A Knee Injury Cost Rob Lowe The Lead In An Iconic '80s Kevin Bacon Film

Rob Lowe has the kind of television pedigree most actors would embrace as their own in a heartbeat. From "Parks and Recreation" and "The West Wing" to "Brothers & Sisters" and "9-1-1: Lone Star," he has garnered accolades, awards, and nominations while remaining a sought-after star year after year. As a member of the iconic and infamous 1980s actor posse, he's also appeared in several Brat Pack movies, including 1983's "The Outsiders" and 1985's "St. Elmo's Fire." And while the shiniest parts of his later career have taken place on the small screen, he's continued to make movies as well as TV shows, appearing in films as varied as 2005's "Thank You for Smoking" and 2016's "Monster Trucks."

Every actor with a lengthy career has a few juicy roles that got away, though, and Lowe is no exception. His "what could have been" story is particularly impressive, too. During an appearance on Kevin Bacon's excellently-named podcast "Six Degrees With Kevin Bacon," Lowe relayed a story about auditioning for the lead role of 1984's "Footloose," only to lose out on the film after blowing out his knee in the most dramatic way imaginable:

"It's a dance audition, apparently. Dance. By the way, I think it was to a Styx song of all things. And the end of the dance was a knee slide across the floor. And I hit my knees and slide across the floor into a lineup of [former Paramount Pictures CEO] Sherry Lansing, [screenwriter] Dean Pitchford, [and producer] Craig Zadan. And my knee explodes. Explodes! Pop. And they take me out of the soundstage on a stretcher."

Considering the heights Lowe has reached without the movie and the fact that "Footloose" became Bacon's big breakthrough, the role of Ren McCormack probably went to the right address. However, at the time and without the benefit of four decades' worth of hindsight, Lowe wasn't particularly ecstatic when he learned that fellow young actor Bacon had been cast ... especially because the people behind the film had specifically told him that they were probably just going to eschew actors entirely and cast a professional dancer for the role. As he told Bacon on the podcast:

"Craig Zadan and the producers, who were friends of mine and were very pro-me doing this movie, go up to me and go, 'Hey man, it's cool. At the end of the day, we really decided, we're just going to hire a dancer for the part' ... A week later, they hire you. 'Goddamn these guys! That's a real actor!'"

Despite Lowe's displeasure at the time, the die had been cast, and Bacon played the role with such gusto that "Footloose" became one of his defining works (and later fueled the Kevin Bacon obsession of "Guardians of the Galaxy"). After later reinforcing his résumé with 1990's "Tremors" (which Bacon didn't have high hopes for until his first day on set), he went on to star in lots of interesting projects — including 2008's "Frost/Nixon," 2011's "X-Men: First Class," 2015's "Black Mass," and 2024's "MaXXXine." Would he had found another avenue for such success had Lowe's knee not given out? It's impossible to say, but the "Footloose" to "Tremors" path is such an essential aspect of Kevin Bacon lore that it's hard to imagine his career going any other way.