Rob Lowe
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BirthDate BirthPlace |
03/16/1964
Charlottesville, VA |
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Rob Lowe's Ex-Nanny Stays Silent on TV Show
April 15, 2008 10:41am ESTActor Rob Lowe's former nanny refused to give details about her sexual harassment claims against her former employer when she appeared on live TV for the first time on Tuesday morning. Appearing alongside her attorney Gloria Allred on breakfast show Today, Jessica Gibson just laughed awkwardly and shook her head when she was asked to describe what Lowe did to her. In a sexual harassment lawsuit, filed in a California court on Monday, Gibson claimed Lowe "placed his hand inside Gibson's pants in order to touch her crotch" and "grabbed Gibson's buttocks without consent" several times between September 2005 to January 2008. Gibson also alleges Lowe repeatedly exposed his "flaccid penis" and his "erect penis" to her, as well as frequently asking her "to touch his penis," reports TMZ.com. And Gibson claims Lowe's wife Sheryl taunted her with "numerous sexually vulgar comments about male genitalia," and on one occasion told her "she would never have a boyfriend, because only a married man would want to f**k her." Her lawyer told Today anchorwoman Meredith Vieira, "She's not going to go into the details of that, but she will go into the details of it in her lawsuit as it's being litigated, and we are looking forward to that." Last week, Lowe accused Gibson of trying to extort $1.5 million from him and his wife Sheryl for her silence. Allred confirmed the two sides in the extortion and harassment case will meet "across a table" on May 19 and 20. She added, "Jessica will be there and I'll be there, eyeballing him, and then we'll see if he wants to disclose what happened. "Maybe they're gonna want to avoid that deposition, maybe they're gonna want to try to delay it." COPYRIGHT 2008 WORLD ENTERTAINMENT NEWS NETWORK LTD. All Global Rights Reserved.
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Nanny: 'Rob Lowe Exposed Himself'
April 15, 2008 7:31am ESTActor Rob Lowe has been accused of sexual harassment by his former nanny, who claims he exposed himself and touched her in an inappropriate manner. Jessica Gibson, 24, worked for Lowe and his wife Sheryl over a seven-year period, and claims in an 18-page lawsuit filed in a California court on Monday Lowe "placed his hand inside Gibson's pants in order to touch her crotch" and "grabbed Gibson's buttocks without consent" several times between September 2005 to January 2008. Last week the West Wing star claimed his ex-nanny demanded he and his wife Sheryl pay her $1.5 million by April 11, or she would go to the press with allegations of harassment. Lowe subsequently went public with the alleged extortion, calling it "an attempt to damage and humiliate not only my wife and me, but our two young sons as well." Gibson has also made harassment claims against Sheryl, alleging the 46-year-old would walk around naked, make vulgar comments and discuss her sex life with Lowe, reports People.com. But in a statement released on Tuesday, Lowe's attorney Stanton 'Larry' Stein insisted Gibson's allegations are unfounded. He said, "Ms. Gibson's older sister worked for the Lowes for seven years. Ms. Gibson worked for the Lowes on and off for seven years. She left at least two times, to pursue other jobs, and returned each time asking for more hours. She sent two emails the day after she left, both saying she loved the Lowes and her leaving had nothing to do with them but her heart wasn't into being a nanny anymore. "This is totally inconsistent with her latest allegations. An investigation of dozens of present and former employees has failed to find one single person to verify her allegations. The allegations in the complaint are simply untrue." Gibson's attorney Gloria Allred responded, "We don't think so," with Gibson insisting she only returned to work because "I love the children. I needed the job. I thought it would get better, and I was scared." Gibson quit her job as the Lowes' nanny on Feb. 24. COPYRIGHT 2008 WORLD ENTERTAINMENT NEWS NETWORK LTD. All Global Rights Reserved.
