Tom Cruise ‘knocked out’ The Outsiders co-star Rob Lowe during a sparring match

US actor Tom Cruise attends the London Air Ambulance Charity Gala Dinner at The OWO on February 7, 2024 in London, England. Photo / Getty Images

As Rob Lowe looks back on filming The Outsiders with Tom Cruise, he recounts the moment he got ‘knocked out’ cold by his co-star.

Tom Cruise once “knocked out” Rob Lowe during a sparring match in a hotel hallway.

The two Hollywood stars were in their teens when they worked on Francis Ford Coppola’s 1983 movie The Outsiders together, and they had to find ways to kill the time when they were “stuck on location”.

Appearing on The Rich Eisen Show, Lowe recalled: “He’s [Cruise] so competitive that we used to box in the hallway of the hotel we were staying at during Outsiders.

“So much testosterone. We’re 18-year-old guys stuck on location. So we would wear headgear, and we’d have mouthpieces in, but we would legitimately spar.”

The 60-year-old star admitted Cruise was “jacked” at the time, whereas he wasn’t quite as focused on working out.

American actors Patrick Swayze, Matt Dillon, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Ralph Macchio, C. Thomas Howell, and Tom Cruise on the set of The Outsiders, directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Photo / Getty Images

He added: “Tom is like this beast. And I hit him real clean and I rang his bell.

“And the next thing I knew I woke up and I was coming to on the floor. He like completely knocked me out.”

The West Wing star thinks the Mission: Impossible actor’s defensive instincts kicked in after he “hit him hard and his eyes went black”.

There was no hard feelings between the two, as Lowe jokingly compared their sparring sessions to David Fincher’s 1999 Fight Club, which is based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk.

Lowe previously revealed how Cruise went “ballistic” when they had to share a room as they prepared to film The Outsiders.

The pair had been asked to go from Los Angeles to New York during the casting process, and Cruise was furious about sharing a room at The Plaza Hotel.

Speaking on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, Lowe said: “All of the LA people survived the LA auditions, and then the hand-picked people had to go to New York to face the New York version.

“So it was me and Tom and Emilio [Estevez] and C. Thomas Howell.

“[It was the] first time I ever stayed at The Plaza Hotel, and we check-in and Tom finds out we’re sharing a room and just goes ballistic.”

He believes Cruise’s tantrum showed his desire to succeed as an actor and that he demanded high standards.

Lowe explained: “To me, what’s great about the story is, there’s certain people who have always been who they are, and that element of them has powered them to where they are today and the rest is history.

“And the notion that an 18-year-old with a walk-on part in Endless Love and like a 7th lead in Taps could have that kind of like wherewithal.

“I remember going, ‘Wow, this guy is the real deal.’ I mean it made me laugh, it was gnarly. But in the end of it, you can’t argue with the results. He’s had his eye on the ball since day one.”