Rob Lowe Says Tom Cruise Knocked Him Out on ‘The Outsiders’ Set: His ‘Eyes Just Went Black’

Rob Lowe revealed that his Outsiders costar Tom Cruise got a little too in the zone during a boxing match on the set of the 1983 film.

"He’s so competitive that we used to box in the hallway of the hotel we were staying at during Outsiders . So much testosterone,” Lowe, 60, said during a Monday, July 15, appearance on “The Rich Eisen Show.”

Lowe went on to explain that he and his costars, including Cruise, 62, would “wear headgear” and protective mouthpieces and “legitimately spar” with one another.

“We’re 18-year-old guys stuck on location. … And I just remember, Tom was jacked, and I had pipe cleaner arms,” the St. Elmo's Fire actor recalled. “Tom is, like, this beast, but I hit him real clean, and I rang his bell, and the next [thing] I knew, I woke up. I was coming to, on the floor, and he, like, completely knocked me out."

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Lowe added that Cruise’s “eyes just went black” after he punched him, recalling, “But that’s the stuff we did. That’s what guys do. It's like Fight Club .”

Lowe previously shared during an April 2020 appearance on Dax Shepard ’s “Armchair Expert” podcast that Cruise went “ballistic” when he found out that he and Lowe would be sharing a hotel room during the Outsiders auditioning process.

“The notion that an 18-year-old actor with a walk-on part in Endless Love and, like, a seventh lead in Taps could have that kind of, like, wherewithal? I remember going, 'Wow, this guy is the real deal,’” Lowe said. "I mean, it made me laugh, it was gnarly … but at the end [of the day], you can't argue with the results. He's had his eye on the ball since day one."

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Lowe and Cruise starred as Sodapop Curtis and Steve Randle, respectively, in the coming-of-age film alongside Emilio Estevez , C. Thomas Howell , Matt Dillon , Patrick Swayze , Ralph Macchio and Diane Lane . In February, Outsiders director Francis Ford Coppola shared video footage from the film’s auditions.

“42 years ago we cast The Outsiders in a unique way. We had all the actors together on a soundstage and would alternate different actors reading for different roles,” Coppola, 85, captioned the Instagram clip . “It was interesting because each of them was watching their competition, so while it could’ve been a volatile situation, it turned into a very positive one. There emerged the natural respect and sense of colleagueship among them. The result worked beautifully and reminded me of my days as a camp counselor.”

Lowe commented on the post, “Feels like this was just yesterday,” while Macchio, 62, who played Johnny Cade, expressed his gratitude for Coppola and S.E. Hinton , who penned the novel that inspired the film.

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“These auditions and this film experience still inform me today. Thank you, Francis (and Susie) ❤️,” Macchio wrote.

The Outsiders is now a Broadway musical , which won four Tony Awards, including Best New Musical, in June. Macchio attended a performance of the show last month and posed for photos with the cast. Sky Lakota-Lynch , who plays the role originated by Macchio in the production, shared a photo of himself and the Karate Kid actor via Instagram .

“Johnny Cade(s) 💘 Love you @ralph_macchio & @julia_macchio,” he captioned the post.