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Fred Claus Review
November 12, 2007 10:44am ESTPlaying second fiddle to a more famous sibling can be rough. Just ask Fred Claus (Vaughn) a regular guy who has had to grow up under the shadow of his little brother Nicholas Claus (Paul Giamatti) aka Santa. That’s a big shadow to say the least both figuratively and literally. As an adult Fred has pretty much steered clear of his family but when he finds himself in dire need of some fast cash he calls his brother. Pleased as punch to hear from him Nicholas nonetheless makes him a deal: If he comes up to the North Pole for a visit and to help out the few days before Christmas then Fred can have the money. Fred reluctantly agrees and soon he’s being whisked off in Santa’s sleigh by head elf Willie (John Michael Higgins). But once Fred gets to the North Pole nothing seems to go right and soon he is the cause of much chaos--which unbeknownst to Fred causes Nicholas even more stress since his North Pole operation is one step away from being shut down by a cold-hearted efficiency expert (Kevin Spacey). Can Fred quit being bitter in time to save his brother’s livelihood? Of course he can. Hmmm Vince Vaughn minus the R-rated Wedding Crashers/Old School irreverence? It’s a stretch. Seeing the comic actor playing it PG is a little weird but you might enjoy how Vaughn infuses his unique energy into Fred Claus. From getting all the elves to boogie down in Santa’s workshop to going on one rant after another (on his brother: “He’s a clown a megalomaniac a fame junkie!”) to pilfering money on the street and then being chased by Salvation Army Santas it’s all good. Giamatti too seems a little out of his comfort zone as the saintly St. Nick. The actor who usually plays such endearing sad sacks has already played against type to great effect this year as the maniacal bad guy in Shoot ‘Em Up but he isn't nearly as successful in doing the flipside of that in Fred Claus. And what the hell is Kevin Spacey doing in this? As the villain of the film he fills the shoes nicely but he is almost too good at it (natch) for such a feel-good family film. Even Higgins--a character actor who is usually so hilarious in films such as The Break Up and all of Christopher Guest’s movies—has to shed the cheekiness and sugar himself up for Fred Claus. There’s also Rachel Weisz as Fred’s beleaguered girlfriend (you heard right) and Kathy Bates as the Claus boys’ mother who always sees Fred as inferior to her other son to fill out a cast of big names doing family fare. Director David Dobkin is a Vince Vaughn favorite having directed him in Wedding Crashers and Clay Pigeons but like his muse Dobkin seems a little out of place guiding this material. Granted Dobkin creates a pretty magical North Pole complete with an entire city of little dwellings a Frosty Tavern and a huge domed Santa’s Workshop. The montage of Fred delivering presents on Christmas Eve—falling down chimneys stuffing cookies in his face zooming around in the sleigh—is also well done. But overall Fred Claus is a Vaughn vehicle—even as sugary sweet and family-friendly as it is--and all Dobkin really does is turn the camera on and let the man do his stuff. Dan Fogelman's script is also so very bland full of any number of holes and only picks up once Vaughn starts to improvise. Bottom line: If you’re looking to take the kids to a sweet Christmas movie and are a Vince Vaughn fan then Fred Claus is for you.
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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Review
July 23, 2007 10:07am ESTAs the fifth year at Hogwarts begins most of the wizardry world is having a hard time believing Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) has returned further propagated by the Ministry of Magic who refuses to recognize anything evil is brewing and blames all the hullabaloo on Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and Dumbledore (Michael Gambon). The Ministry even interferes with Hogwarts business by making Ministry employee Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton) the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor whose outwardly sweet demeanor hides a sadistic streak a mile wide. She thinks the children should only learn about the Dark Arts “theoretically” and tortures all those who disagree. But the Voldemort threat is a reality and Dumbledore has re-formed the Order of the Phoenix a group of witches and wizards that prepares to battle the Dark Lord. Harry is unfortunately being kept in the dark for his protection of course even as his connection to Voldemort grows stronger and he’s royally peeved at being ignored. Urged on by Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint) he forms his own order of Hogwarts students called Dumbledore’s Army to teach them what defenses against the Dark Arts he has already learned. Oh yeah Harry also shares his first kiss but make no bones about it—love is the furthest thing on Harry’s mind when the crap hits the fan. War is imminent. Everyone steps up their game in Order of the Phoenix. Radcliffe Watson and Grint have shed their adolescent whininess and aw-shucks goofiness to give their characters the greatest depth so far. They are forced to grow up pretty quickly in Order with little time for any playfulness and the three actors handle the seriousness with aplomb. Of course both Radcliffe and Grint have already ventured out of the Potter world—Radcliffe shed more than just adolescence on stage in a production of Equus while Grint lost his virginity in the indie Driving Lessons--and their extra experience shows in Order. Also good are Matthew Lewis as the usually clumsy Neville Longbottom who shows his mettle in more ways than one and newcomer Evanna Lynch as the slightly off-kilter Luna Lovegood who proves to be a loyal member of Dumbledore’s Army. But the kids have to keep up with the talented adult cast especially Oscar-nominated Staunton (Vera Drake) as Umbridge. The veteran actress’ interpretation of one of J.K. Rowling’s nastiest characters so far in the Potter lore is spot-on down to the pink wool suits and irritating twitter “ahem” she uses when she wants your undivided attention. Helena Bonham Carter also makes an impression however over