THE WEST WING and The X-Files, two of the most popular shows on TV in the late ’90s and early 2000s, found their stars, Rob Lowe and David Duchovny, frequently fighting for viewers attention. A couple of decades later, in the Men’s Health April cover story, Lowe revealed his idea for a different way to fight Duchovny: a pay-per-view boxing event.
Lowe, who has been training in a boxing gym, says he’s considered various celebrities to fight. One idea is Johnny Depp (“Because I feel like I might be able to beat him,” he says of the Pirates of the Caribbean star). Another is Matthew McConaughey. Finally, in real time, he realizes his perfect opponent: his former TV contemporary, Duchovny.
As we interviewed him, he sent a text, via voice dictation, pitching Duchovny on the idea: “I have an idea that is either really inspired or really stupid [.] It may buy you another beach house in Malibu [.] Take a minute to consider this fully before you answer [.] Is there a world in which you and I would do a pay-per-view fight [?]”
Duchovny responded right away: “Not a world I want to live in. I would not enjoy that. Though I agree it would make money.”
After Duchovny declined his invitation, Lowe’s attention shifted back to McConaughey—until he feared the True Detective star may be able to, you know, beat him. And no one wants that.
Then a lightbulb lit up above Lowe’s head: he could fight someone who’s not part of his generation, but in fact, way younger, and, possibly, weaker. What about Harry Styles, he wondered? But then there’s another inherent problem: who’s gonna like the guy who beats up a crowd favorite?
“That’s the other problem,” Lowe says in the story. “Do you really want to see that famous photo of [Muhammad] Ali standing over Sonny Liston, except it’s me and I just knocked out fucking Timothée Chalamet?”
He makes a good point. Back to the drawing board—he’ll figure it out soon enough. Maybe a bit more time in the boxing gym, and Lowe/McConaughey could be a good enough match-up for a primetime event.
Evan is the culture editor for Men’s Health, with bylines in The New York Times, MTV News, Brooklyn Magazine, and VICE. He loves weird movies, watches too much TV, and listens to music more often than he doesn’t.
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