sudden there's this expectation. We have this where all of a sudden, like without even thinking, you just blurt something out and it was, oh my God, I just said that in French. Yes. And so my husband over the summer was, we would, we would go somewhere and all of a sudden I just say something or order something or say, oh, that means that to him. And he'd look at me and be like, you do speak French. And I'm like,

It's just like that was just like fluke. And he's like, it's actually not because every time we go out, you do the same thing and you help me so much. And I'm like, oh, okay.

I mean, I guess kind of, but I just don't want to dedicate to the fact that I do, because then I feel like there's an expectation for me to understand it all the time. Well, that gets us to the other great thing. It's perfection because you probably a little bit like me are like a perfectionist and a worker and a doer. And like, I don't, I don't know about you, but I certainly don't want to be affiliated with anything that's less than perfect. So I'm not going to try my French. I suffer from what I, one of my many therapists, um,

And we've we've named an Ikea complex. And I and I'm going to try to get that out in the public as a as a diagnosis. I want this to be in the AMA Journal of Diagnoses one day. So here's my here's here's what I say it is an Ikea complex for me, like the nightmare of nightmares would be having to do anything having to do with Ikea because it involves following directions and assembling something. Yeah.

And that is my idea of a living hell. Like this nut screw goes into hole number four, which is followed by this right angle. And if I feel like I can't do that, if I feel like I can't do it perfectly, I don't even want to try. I can understand that. I mean, here's the thing, though. I like baking for the reasons almost that you're saying you don't like that IKEA complex because it's just basically saying do this, do this, do this.

If you do it well, you should equal a cookie. So I like the fair, like it's quite therapeutic to have such specific recipes.

And I do kind of like that. But at the same time, with what you're saying, it's like, if you don't do it well, then you're like, how did I not even do that? It's got specific instructions, like, how did I not do that?

Now I feel even sillier that I haven't been able to do it. So it's kind of a catch-22. It's like if you do it well, you're like, oh, that was so nice and therapeutic. And if you don't do it well, it's like, how did I mess up the instructions when they're very clearly marked? It's like it could be even more frustrating. So that I totally get that. Baking. It's funny you mentioned baking because I have so I have a number of friends who have gotten super into it. And it's not even about it's exactly that. It's the it's the meditative, therapeutic thing.

It's not even about they want to they want to they love cookies. So they want to bake. It's that that they are getting something, you know, inner out of out of out of doing it. Yeah. And I also really like I like the idea that I can bake something that I can then bring to someone else.

to show that I care whether I'm going just for like a dinner or it's, you know, someone's birthday or, um, it's, I'm just thinking of you. It's, it's like an act of, of caring and active. It's like, um, an act of service, right? It's something that I like to do and to be able to, um, surprise people that something can taste good is, um,

that I've made is kind of a win. Like my little brothers, when I was, I baked them cookies a couple of years, a few years ago now, but I made them,

So they weren't real chocolate. It was like carob or something. And I did it to see what their reaction would be to see if they'd even be able to tell. And they ate like the whole batch. And then I told them and they couldn't believe that it wasn't real chocolate. And so to me, it was like this kind of win of it's like a puzzle piece to make it happen because you can't use the right ingredients that you normally would. And then also to be able to make something taste good that people wouldn't necessarily think would, especially like little kids. Yeah.

It's fun. It definitely is meditative, though. I was told that you learned to surf recently. Is that true? It did. My husband's been surfing since he was a little kid. Oh, I love it. Me too. He and I, we got to go surfing. Come to California. We'll go surfing. He grew up in Ojai in California. So I grew up, I'm in Santa Barbara. So I promise you he's surfed the same breaks I have. We're literally up there all the time.

It's so funny. Yeah. So like ring con and all of those places. I'm literally going to ring con after this, after we finished this podcast, I'm going, I'm going to ring con. That's so funny. Yeah. So I got to know all of these places through dating my husband. And then during quarantine, um, I mean, it's,

I've always wanted... Like, I tried it once in my early 20s and I hardly count it because I don't even know if I got up. But then during quarantine, he's like, okay, I'm going to just teach you like I teach my nieces. I'm just... You're going to be on this phone board and I'm going to push you into the wave and I'm going to tell you when to get up and I'm going to make it really easy. And I was like, okay, fine. And then...

we started doing it and I'm still at the point where I need someone to help push me in and like, tell me when to pop up. So I can't really like look behind me and say like, there's a wave coming in like, you know, 30 seconds. And then I have to get more used to it than that. But I had so much fun and I actually, I got up right away and I was like, for me, it felt like I was surfing these epic waves. And then I got video footage of it.