the top it is as the evil Voldemort follower Bellatrix Lestrange. Does she ever want to look pretty onscreen? Then there’s the laundry list of Brits whose time onscreen may be short but is nonetheless memorable including Alan Rickman as the sneering Prof. Snape; Gambon as the wise but flawed Dumbledore; Gary Oldman as the kindly Sirius Black Harry’s only real family; and of course Fiennes as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. His late-in-the-game appearance once again throws you for a loop. It stands to reason that at five movies in moviegoers would have a favorite Harry Potter flick by now. Those who love those Triwizard Tournament special effects might feel The Goblet of Fire was the best; or Prisoner of Azkaban for its time-bending action. Yet The Order of the Phoenix may be the one movie that speaks directly to the fans of the books. Without as much wide-eyed wonderment or wizardry flash the story is still chockfull of compelling details that are absolutely pivotal to the continuing Harry Potter saga. Screenwriter Michael Goldenberg (Peter Pan) and director David Yates (HBO’s The Girl in the Café) manage to wade through this volume of information and cut successfully to the chase with great effect. Yates who has signed on to do the sixth movie Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince even shows an affinity for action in the final dramatic confrontation between good witches and wizards and bad ones. But overall Order of the Phoenix may leave audiences not as well-versed in the novels a little itchy for some good old-fashioned wand-waving and Disney special effects. Thing is it’s just going to keep getting darker and darker for Harry and his crew. The days of happy fun playtime are over.
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Tom Cruise & Katie Holmes Move in Next to Oprah Winfrey
July 18, 2007 1:42pm ESTTom Cruise and Katie Holmes have added to the star power of California celebrity town Montecito by buying a $3.5 million estate there. The couple bought the three-acre property, with existing building plans for a lavish home, from Rob Lowe and his wife Sheryl, according to Web site CelebrityBabylon.com. The Cruises' new compound is just down the road from Oprah Winfrey's breathtaking $50 million home. Cruise made headlines with Winfrey in 2005 when he jubilantly bounced on the talk-show queen's sofa after declaring his love for actress Holmes on her Oprah show. Now he can pop around and hop on Winfrey's furniture any time he pleases. Montecito has long been considered one of California's celebrity enclaves--Ellen DeGeneres and Portia De Rossi, former Seinfeld star Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Kirk Douglas are among the stars who call the seaside town home. According to CelebrityBabylon.com, the property the Cruises have bought isn't much to look at now, but planning permission granted to Lowe means the couple can build a dream home on the site with few restrictions. COPYRIGHT 2007 WORLD ENTERTAINMENT NEWS NETWORK LTD. All Global Rights Reserved.
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The Condemned Review
April 27, 2007 5:38am ESTA billionaire TV producer (Robert Mammone) has a great idea for a reality show that he wants to put on the Internet and his goal is to beat the 40 million Super Bowl audience. He has compiled a crack team of young hip and immoral tech geeks directed by Goldman (Rick Hoffman) and puts cameras throughout a remote island where former prisoners are going to kill each other while audiences watch after shelling out the pay-per-view fee. The location is done on a remote secret island and the death row prisoners are bought from prisons around the world with the promise that the survivor gets to walk free. Among the contestants are a rogue Aussie named McStarley (Vinnie Jones) a martial arts expert (Masa Yamaguchi) a husband-and-wife team (Manu Bennett and Dasi Ruz) a monstrous killer who doesn't do much more than grunt (Nathan Jones) and others known only as The Italian The German and other monikers quickly forgotten. Enter the sole American Jack Conrad (Steve Austin) who's in a South American prison for some obscure reason and is recognized on TV by his wife (Madeleine West) who tries to save him. However it looks like Conrad is pretty good at helping himself. Don't expect the acting to be much more evolved than what could be seen among the World Wrestling Entertainment superstars especially since many of them were plucked from the ring to star in this morality tale. But Austin (who had in a strong cameo in Adam Sandler's Longest Yard) proves he has a sense of humor as well as strength. Vinnie Jones is ridiculously over-the-top as the Aussie who's the hand-picked winner of this game shown setting up alliances Survivor style only to turn on them later. The supporting cast are refreshingly entertaining but one-note caricatures both in the contest and running the contest. It's obvious that they aren't going to be around long but the actors do milk their tiny roles for every bit of attention they can get. Rick Hoffman as the brilliant camera mastermind of the project is both whiny sniveling and mean-spirited so when he joins some of the rest of the crew and suddenly develops a backbone and a conscience he ends up stealing the movie with his acerbic humor. But it's the understated American hero Conrad who holds a mirror up to the people who like to watch this stuff. Director Scott Wiper who co-wrote this story has also acted in similar movies like this (A Better Way to Die). It’s obvious he knows what he’s doing with The Condemned and develops a sense of voyeuristic angst like those of us who can't keep our eyes off a train wreck. Like the darkly subversive Belgian film Man Bites Dog the camera crew remains safely distant and remote until the reality directly involves them. Then the crew wonders "What the hell are we doing?" while the audience might be thinking "What the hell are we watching?" Much like Series 7: The Contenders Rollerball and other movies which show a dark and bloody near future this kind of reality doesn't seem too far away and maybe proves that movies which provide this type of gladiator spectacle target a certain segment of the human population who need to blow off steam.
