Fans of the television series Parks and Recreation - myself included - were sad to learn this summer that Rob Lowe would be leaving the show approximately halfway through the upcoming season. But while it's sad that we will no longer get to see his ridiculously chipper, energetic/incredibly bipolar character Chris Traeger weekly anymore, the good news is that it could potentially open the actor up to more film opportunities. Case in point, Deadline is now reporting that Lowe is the latest actor to join the cast of Sex Tape, the upcoming comedy starring Bad Teacher co-stars Jason Segel and Cameron Diaz.
Set to be directed by Jake Kasdan, who also co-wrote the script, the plot of the film centers on a married couple with children (Segel and Diaz) who find themselves in a rut. When they get a night away from the kids they decide to try and spice up their relationship by making a sex tape. This is all well and good until the husband and wife realize that the video has gone missing, leading them on a wild adventure to get the tape back. According to Deadline's sources, Lowe will be playing the CEO of a children's toy company described as mysterious and high strung who somehow ends up with his hands on the sex tape. As we previously reported, comedian Rob Corddry is attached to play a loyal friend of the couple and Jack Black will have a small cameo.
While Lowe certainly has a good deal of big screen experience, from St. Elmo's Fire to Tommy Boy to Thank You For Smoking, television has almost exclusively been his home in the last few years. In addition to Parks and Rec, he has also had a recurring role on Californiacation and starred in TV movies such as Steven Soderbergh's Behind the Candelabra, Drew Peterson: Untouchable, and the upcoming Killing Kennedy. He is also attached to star as Ulysses S. Grant in the eight-hour Civil War miniseries To Appomattox along with Will Patton, William Petersen and Stephen Lang as President Abraham Lincoln. For those of you who haven't been watching, however, Lowe has done some of the best work on his career on Parks and Rec, as evidenced in the supercut below:
Production on Sex Tape will be starting up in the coming weeks and Columbia Pictures has already announced that they will be releasing the film just in time for the July 4th holiday on Wednesday July 2, 2014. As we get closer to the start date we will likely hear even more casting news, so stay tuned!