And I look back at it and I'm like, okay, that looks like backwash. I mean, it's literally like two inches high, but I felt like I was on top of the world. And it was so wonderful because it was like this real, as you know, like mind, body, soul connection where you feel so strong physically. And also like, oh, I did it. Wow. I was so connected and balanced and kind of, you were saying something before about the idea of, I don't want to do something if I'm going to fail it. Yeah. Well,

surfing is the first thing in a long time as an adult that I've tried with, with this, not this notion of like, you might fail and you might fail publicly because there's like a lot of people on the beach right now. Um,

But it was freeing and I really liked it. But I get cold really easily. So I'm in like a full on wetsuit. Yeah. If it's like really warm water. California is cold. Is it? It's not warm. No, I learned in warm. I usually recommend to people if you want to surf.

it's super helpful to learn where it's warm because that added element of cold, it's hard enough to do. But I'll tell you, since the pandemic, everybody in the world surfs. Everybody. It's very true. Oh, it's unbelievable. It's never been more crowded. It's never been more of a scene. And I mean, that's great because it's good, but it's not...

You could tell your husband you want to go to ring God and you just want to catch a wave. And now all of a sudden there's all these people waiting to catch one too. Cause that's the whole thing also that I just don't understand is like surf protocol. Like if there's a bunch of people in the water and you all see the same wave, how do you know who has the right of way? It's terrifying. It's the person it's called the lineup, right? So it's a line. It is the person closest to where the wave first begins to break.

Okay. That's there. And if you cut in front of them, then you are what is called in surfing parlance, a kook. You're a kook. A kook. I know that. Believe me. By the way, why is it? Oh my God. It's with all the swear words that exist.

Why does kook so... But it's also so demoralizingly painful. You kook! I'd rather be called a fucker. It really is. I'd rather be called an asshole, but don't call me a kook. Yeah, you know what? It's kind of like a really... It's like dweeb. Yes. Because it's kind of like really demeaning. Demeaning. But at the same time, just the way that it sounds, it's like... And because it's like K-O-O-K, it's like kook. Like it just sounds...

It just sounds like you don't want to be told that you're that. It's really totally get that. That's really funny. No one's calling you a kook. I hope not. That's like, that's like the second that I, you know, steal someone's wave. And if I get caught, you know what, actually, if I get called a kook, it might be like a right passage. Cause that means that I'm like, that I have, that I am somewhat of a surfing term. Cause right now I'm just like, you know, I just, I'm just a bit of a blip on the radar out there, but it's really fun.

It's super fun. I now do. I don't prone surf anymore. In other words, I don't lie down on the board. I stand up paddle with the paddle and I surf the waves now. Oh, my God. You're one of those. That's so fun. Because it's just a core workout all the time. And those little muscles on your feet are firing your balance muscles that you don't even know you have. Totally. It's like being on those half balance balls for two hours and then surfing on top of that.

I've seen, I've also seen the, um, I have one. Why am I going to forget what they're called? The hover one. Yes. I've tried that. I've tried that. And, um, it's like my, the fear for me was falling into the blade that, you know, like that, that like terrifies me. I've tried it. Charlie's really good at it. But when you see people surfing, we got to, we got to rig up this. I know truly you guys, I feel like you guys would get out there and like,

spend hours. I love watching. It is fun. And I finally can tell which one is Charlie now, because if you look out at the water and everyone's wearing the same thing, it's really difficult at the beginning. I was like, which where I'm trying to cheer him on. And I don't know where he is now. I'm like,

oh, okay. He like, you know, is he goofy? Is he this? Is he that? You know, and you like can tell. So now I feel like- You could goofy listen to you with a surfing pro lance. It's no big deal. It's no big deal. Is he goofy? You know, I'm trying. He's goofy. Tell me about the movie you're going to do with him. It's called Windfall. And he, along with Andrew Kevin Walker, Justin Lader, and Jason Segel wrote and conceptualized this movie to have the same feeling of this-