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'Forrest Gump' Makeup Artist, Husband Found Dead
December 20, 2006 10:48am ESTEmmy-award-winning makeup artist Hallie D'Amore and her photographer husband Richard were found dead on Friday at their home in Venice, California. Hallie D'Amore, 64, who was nominated for an Academy Award in 1995 for her work on Forrest Gump, apparently shot her husband Richard, 66, multiple times before turning the gun on herself. Investigators said they did not know what drove her to kill her husband and herself, but said the two, who recently celebrated their 22nd wedding anniversary, were having marital problems. Hallie D'Amore won an Emmy award for the HBO made-for-TV movie Normal in 2003 and was nominated for 1995's Buffalo Girls and 1993's Gypsy. Her other credits include the recently released Santa Clause 3, The Princess Diaries, 2 Fast 2 Furious, XXX, Runaway Bride, Patch Adams and Apollo 13. Richard D'Amore was known for his moody landscapes, nudes and architectural photographs, which caught the eye of Hollywood celebrities including Michelle Pfeiffer, Ted Danson and Rob Lowe, among others. Capt. Ed Winter of the Los Angeles County Coroner's office said police found a note, but were unsure whether it was a suicide note. Police believe the shooting occurred on Thursday and the couple were found the next day by one of their coworkers. COPYRIGHT 2006 WORLD ENTERTAINMENT NEWS NETWORK LTD. All Global Rights Reserved.
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Charlotte's Web Review
December 15, 2006 4:43am ESTBased on E.B. White’s enduring children’s story we meet Wilbur the Pig (Dominic Scott Kay) a runt who is saved from the axe by a little farm girl named Fern (Dakota Fanning). She raises Wilbur from infancy but eventually she has to send Wilbur over to her uncle’s neighboring farm since there’s no room for a pig in her house. There in the barn Wilbur meets the assortment of colorful animal characters: Betsy (Reba McEntire) and Bitsy (Kathy Bates) two pessimistic cows; motherly goose Gussy (Oprah Winfrey) and her henpecked hubby Golly (Cedric the Entertainer); Samuel (John Cleese) an uptight sheep; the skittish horse Ike (Robert Redford); the self-serving rat Templeton (Steve Buscemi); and of course sweet Charlotte (Julia Roberts) a spider with a heart of gold. When the naïve Wilbur finds out he might be Christmas dinner Charlotte makes a promise to her new friend that she’ll do everything in her power to make sure Wilbur sees the Christmas snow—and everyone ends up helping her out. What could be more fun than to voice a barnyard animal? Winfrey and Cedric’s geese banter is like an old married couple. Cleese gives Samuel the sheep a certain upper-crustiness. Redford is actually pretty funny as a horse who’s deathly afraid of spiders (“I’ll listen to you but I just can’t look at you”). Buscemi is a particularly nice choice as the sneaky rat Templeton who only thinks about filling his belly with food (no typecasting there we swear). For pure comic relief there are also two crows voiced by Andre Benjamin and Thomas Haden Church who just can’t quite get around the whole scarecrow thing. And as Charlotte Roberts has a truly soothing and loving tone sort of how you’d imagine it from the book. As for the human aspect Fanning continues to do what she does best playing Fern with the right amount of youthful innocence spunkiness and determination. Just wondering how we are going to handle it when this amazing little actress grows up and starts doing like adult things. Actually it is sort of a shame they couldn’t get a live-action version of Charlotte's Web made before Babe. Sure there was the 1973 animated cutesy film but a live-action adaptation of this timeless tale really should have been the standard by which all computer-generated talking farm animal movies would follow don’t you think? Instead Charlotte's Web pales ever so slightly in comparison. Oh well water under the bridge. Director Gary Winick (13 Going on 30) still manages to invoke the wonderful and uplifting spirit of the novel keeping faithful to the text in all ways. Visually the film is crisp and flawless in its execution particularly in the beauty and splendor of how Charlotte spins her webs and emotionally hearts will indeed swell and tears will flow. Charlotte's Web is the perfect family movie to inspire the next generation of young readers and viewers as well as for the rest of us who fondly remember the childhood classic.
