John Owen Lowe knows the ins and outs of working a family business. The actor recently spoke about co-starring with his father, Rob Lowe, and how the experience sometimes “drove me bonkers.”
John Owen first worked with his dad on Fox’s The Grinder. Later, he served as a writer on 9-1-1: Lone Star and now the father-son duo co-created and star in Netflix’s Unstable.
During Thursday’s episode of SiriusXM’s Andy Cohen Live, John Owen said writing material for his dad on 9-1-1: Lone Star sometimes “drove me bonkers,” and the experience is what led to the creation of Unstable, which follows an entrepreneur and his son.
“It’s basically the same [as our real-life dynamic],” John Owen said. “I like to give my dad a hard time. And people found that to be entertaining, which was surprising to me. And I came to him and said, ‘Hey, would you be willing to let me make fun of you in front of the nation on TV?’”
John Owen said his dad responded, “‘I would love nothing more,’ because he loves being on TV so much.”
But, the actor added, joining forces with his dad was initially “a terrible idea in regards to my mental health.”
“Two weeks into filming the first season… I had a legitimate little mental breakdown,” he said. “I walked off set and I went into my trailer, and I went, ‘Oh shit. I was trying to become my own person and get distance away from him and I am now his co-star.’”
He continued, “My face is next to his on a one sheet, and I’ll be doing press with him. It was like all these realizations dawned on me and I remember calling my representatives, which is so funny. I said, ‘I’ve got call my reps.’ That’s the first thing.”
The reps in question told John Owen to “chill out,” which he ultimately did.
Now, John Owen has a more, “healthy perspective,” he said, “where it’s like you should feel grateful that you get to do this for a variety of reasons. Namely this, you know, my dad won’t be around forever. It’ll be amazing that we share this together and B, it’s hard to work in the entertainment industry.”
When host Cohen told the actor the experience might be “therapeutic,” John Owen agreed. “I hope so and I believe so too,” he said. “But you know, I’m walking through it right now.”
Unstable premieres on Netflix Aug. 1.