The feeling that we all felt during the height of the pandemic, which was feeling very stuck and claustrophobic in one space. And the film kind of stems around that feeling while not being about COVID itself, but about that feeling of that stuck nature. And they conceptualized it

over zoom during the beginning of the pandemic. And I would, I would hear these conversations when I was in the other room. And, um, then there became an outline. Then there was a script to first draft the second draft. And I would talk to Charlie about it and I'd hear all about the story. And there's only three characters, um, wife, CEO, and nobody. And all of a sudden it got to the point of like casting. And I, um,

All of a sudden I became part of the conversations of casting and I had to give my thoughts on the character. And I kind of, they, it wasn't a given that I was going to be in this movie by any means. I just felt quite attached to the character because I had heard about her from the beginning. And, and we shot it up in Ojai. No way. In one location. Yeah. In one location up in Ojai last February and March.

And so we all were essentially kind of quarantined up in Ojai. We had a very small crew, obviously small cast, Jesse Plemons, Jason Siegel and I, and Charlie directed it. And it was so crazy because...

you know, it was the first thing that any of us, I think, I think any of us had done during the pandemic. Cause I went on to shoot Emily season two right after, but it was so nice to be in an intimate location where it was all heavily, you know, COVID protocol with masks and shields and all of that, but it still had that intimate feeling because it was such a small casting crew. Yeah. But the, the strange thing,

ability to have one location feel like so many different locations based on what scene we were shooting at what point in the story, because it really takes place over about a day and a half. And we shot it in real time or in, you know, in sequence. Yeah. And so the more claustrophobic or kind of used to the space we felt, the

the more heightened the stakes of the movie we're getting. And then Charlie loves to do one location films. Um, and the location becomes a character in and of itself, but it's kind of a throwback to a Hitchcockian thriller type with dark humor. Um,

It was really fun. It was a really fun shoot to do. Jason's great. I love Jason. Jason and I did a movie called Sex Tape together with Cameron Diaz. Oh, my God. Of course. Yeah. And I didn't know him at all. And I just fell in love with the guy. He's so smart and so fun. I mean, so sweet. What people forget about him is like, this is one of my favorite show business stories ever. Like, I forget how it was, but he did something that the people that...

I think at Disney were compelled enough to bring him in and go, so what do you want to do, Jason? What's your dream? And he said, I'd like to revitalize the Muppets. I'm like, what? He goes, yeah, I want to- Of all the things. Of all the things.

He went and did. And he totally did. He did. And it's so good. That movie. He's, he's so, he's so sweet. He's so personable. He's so endearing. And he's also so good and so smart. And he's such a great writer. And he was, you know, to be partnered along him and Jesse Plemons in this movie, I, I

I just sometimes sat back and watched these two incredible actors go at it because their characters are, you know, they have big egos. They're really big characters in this movie. And to see the two of them kind of go back and forth and spar. And my character at the beginning is, is more quiet and, and reserved and, and,

My outburst comes later. But, you know, to kind of be in between the two of them and really watch how they work and are constantly trying new things and not afraid to step outside their comfort zone. And in rehearsals, how collaborative and just the ideas that we would just think of in the moment and then that would spar on a new way that the scene was going. I mean, their writing...

on the fly was really, really fascinating to be a part of. Cause I had never really been a part of something that was so collaborative in that sense. Usually you're, you're given something and then you make the best of what's given and you give notes and you give ideas, but this was very much, um,

in the moment. Okay. So what do we want to say here? Do we want to, do we want to just stick to this? Do we want to manipulate it a little bit? How do we feel in this space now? And so it was this kind of ebb and flow, constantly evolving experience. And to have Jason and Jesse there along for the ride with me was, it was really cool. It's a really, really special experience. Yeah.

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Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. I need to know everything about the music video you were in with Jared Leto's 30 Seconds to Mars. You want to know everything. Well, I was ultimately like cut from that music video. Come on. How dare they? How dare they? I've been in. I've been in. I was in a music video. Bryce Dallas Howard directed me in a music video for MGMT.

No kidding. Oh, M83. My God. Jesus. I loved MGMT. No M83. It was a, it was a super video for MTV. And so it was very cool and, and artsy and really, really fun. And I played this alien that came down in high school and like, and Bryce is incredible. And I just adore her. I'm, I just, as a human and as a director, she's a real force. And I love her.

