TORONTO — Some actors find that a hit TV show can be as much a curse as a blessing — there are the long hours, and the occasionally career-killing typecasting that can befall an actor who has played an especially memorable character.
But Rob Lowe says he’s been around long enough to appreciate the success of his drama, Brothers & Sisters, which aired its fourth season premiere over the weekend.
“I’m always happy for something that I’m working hard on to be as accepted and loved as this show is,” Lowe told The Canadian Press. “I know how hard it is to have something that people take into their heart, like they do Brothers & Sisters. So I love it.”
Even if it means working around the clock.
Lowe took on a role in the new Ricky Gervais-directed comedy The Invention of Lying, which opens Friday. It meant commuting between Los Angeles, to Boston, where Gervais’s film was being made.
“It was pretty arduous,” said Lowe,. “I was pretty beat when I got done, but it was worth it. And I like being able to sneak something in. Particularly something this different.”
The Invention of Lying takes place in a universe where people are only capable of telling the truth — except Ricky Gervais’s character, Mark Bellison, a down-on-his-luck screenwriter whose fortunes turn when he learns he’s the only person in the world who can lie.
Lowe plays Brad Kessler, a smarmy co-worker of Bellison’s and his hated nemesis. He said he couldn’t turn down the opportunity to work with Gervais.
“It’s funny, there’s something about guys like Ricky, Mike Myers, Lorne Michaels, Jason Reitman — a lot of them are Canadians, interestingly enough, a lot of them from Toronto — who clearly see something in me that they are simpatico with,” Lowe said.
“I have no earthly idea what it is, but I’m glad they do, because whenever I hook up with them we have really, really good results.”