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Hilary Swank and Chad Lowe to Divorce
May 27, 2006 5:44am ESTTwo-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank has ended all hope that she'll reconcile with husband Chad Lowe after announcing she's planning to file for divorce. The couple split late last year and Swank announced the sad news at the beginning of 2006, but has since been seen dining with Lowe, the brother of actor Rob Lowe. Now, however, she plans to make the split official and has told her attorney, Jeffrey A. Bernstein, to announce the news. In a statement released to People magazine on Friday, Bernstein says, "Hilary Swank and Chad Lowe have jointly decided to divorce. They continue to be friends and have the utmost respect for one another." Swank, 31, and Lowe, 38, were married for eight years. They have no children. Article Copyright World Entertainment News Network All Rights Reserved.
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Thank You for Smoking Review
March 17, 2006 12:26pm ESTBased on the novel by Christopher Buckley this film is about the art of the spin--and Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) is one of the best spin doctors around. As a spokesman for Big Tobacco he turns his mega-watt smile on the public and tells them all human beings have rights even smokers. And if they want to light up it is their prerogative. Naturally Nick has many enemies especially opportunistic senator Ortolan Finistirre (William H. Macy). But in the end Nick twirls around like a ballerina and comes out smelling like a rose impressing not only the tobacco's head honcho (Robert Duvall) but a Washington investigative reporter (Katie Holmes) doing a piece on Nick. Then something suddenly happens and Nick's own reputation is on the line. With increased scrutiny on his son (Cameron Bright) Nick has to take a step back to examine what it is he's doing. Enough to change his evil ways and shun tobacco forever? Oh hell no. There is no right or wrong in Smoking--just a few lessons learned. Besides a few juicy supporting parts Eckhart hasn’t been given a chance to shine since his brilliant debut in In the Company of Men--until now. His performance as Nick Naylor is a tour de force full of charm bravado and yes even thoughtfulness. He really does convince you his job is needed to maintain balance. The rest of the cast also does a fabulous job conveying their own perspectives. Duvall is aptly crusty as the Southern tobacco baron; Holmes uses morally questionable ethics as the reporter; Macy is indignant and blustery as the senator; Rob Lowe plays an entertainment power broker who orchestrates more smoking in films. Even Bright (Running Scared) who gets to be a normal kid this time round is a son who loves his father unconditionally. There’s also the hilarious “Mod Squad”--a trio of lobbyists comprised of Nick Maria Bello a rep for the alcohol industry and David Koechner a rep for the NRA--who get together once or twice a week to bitch about their jobs. Classic. Writer/director Jason Reitman can now join the annals of filmmakers who hit it out of the park their first time up to bat. And it's obvious growing up as the son of director Ivan Reitman has taught him a thing or two. Working with the author Buckley (the son of William F. Buckley) closely Reitman crafts a cleverly written script--ripe with speeches actors just love to sink their teeth into--and puts it into a colorful yet deeply sardonic package that keeps you smiling the whole time. Thank You for Smoking is refreshing in its attitudes toward our neo-puritanical society but also slams liberal conventions as well. In other words the film doesn’t take sides. What Nick says in the film makes absolute sense if you step out of your “But smoking kills!” bubble and just listen to him. His whole spin is that every person on this planet knows cigarettes are bad for them. So is eating McDonald’s every day or drinking ten cups of coffee. The thing is we make choices in life be it bad or good. So there’s no point in having someone tell you something bad when you already know it. Get it?