Um, and then, but, but the, but the 30 seconds to Mars video, um, I was interviewed. I went through the whole, like, cause there's a, it's a, you know, it's a,

music video, which I found really moving and powerful where they go down to Hollywood Boulevard and they're interviewing all these impersonators. And it's all about the Hollywood dream. And I, I really love the song. I love the concept for the video. And then they were interviewing a bunch of different people for this kind of segment where they were splicing in conversations with people and

I went in for about an hour and did interviews. And then I was actually, funnily enough, at the Hollywood Bowl for the concert, 30 Seconds to Mars. And they were premiering the video at the concert. And I was with friends. And I was like, oh, cool. This is the video. I'm in this video. This is so awesome. And they played the video. And I wasn't in the video. And I was like, oh, cool. Yeah.

No worries. But it was like a funny, it was, I was like, I swear, I swear, I swear I did it. So yeah. So that was the experience. Is that the only time you've been cut out? Because I have, I was cut, my very first movie was a movie called The Outsiders. And when I finally went and saw it,

almost i was 80 percent of my performance was cut and i did not know it so i oh see that's the heart that's the thing it's like not being told thank you thank you okay the outsiders i made in 1982 i dreamt last night no way that i had a conversation with francis ford coppola about being cut out of the movie last night whoa that's trippy

See, it's still traumatic for you though. Yes. See, like I, so, okay. Yeah. The music video, I didn't realize we were at the concert, but then I did a day on, um,

That movie with Andy Samberg. Amazing movie. Yes. So great. So funny. And I loved everyone on that movie. It was so fun. I did this really cool day with Dave Franco, myself, Ryan Phillippe. And we, you know, it was like a mock film.

set, which was like hilarious. And we had this just really fun day where we improv at the same time, but it's not in the movie. It was cut. It was totally cut out movie. However, Andy was so cool and told me beforehand, you know, I, he said, I'm really, I just wanted to reach out and tell you, you know, I'm so sorry. We had such a great time. Ultimately there was just too much. It'll go DVD extras, you know, but I was like, you know what? Honestly for me,

For me, it was about the experience of having fun with those guys, being able to improv, being a part of something. Okay, you don't ultimately get to be in the movie because of editing, but like at least they told me. Oh. Because that's like the horrible, I've heard horror stories where people go to the premiere and they're cut out of the movie. And I'm like, how did you freaking end up there? I was at the premiere. I was at the premiere sitting there going. God, that's so awful. No wonder you're having dreams about it still. That's terrifying. It's scarring. Yeah.

And so, you know, in the ensuing years as a producer or director, whenever I'm in the sort of filmmaker capacity, I always tell the actors always. No matter how small the part is, I always call them and go, you know, listen. And there's a billion reasons why, you know, it happens. Yeah. And you learn that more and more as you work in the industry. You just never know.

want to find out publicly or at least like be warned. I mean, and how that person reacts is on them, but at least you've done the nice thing of like telling them, like, I just would like to know. So insane. Um, where are you, where are you right now? You're not in Ohio. Are you, are you in Paris? Where are you? No, no, no, no. We're in LA, but we're, we're in the process of, of moving and we're almost moved into our house. So we've been a bit nomadic for a long time. Um, but,

But we soon shall be settled. And we're very excited about that. Oh, wait. You played Fantine in Les Mis. I did. So the BBC, was it an orchestra with you in front? What was the deal? So there was no singing. It was a no singing version. It was a written version. Yeah, it was only written and then extrapolated into... It was a limited series. And then they took...

the original material, but then allowed for a little bit more exploration into the characters. So more on Fontaine's backstory as to before she becomes a sex worker. In her life change, she got to fall in love and have a child and you get to see her fall in love and the brighter, lighter Fontaine before she becomes the devastatingly haunting character that everyone knows. Before she gets the bad haircut.

