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‘9-1-1: Lone Star’: How Becoming ‘Bored’ with Acting Led Rob Lowe to Producing Show

Rob Lowe is the face of the hit series “9-1-1: Lone Star” as everyone’s favorite Owen Strand. But he also works behind the scenes as well. It turns out that’s what helps keep the actor around and what he’s truly passionate about.

As a creative type, Lowe likes to have a say in the direction of the show. So he also works as an executive producer lending his expertise to the show. In a 2020 sitdown with Entertainment Weekly, Lowe said he usually gets bored after a while as an actor. Lowe has been in the business for a long time with his fair share of ups and downs. His career stretches all the way back to 1983’s “The Outsiders,” based on the popular teen book.

But by producing, writing, and sometimes directing, Lowe has found ways to switch things up and stay passionate in the industry.

Lowe said, “I’ve just come off of writing, directing and starring in a remake of ‘The Bad Seed’ and I’ve produced a bunch of stuff over the course of my career. I find that I get bored a lot as an actor. I’ve been doing it a long time. And I love it. But I have more clubs in my bag than just being an actor. And if I don’t get to use them. If I don’t get to help write and pitch stories and sort of build the world I’m going to live in. Then I’m not as invested in it as I would like to be.”

Robe Lowe on ‘9-1-1: Lone Star’

Coming off shows like “Parks and Recs,” Rob Lowe wanted to star in a good action drama. Reading the script, he fell in love with the different emotions on display. One scene called for him to be funny and charming. And in another, he put his dramatic skills on display in gut-wrenching portrayals of raw emotion.

“I love action; I love a good procedural,” Lowe said. “But that kind of special sauce they throw on it makes it not only really interesting to watch. But really, really interesting as an actor. In any given episode, I’m playing comedy, I’m playing a leading man. I’m playing action, and I’m playing really raw emotion. You just don’t get many opportunities as an actor to go to the kind of places that you can in Ryan, Tim, and Brad’s shows.”

Lowe also saw a bit of himself in the character Owen Strand. Maybe, they’re both a bit of narcissist in that way.

“Ryan [Murphy]’s original pitch to me was, ‘He’s an athletic, adventurous, rugged, brave firefighter who cares very deeply about skincare.’ That was the pitch! I will get entire scenes and I’m just going, ‘Oh my God, he’s just writing me!’” Lowe said.