The 'Footloose' actor talks about his early fame following his role in the 1984 musical, admitting he tried to sabotage his popularity because he didn't want to be a 'pop star.'
- Sep 29, 2023
AceShowbiz - Kevin Bacon resisted the fame from his role in "Footloose". The 65-year-old star shot to prominence after playing the part of Ren McCormack in the 1984 musical drama film but wanted to be known as a "serious actor" instead.
"When I became a pop star, the last thing I wanted to be was a pop star. I had already moved into, you know, 'I want to be Dustin Hoffman or Meryl (Streep) or John Cazale or De Niro. I want to work with Scorsese. I want to do Chekhov.' You know what I mean?" Kevin told the "Podcrushed" podcast.
"I was so into what my idea of a serious actor was, and all of a sudden I was given this thing ('Footloose') that was completely not a serious actor. So I rejected it, like, full on. And really, I think in some ways, I tried to self-sabotage that piece of myself and my popularity."
Kevin is also the inspiration behind the "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" trivia game - which comes from the idea that anybody in Hollywood can be connected to him in just six steps - but it gave him a feeling of unease at first.
The "A Few Good Men" star said, "I thought that, and this is my own acting insecurity - impostor syndrome - I thought that the joke of it was that the greatest actors could be connected to a loser actor like me. They were saying, 'Look, can you believe he can be connected by Meryl Streep?' By the way, I think I had already worked with Meryl Streep, so it wasn't even... It's just in my own head."
