Rob Lowe’s first movie role as Sodapop Curtis in director Francis Ford Coppola’s film “The Outsiders” was anything but a sure bet. Casting for the movie adaptation of S.E. Hinton’s classic coming-of-age novel proved to be a nerve-wracking, unorthodox experience that saw nearly all of Hollywood’s hot young actors vying for roles as “greasers” and “socs.” 

In a documentary on the casting of “The Outsiders,” producer Fred Roos, known for his star-making casting abilities, recalls that Coppola wanted to experiment with the actor audition process. Instead of holding individual readings, Coppola herded actors onto a soundstage where they were placed in different groups, switching parts among actors at will, while those who weren’t in scenes watched it all play out. Lowe said Coppola’s casting improvisation was like “Gladiator” and was a “free-for-all,” noting that he hasn’t heard of a similar audition process since.

Even though Roos’ notes revealed that Lowe had a good audition, he didn’t have a lock on a part. Lowe writes in Vanity Fair that he, along with other hopefuls like Tom Cruise, Emilio Estevez, and C. Thomas Howell continued their auditions in New York. Although fretful that he’d end up cast as soc Randy, Lowe was finally offered the role of romantic, emotional Sodapop Curtis. Starring in his first movie on the cusp of adulthood, Lowe would soon have one of the hottest film careers of the 1980s.