Before she gets the bad haircut. Exactly. Uh, and I did that with, um, the BBC. Uh, and it was, it was an amazing experience, um, for, for many reasons, because as a, as a Brit to be a part of something on the BBC, especially something like Les Miserables was a huge, uh, kind of proud moment for me. And, um, yeah, it was, it was wonderful. And David Oyelowo, um,

is javert and it was yeah it was really cool oh and olivia coleman played madame nadia i mean we had amazing yeah uh we had a dominic west dominic west um yeah we really was it really was an incredible cast yeah and josh o'connor actually what's funny is that um josh and olivia are

Olivia was already cast as the queen in The Crown when we were filming. And I was a huge fan of The Crown. And I was grilling her, asking her questions. But she was sworn to utmost secrecy. Oh, wow. She couldn't tell me anything. And then Josh was auditioning.

for Prince Charles during the making of BBC of our BBC show. And so then I was asking him a bunch of questions. Um, I mean, it was so crazy. It was like all these, Oh, and Aaron Doherty who plays princess Margaret, no, princess Anne. She was also in our show. So it was like everyone from our show went on to do the crown. And I was like, uh,

I'm available. Hello. I totally would be in that. Yeah, but it was kind of funny to be surrounded by that. That scene in The Crown where the guy breaks into the palace and sits at the foot of the bed. That sequence is beyond belief. So good.

So good. I'm so excited for the next season. Unreal. Yeah. Really, really amazing. So, so, so good. And the score. Everything about it is so good. I know you weren't in it a ton, but you worked with one of my favorite directors, David Fincher, on Mank. Oh, my God. Right? How crazy was it? The most incredible experience. It was amazing. Give me a Fincher story. So I was shooting Emily in Paris season one when I was auditioning for Mank. And I auditioned over Zoom.

And it was the first time I'd ever heard of zoom. And this is like pre pandemic. I just, I was like FaceTime, Skype, like what is it? So I do this zoom and, um, as we're auditioning, so it was after a long day of Emily and, and I, uh, you know, David came on the screen and I had set up everything. I had made sure that my wifi was working perfectly because my wife, I had not been working perfectly. So I got a bunch of boosters from set and I was just like boosted up with like all my wifi. Um,

And David comes on, we're talking and he's like, okay, let's like start doing it. And he was reading opposite me and we do the scene and then we stop and he starts to give me notes and then he freezes. He freezes on all the notes and then all of a sudden it unfreezes and he goes, okay, let's go. Oh no. And I'm like, I'm like, so I didn't want to tell him because I thought,

oh my god this is just so annoying because it's been like 12 seconds of it like he's this is that's really inconvenient for me to say that so then we do it again and then he's like okay great oh that was great okay um and he was super like super animated and like so lovely and and he goes okay let's do it again and and then he gives me more notes and it freaking cuts out again and every single time he gave me notes it cut out and then I would just pretend

pretend like it didn't cut out and I would just do it again. I got off that zoom and I remember calling Charlie going, I, I honestly think that that I just ruined like my wife. I cut out. I probably didn't change much. I don't know how that went. I like, I think essentially my wife, I ruined it for me. And then I got the part where,

And I couldn't quite believe it because I thought, how did I get the part without ever hearing the direction? And then I told David and he found that very funny. But I just never I never wanted to admit to it. It's an amazing story because as I as an actor, I have like I literally am in a cold sweat, cold sweat from hearing that story.

It's terrifying. I know. I was like, I honestly, it took so much to like schedule the Zoom too because it was like nighttime, daytime, morning, night. And then when I got the part, I had to fly back twice from Paris for 24 hours on a weekend. I had no days off for Emily season one because I was in, you know, every episode of the show or sorry, every scene of every episode of the show. And so I would fly back.

First thing on a Saturday morning after having worked all of Friday night, arrive Saturday, rehearse Sunday, fly back Sunday, arrive Monday, go to set Tuesday. So it was like twice within that time frame to camera test, to audition, to everything. And I'm going from Emily, who is this most American being that you can be in Europe,

to them playing a British period, you know, woman. And I was just like, what the hell is going on right now? But that's when you know you're, that's those moments when they come up where you're like, yeah, it's happening. This is, this is, this is, I'm in it. I literally take five flights. Like, I don't even care. I'll sleep later. Like, and by the way, I took so many flights to make that happen. And little did we know that right after that,

we finished filming make mere days, I think then the pandemic hit and everything shut down. We didn't take a flight for a couple of years and we couldn't have done it. So I'm like, okay, all right. I'm really glad that I did it. I would have highly regretted it for many reasons. Um, you know, you know, the other thing about that story is, is it, um, I forget who told me this, a great actor. I just don't remember which one it was. You know, when a director gives you a note, you do the performance and then a director comes in and goes, okay, you know, I'm just wondering if,

And they give you a note and you don't agree with it. Or maybe you even think it's bad. Instead of getting into a discussion or God forbid fighting with them over it, we just very politely go, I'll give it a try. And then do exactly what you want. And 99.9% of the time they come back and go, that's awesome. Thank you. A hundred percent. Because sometimes I think they're just set. Sometimes,

They're saying something to like try something else, but they don't necessarily know exactly what they want. So then they just want to see something different and at least just make a dedicated decision. It's kind of like the speaking French thing where you just need to like dedicate to having the confidence to do, to doing it because ultimately like maybe you will say something that makes sense.

