Kevin Bacon’s ninth acting project as Ren McCormack in ‘Footloose’ was a game-changer for his career, and he opens up about the longevity of the film’s success during a recent interview with TODAY’s Willie Geist.
Actor @KevinBacon celebrates his birthday today! In 1984 he became an '80s legend for his role in the hit film "Footloose". #80s #80smovies pic.twitter.com/Mimk8i53uW
— LandOfThe80s (@landofthe80s) July 8, 2021
In June, ‘Footloose’ was brought back into the limelight when the Footloose Drop challenge went viral on TikTok. The dance musical film was a box office hit when it was released in 1984, and almost 40 years later, it is still an iconic part of pop culture.
https://twitter.com/SpinnMovieSpot/status/1494359417390874631?s=20&t=782qH_PExq_Ie-FP8te6gw
“I love it. I think it’s great. It’s like all of those things that you think ‘Oh, my gosh, is it ever going to go away?’ At a certain point, you have to embrace the beast,” Bacon said regarding the continuous success ‘Footloose.’
He further stated,
“I think that it was a great gift to be part of that movie. I certainly took it very seriously when I was doing it and I love that people will still come up and say that they just showed it to their kids.”
The 64-year-old actor also mentioned that the 1998 ‘Footloose’ Broadway musical was also to thank for because it “reignited the whole response” to the film.
https://twitter.com/TommyGB64/status/1498828979331084290?s=20&t=782qH_PExq_Ie-FP8te6gw
More recently, Bacon starred in a 2022 horror movie entitled ‘They/Them.’ He and his co-star Carrie Preston is playing “as a couple who run a Christian-oriented ‘gay conversion therapy’ camp in a remote, wooded area, preaching a contradictory philosophy of self-acceptance and what amounts to self-denial,” as per Deadline.
‘They/Them’ wrapped up the 40th Outfest LGBTQ+ Film Festival in Los Angeles on July 24, which was also the movie’s world premiere.
Sources: Yahoo Entertainment, Deadline.com
