EXCLUSIVE: Emmy nominee Rob Lowe is set to headline and executive produce the Netflix movie  Dog Gone ,  based on the true story of a father and son who repair their fractured relationship during a forced hike of the Appalachian trail to find their beloved lost dog.

Funny and heartwarming, the story received worldwide attention, as people of all walks of life joined the search for the ailing mutt, Gonker, who has only days to live without his medication.  Dog Gone  reps Lowe’s second reteaming with Netflix after the romantic comedy Holiday in the Wild,  which was one of the streamer’s most watched movies of the year. Production on  Dog Gone  starts later this month in Georgia.

Also starring in the movie, which is directed by Stephen Herek ( Mr. Holland’s Opus, The Three Musketeers  and  The Mighty Ducks ) is Johnny Berchtold and Kimberly Williams-Paisley.  Dog Gone is written by Emmy Award Nominee Nick Santora ( The Sopranos, Prison Break, Scorpion, Most Dangerous Game ), who is also producing for Blackjack Films Inc. based on the book Dog Gone: A Lost Pet’s Extraordinary Journey and the Family Who Brought Him Home by Pauls Toutonghi. Jeremy Kipp Walker is producing for Story Ink. Walker produced Oscar-nominated  The Big Sick  and  Half Nelson. 

Lowe was nominated for a Primetime Emmy in 2001 in the Lead Actor Drama Series category for  The West Wing.  He is a 6x Golden Globe nominee and 2x SAG ensemble winner for  The West Wing.  His credits also include Parks and Recreation and  9-1-1: Lone Star as well as movies  St. Elmo’s Fire, Wayne’s World, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, Austin Powers in Goldmember, Thank You for Smoking, Behind the Candelabra and  How to be a Latin Lover.  As a director, Lowe helmed the 2018 Lifetime movie The Bad Seed  and 1997’s  The Desert’s Edge.

Berchtold starred in  Manhunt  and Amazon Prime Video’s  The Wilds. Williams-Paisley starred in  Father of the Bride, The Christmas Chronicles,  and 165 episodes of ABC’s  According to Jim , on which she also directed three episodes.

Lowe is repped by WME, Brillstein Entertainment Partners, and Latham and Watkins. Berchtold is represented by A3 Artists Agency and Canopy Media Partners. Williams-Paisley is represented by The Gersh Agency and Link Entertainment. Herek is repped by Gersh and Howard Entertainment. Santora is repped by WME and Felker Toczek Suddleson Abramson.