As long as you carry it off with confidence, I'm sure that that, you know, it makes a big difference. You did it with David Fincher. It doesn't get any bigger than that guy. That's for sure. Thank you. This is good. I'm looking forward. So season three is done on Emily or no? What are you doing it now? No, we have to. I think I think it'll probably shoot this summer or something. So we're kind of waiting to hear. But how many episodes do you guys do in a season? Ten. It was like four months ago.

Right. It's a long time. At least you know what the season opener or finale will be. I'm going to go pitch that right now. And the Chevalier. With the good hair. Well, you already have that. I mean, Jesus, those guys, they all have such good hair. It's unbelievable. The hairs, these guys prerequisite. Yeah, exactly. That's a Darren star special. If you don't have good hair, you're not in the Darren star universe. Well, thank you. This is great. I really loved having you. Thank you so much.

Well, I hope you enjoyed that. I'm now going to go surfing. And if I get cut off by Lily, I am going to call her... What am I going to call her? That's right. A kook. And now it is time to check the answering machine here in the studio of the Lowdown line. Hello. You've reached literally in our Lowdown line where you can get the Lowdown on all things about me, Rob Lowe. 323-570-

4-5-5-1. So have at it. Here's the beep. Hi, Rob. This is Tracy Tenman. I am from Phoenix, Arizona. Prior, I was from Seattle, Washington. Huge fan, especially of the 80s movies I looked about last night. Question is, your brother, Chad Lowe, I used to see him.

him in more movies. I don't know if he's doing more production work, but why not a movie with Rob and Chad Lowe in it? I think that could be really fun to see you guys work together like you do with your son. So that's my question. Are we going to see any productions with you and your brother? Thank you. Love the podcast. Love your books. Bye.

Well, thank you so much, first of all, for listening and for enjoying the books. Here's what is interesting. I think you may have seen a number of Rob and Chad productions and maybe not known them because Chad Lowe is one of the leading television directors and has directed multiple episodes of 9-1-1 Lone Star, coincidentally directed the first episode that my son, John Owen, wrote.

And that was, if you're a Lone Star fan, it was last year's crossover episode that involved the big wildfire written by my son, directed by my brother. And Chad does act, but not as much anymore. He's really focused on the directing, but I'd like to get him back in the makeup. I mean, you know, Chad Lohan makeup is a thing to behold. And I think we need to figure out how to do that. So we've always been trying to find something.

And I'm sure that we will at some point. But I love that you're a fan and I will pass it on. So listen, don't forget to subscribe to the show. Don't forget also, if you're a Parks and Rec fan, we've got Parks and Recollection. It's pretty great. We go through every single episode. Total comedy classic. Be sure to check it out. And I'll see you next week on Literally. Kook!

You've been listening to Literally with Rob Lowe, produced and engineered by me, Rob Schulte. Our coordinating producer is Lisa Berm. The podcast is executive produced by Rob Lowe for Low Profile. Jeff Ross, Adam Sachs, and Joanna Solitaroff at Team Coco. And Colin Anderson at Stitcher. Our researcher is Alyssa Grahl. Our talent bookers are Paula Davis, Gina Batista, and Britt Kahn.

And music is by Devin Bryant. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next week on Literally with Rob Lowe. This has been a Team Coco production in association with Stitcher.

All set for your flight? Yep. I've got everything I need. Eye mask, neck pillow, T-Mobile, headphones. Wait, T-Mobile? You bet. Free in-flight Wi-Fi. 15% off all Hilton brands. I never go anywhere without T-Mobile. Same goes for my water bottle, chewing gum, nail clippers. Okay, I'm going to leave you to it. Find out how you can experience travel better at T-Mobile.com slash travel. ♪

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