This is a short transcript excerpt from the podcast episode "Rob Lowe's Guide to Posing" on A Bit of Optimism, where Rob Lowe explains his approach to posing for photographs. He names three signature looks — "Man of the People," "Blue Steel," and "Iconic" — and gives practical tips (e.g., use a "prune" expression to emphasize cheekbones, show a lent watch by positioning the hand mid-move, and look up/off toward the horizon). Lowe also shares anecdotes about Tom Cruise, the Olsen twins, and advising Chris Pratt, framing red-carpet posing as an industry game with roles to play.
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Like, every single person now knows what only we used to know. Like the. The Olsen twins, when they. You know, they did what they did famously, they created the prune. Do you know what Prune? Men don't have to do it, but gals, if you get your picture taken, people say, say cheese. I don't get that. Never. That doesn't. But if you go prune. If you say prune, you get. You get cheekbones. You get trout pout and cheekbones. See, the fact that I know this, and I'm willing to share it openly.
You're like the magician revealing the secrets.
I have red carpet looks. I've got man of the People. I've got Blue Steel, and I've got Iconic.
You have names for them?
Yeah.
Can you.
Right now?
Yeah. Man of the people, Please.
Man of the people is when you see, like, Tom Cruise at the rope line. At the line, like, reaching out to sign thousands of autographs. He's doing man of the people.
Okay.
And then Blue Steel is like this red carpet. You got your angles. You're doing your angles.
Step and repeat. Rob, over here. Rob, over here.
You want to show the watch that they've lent you.
Yeah.
And, you know, you need to show that, because otherwise you're not getting a watch line. So the question is, how do you get your hand up here? So it has to be. You're caught mid. Mid move like this. That's a good. That's. That's. That's iconic.
Yeah.
Also, looking up and off is always. The presidential photographs are always, hopefully, looking off to the horizon. But the horizon's not down here. Horizon's up there. So you're looking up to the horizon. Those are the three. The best is I. I told Chris Pratt that we're mutual friends with Pratt, and early on, when he was just becoming a movie star, he literally called me, calls me Rolo. Rolo. I'm in the car. I'm on the way to the red carpet. What are the three? What are the three again? Men of the people. Iconic. And what's the other? I got blue. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Thanks, Rolo.
But this is the point, which is, you understand, it's an industry. It's a game.
It's a game.
There's a. There's a goof. There's a rule. Role to play.
Yes.
And if you play a role with a nudge and a wink, this is the secret to longevity, which is take it. You take it seriously.
