Rob Lowe: Twitter Is a Great Way to Set the Record Straight - Pbpulse
From tweeting personal thoughts to his almost 150,000 Twitter followers to sharing secrets with readers in his new best-selling memoir, Rob Lowe has learned to embrace the spotlight thats been shining on him since his days as an 80s heartthrob.
Now, hes lending his famous face and hands to an important cause. The 47-year-old actor has teamed up with Habitat for Humanity and Valspar Paint for the Hands for Habitat project, in which celebrities auction off their handprints and signatures to benefit relief efforts in Haiti.
The goal is to build 50,000 homes for people who are still suffering in Haiti, Lowe told Parade.com. My stepfather has worked for Habitat for Humanity off and on since the late 70s, so I was very familiar with their work and I thought, OK, its time for me to do my share.
Lowe sat down with Parade.com to talk about the project and how he hopes to inspire his sons Matthew, 17, and John Owen, 15.
He also chatted about the upcoming season of Parks & Recreation and his surprising love for Twitter.
On famous handprints hed like to walk away with.
Weve got so many interesting people. Im a huge Star Wars fan, so seeing James Earl Jones, aka Darth Vaders handprint is pretty impressive. Its hard to top that.
On rallying his celebrity friends to lend a hand.
Its sort of a no-brainer. Its a great cause, its fun, and the public gets to compete to buy it and it all goes to help families that could really use it.
On inspiring his sons to do more.
In the summer, I like to encourage them to do something thats about something other than themselves. Theyve just come off of a great summer and Im really proud of them. One volunteered in a science lab in San Francisco, and the other served on Capitol Hill.
On the success of his memoir, Stories I Only Tell My Friends.
It was a surprise. I had no idea how it would be received. Just completing it was enough satisfaction for me, but then to have this continued embracement, its really humbling. The journey that it takes you on as a writer is the greatest thing. At the end of the day, that should be enough, but then when people actually have a connection or it resonates with them, thats icing on the cake.
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Hes looking forward to writing another book.
It takes a lot of time, but I did enjoy the process. I think I will write another one. Im just sort of toying with the idea now. I did a lot of thinking before I did the writing. The thinking is 80% of it, so Im in the thinking part of the next book.
On stretching his comedic chops on NBCs Parks & Recreation.
My roles in comedies from Austin Powers to Tommy Boy to Waynes World, were sort of comedic straight man parts. My character on Parks & Recreation is the comic relief in a comedy. To play a character that appears strictly for laughs is sort of new for me and really fun. The stuff that Ive been given to do this year is even more nuts than last year. I think the show was the best comedy on television last year, and were actually even better this year.
Hes not afraid to go a little nuts on the small screen.
I read a thing online that said, Rob Lowe Has Created a Freak on Television, and it made me so happy. Nobody would have ever created this character for me but these mad geniuses on the show.
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On playing Drew Peterson in an upcoming Lifetime thriller.
Its a real transformative character for me to play. It took six hours of getting my hair dyed to get my hair gray. What I learned is, Im glad Im not actually gray! Its just a very different style than anything Ive ever done before and I think people are going to be surprised.
On portraying the controversial Peterson.
Drew Peterson is awaiting trial for the murder of one of his wives, and he could very easily be off by the time the movie comes out in January. In fact, we shot two endings just to protect ourselves.
On why hes taking advantage of Twitter.
Ive come to really like Twitter. You really do get to see what Im about, and I like sharing with my fans. A lot of my fans have been with me without dating myself for like three decades, so its great to be able to reach out to them.
He wishes social media had been around when he first got to Hollywood.
I actually really do. Its a great way to set the record straight immediately. I was on a TV show this morning and Donald Trump was on as well and we were having a few laughs and I said, Donald, you should get back into the race. You would be so great in a Republican debate, and then there were immediate headlines that I urged him to run for president. So I went to Twitter and said, Donald and I were just having fun. In a previous time, this story becomes I called for Donald to run for president. Now, you can immediately go in and tell people the spirit of the conversation. I like the way you can circumvent the media gatekeepers and go right to the people. Thats my favorite thing about Twitter.
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