London, Jan 5: Rob Lowe likes a challenge. That's why he took on the role of a real-life accused killer for the Lifetime TV movie “Drew Peterson: Untouchable.”
“I wanted to do Drew Peterson because I was shocked they came to me,” Lowe said. “I couldn't imagine how I was gonna do it. I didn't feel like I resembled him on any level and there was no part of my sort of persona or who I am as a person that I can access to play him. So, with no idea how I was gonna do it I said yes.”
Peterson, who was a police officer in Illinois, is charged with murder in the 2004 bathtub drowning of his third wife, Kathleen Savio. He is also a suspect, though he has not been charged, in the 2007 disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy, who is presumed dead by investigators.
Peterson has been in jail since he was arrested in May 2009. He maintains his innocence in both his third wife's death and fourth wife's disappearance. Lawyers for Peterson tried to stop the movie from being made in July 2011 saying he did not give permission to use his name, likeness or story.
Recently Peterson's attorney said he showed his client the film's trailer and he laughed and called it “hilarious.”
Lowe responds saying he thinks Peterson is the funny one.
“I think he's right because he's hilarious. He's hilarious. I saw some footage of him walking out of his own house dressed as like Frito Bandito with an American flag like scarf around his face which we promptly of course put in the movie so I agree. I think his assessment is correct,” he said.
While not saying whether he believes Peterson is indeed guilty or innocent, Loew says he doesn't have much sympathy for him.
“I mean when you're on every news show in the world I don't think you can really with any credibility claim jury pool tampering or whatever,” he said. “I mean my sort of concern is always more towards the families of the two women who are dead or missing.”
The movie has gotten a lot of press not only because of the news coverage surrounding the story, but because of Lowe's physical transformation to play Peterson.
“We had to get it just right and it took a lot of work,” he told. “We had a lot of different discussions, but I was really happy with where we came up with because then it was able to get me to the real work which is how do I play this man?”
