Rob Lowe recently revealed that legendary director Francis Ford Coppola made him practice tai chi during the filming of “The Outsiders,” a detail he shared during a conversation with Adam Scott on the podcast “Literally with Rob Lowe.”
During the wide-ranging conversation, Lowe reflected on his experience as a young actor working with Coppola on the seminal 1983 film.
“I did ask him, ‘What does tai chi have to do with being a greaser? Was that a big thing in Tulsa in the ’60s?'”
Lowe recounted, questioning the director’s unorthodox approach.
Scott suggested that perhaps Coppola’s intention was to forge a stronger bond among the young cast.
“That’s the magic of him,”
Scott said. “It was all about getting you guys in sync with each other… it comes across on screen that you guys are really kind of family and relying on each other.”
Lowe offered a more practical explanation:
“I think it was just giving us something we had to wake up for in the mornings so we weren’t just ruckus. Putting some structure out there for your day.”
This wasn’t the only unusual training Coppola implemented. Lowe also mentioned that the cast studied gymnastics during their preparation for the film. The extended rehearsal period, which Lowe speculated might have been because they “lost the financing during it,” included a month of these unconventional training methods.
“I’m pretty sure he was just paying for hotel rooms for all you guys and just keeping you there,”
Lowe said, suggesting Coppola was “crossing his fingers that the financing for the movie would” come through.
“The Outsiders,” which featured a cast of rising stars including Lowe, Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, Emilio Estevez, C. Thomas Howell, Ralph Macchio, and Matt Dillon, has since become regarded as a classic coming-of-age film and launched the careers of many of Hollywood’s biggest stars.
A former capoeira instructor turned biohacking enthusiast, Gio spent his early years bouncing between São Paulo and Miami before settling in Austin. With a master’s in sports physiology and a penchant for experimenting with traditional Brazilian herbs, he’s become Rude Vulture’s go-to expert on movement optimization and plant-based performance enhancement. When not writing about the intersection of martial arts and ancestral living, he runs an underground fight gym where participants are required to follow strict circadian rhythm protocols.