GEORGE WAYNE Q & A

Navel gazing with Brad Rowe

After stints as a finance manager on Republican Senate campaigns in Washington, D.C., and an orthopedics-trade-show salesman, Brad Rowe found his calling: teen heartthrob (in such vehicles as Kevin Williamson's TV series Wasteland and the film Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss). This month, as Rowe gets ready to groove in the NBC mini-series The 70s, he recalls his childhood in the Dairy State and reflects on his resemblance to the other Brad.

Brad Rowe: Hey, G.W, how are you, dude? You don't mind me calling you "dude"?

George Wayne: I love dudes. Dudes are genius. I love it when a hot boy calls me 'dude." G.W. must inform you that we choose to anoint you,

Brad Rowe, in this first annual Hollywood Issue Collectors Edition of the 21st Century.

B.R. That's pretty fucking outstanding.

G.W. We choose to anoint you even with that abnormally large belly button.

B.R. My belly button is not an "innie," it's not an "outie," it's just a flattie.

G.W. It's a biggie, a big one.

B.R. What the doctors said was that my umbilical cord was cut in a certain place.

And since I have a ridiculously low amount of body fat, my belly button looks bigger than usual.

G.W. How much do you weigh?

B.R. One fifty-five.

G.W. Do you work out?

B.R. I don't really work out, but I'm a bit sinewy right now.

G.W. G.W. loves lean and linear.

B.R. Lean and linear? I got that for you.

G.W. Good boy, that's what I want to hear. Hollywood currency has you as the next stud actor with the most aromatic armpits in Hollywood.

B.R. It has always been my dream to have the most aromatic armpits in Hollywood.

G.W. Beyond that, you must bring some depth and character, and you must have some range to exhibit.

B.R. You know, I do have a little of something to exhibit, and I've been pretty psyched about some of the stuff I'm doing.

G.W. Talk about your Hollywood screen debut.

B.R. Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss was my very first time shooting a film—it was cool.

G.W. The postmodern heartthrob has to display depth and a breadth of interest, which you've done in film, but you recently got married.

B.R. I've been married since September.

G.W. It must be a trend with the Hollywood cuties: they turn on the gay men in film, and then they run and get married as if to prove a point. Such as you and little Ryan Phillippe.

B.R. I am 29—1 was ready to be married.

G.W. What high school did Brad Rowe graduate from? B.R. Wauwatosa East High School. I grew up in a suburb of Milwaukee called Wauwatosa, which in Potawatomi Indian means "firefly."

G.W. In the corn-fed heart of America?

B.R. More like beer-fed. But I grew up on milk and cheese.

G.W. You've heard the question many times, the comparisons to that other Brad?

B.R. Yeah, I have. I think I have a wonderful midwestern sensibility, and I've got a certain look that a lot of people find similar.

G.W. Have you ever met him?

B.R. No, but it's fun to be offered the opportunity to work because that's something that people think of. But it doesn't cross my mind 99 percent of the time.

G.W. Whom do you want to work with now in Hollywood?

B.R. Willem Dafoe and Larry Fishburne.

G.W. Sir Laurence to you, boy. Fish is the postmod Olivier. And when I introduce you to him, don't you dare call him Larry! B.R. I'll call him whatever he wants me to call him.

G.W. What you ought to be doing is trying to land a role in the sequel to The Matrix. G.W. read somewhere that Brad Rowe could fart on command. I would like to see that talent on display. Just make sure you aim it in the direction of that other Brad.

B.R. I'm gonna pass on that question.

G.W. Question? I said to fart in the direction of that other Brad!

B.R. I'm gonna pass on that question. G.W. You're laughing hysterically, so you have already answered my question. You love it.

B.R. Outstanding.

G.W. And you are on the record.