Kevin Bacon wants to set the record straight—he’s not trying to go to space or Mars, he just wants to focus on things here. In our new series, “For The Record,” the legendary actor takes us through his most iconic moments—including attending his first (and last) Oscars with Liza Minnelli, his famous ‘Footloose’ looks, and that viral ‘Will & Grace’ dance sequence. Watch as Kevin shares what really went down behind the scenes, from filming in anti-gravity on the “vomit comet” for ‘Apollo 13,’ to his surprise cameo in the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ holiday special, and even the steamy shower scene with Matt Dillon that was cut from ‘Wild Things’—much to his disappointment.
Stream ‘The Bondsman’ on Prime Video.
#KevinBacon #TheBondsman #ForTheRecord #Esquire
Stream ‘The Bondsman’ on Prime Video.
#KevinBacon #TheBondsman #ForTheRecord #Esquire
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00No, let me just say, I'm not going to space. I'm not going to Mars. I want to, I want to take care of things here.
00:06This is for the record.
00:09Thanks for giving me a glass of water as opposed to a bottle of water. I appreciate that.
00:15Oh, it's sparkling, too.
00:19Nice.
00:22So this is a picture from Apollo 13.
00:26Rarely have I played a real person. So in this case, it was great to, you know, play Jack Swigert.
00:32I loved being there with, with Tom and the late, great Bill Paxton and Ron Howard.
00:40And NASA was very on board with this particular movie.
00:45And they have a plane called the KC-135, which is also known as a Vomit Comet.
00:50And it's an airplane that they use to simulate antigravity.
00:55And we got to go up in that plane as a training exercise.
01:01We were the first, I think the first civilians that were allowed to, you know, be on this thing.
01:06And so we went through this incredibly terrifying and nauseating experience.
01:10NASA was giving us these very serious drugs.
01:14One was a, it's called scopolamine, which was like a crack version of Benadryl.
01:19And the other, to balance it out, was a version of speed.
01:23And so we would take what was called a scope dex, which was two, two giant pills in the morning.
01:29And we'd see which one would kick in.
01:32Either you'd be speeding or you'd be like about to pass out.
01:35And then they would balance out.
01:36And then you could get through the nausea.
01:39It was tough.
01:40And it was a little scary, but it was super, super fun.
01:43It was an amazing experience.
01:45So like when it was like Katy Perry and Katy Perry came from space, would you go to space?
01:48Hell no.
01:50No, let me just say, I'm not going to space.
01:53I'm not going to Mars.
01:54I want to, I want to take care of things here.
01:57Okay, so this is me on Will and Grace.
02:04It's pretty funny, actually.
02:06Doing a little dance sequence.
02:09It was a funny idea that I was going to be Jack's stalker.
02:13You're my stalker.
02:15I prefer the term professional crazed fan.
02:17I've done almost no sitcom experience.
02:20And when I did this, I had zero.
02:22To come in and see that world, you know, of the way that that works and the immediacy that they can think on their feet.
02:31And Jimmy Burroughs was the director who's, you know, very, very, like, legendary.
02:36And then most of the audience is actually watching it on monitors.
02:40So they're in the studio, but they're really watching TV.
02:44So it's like a, you know, a little bit of a mind, what can you say instead of fuck?
02:51It's like a mind fuck.
02:53To this day, people, after all the movies that I've made, people will come up to me, you know, at an airport and say,
03:02You know what?
03:03I really liked you on Will and Grace.
03:10Oh, me and Matt.
03:11This is Wild Things.
03:13What's he drinking?
03:13Coors Light.
03:15You know, I don't go back and watch movies, but I remember really liking it in this movie.
03:20And I think that the main thing that was hard to communicate with this movie was that we really weren't taking it that seriously.
03:28You know, it's a thriller and it's got a lot of erotic elements to it.
03:33But in my mind, it was always supposed to be over the top and, you know, a little bit poking fun at itself.
03:42Matt Dillon said that there was a shower scene that was cut that you, quote, seemed pretty attached to.
03:47There is a shower scene.
03:51I think that in the original script, we start making out.
03:55Part of what was crazy about the movie was that there were all these twists.
04:00And, you know, you go, oh, shit, I didn't expect that.
04:04Oh, no, you're kidding me.
04:05Wow, you know, that was like the hook of the movie.
04:08So to me, that was a great twist.
04:10That's all.
04:10I was like, that'd be an awesome twist.
04:13But I don't know.
04:14For some reason, it got cut.
04:16We didn't shoot it.
04:17I don't think we shot it.
04:19I think it just got cut.
04:20Do you agree that you were attached to it?
04:23Yeah.
04:24No, I definitely was.
04:25Look at him.
04:25He's gorgeous.
04:26This is just some dumb TikTok thing that Karen and I did, except that, oh, I know what it was.
04:34We wore the same outfit.
04:37If you can see, those are my jeans.
04:39Do you ever second guess wearing something like this because it's such an odd to Footloose?
04:43Oh, you know, I didn't even think of it as an odd to Footloose, honestly.
04:47Although in Footloose, I don't think they made tighter jeans than those.
04:50They literally took a bunch of clamps, you know, like almost like grip clips and tightened the jeans, you know, all the way up and down the back of them just as tight as they could get them.
05:01That was the look that he was going for.
05:04Well, first off, this is a pretty embarrassing look, but this is the first time and the last time that I was invited to the Oscars, which was 1984.
05:12Footloose had come out and I was kind of, you know, an it boy for the moment.
05:17And I was asked to come present the award for sound effects editing.
05:22And the reason I remember is because I was so fucking nervous that I just went over it and over it and over it and over like all the names like a hundred times.
05:31And it was like a crazy, crazy weekend because I got flown out there.
05:37I think it was my first time ever on a private plane.
05:41On the plane was Liza Minnelli.
05:43She said, you have to come to the Oscars with me.
05:46And I said, OK.
05:49I didn't know how to say no.
05:51And so the limousine picked me up and then we went to pick up Liza.
05:55She was really late.
05:57And by the time I got to the Oscars, they were flipping out because I was like one of the early presenters.
06:04And I finally get there and I'm standing backstage and I'm standing next to Cary Grant.
06:11And I'm looking there and I'm like, you know, shaking.
06:14And he goes, are you nervous?
06:15And I said, yeah.
06:16He said, don't be nervous.
06:17He said, he's nervous.
06:19We're all nervous.
06:20And he was pointing to Johnny Carson who was the host.
06:23And so I was like, OK, Cary Grant's telling me not to be nervous.
06:26I went out and presented the award, I believe, with Daryl Hannum.
06:32And as I'm coming off stage, Liza has grabbed Sammy Davis Jr.
06:38And Sammy Davis Jr. is going, yeah, man, you did it, you did it.
06:44So you can imagine for a kid from Philly back then, I was like, wow, this is mind-blowing.
06:53Ah, yeah, here I am coming out of the box in the Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas special.
07:01I was talked about in the first Guardians of the Galaxy.
07:07But the weird thing is that I didn't know about that.
07:11It's called Footloose.
07:14And in it, a great hero named Kevin Bacon.
07:19And all of a sudden they're talking about me.
07:21And I was like, what?
07:23I'm looking around in the movie theater.
07:25I'm like, that's...
07:28I was completely shocked.
07:30What I'm thinking is, well, great, you're talking about me.
07:33But how about a gig, you know?
07:35I don't get paid for you saying my name.
07:37And then eventually, just kind of out of the blue,
07:39James Gunn called me up and said I got this idea for a Christmas special.
07:43And sight unseen, obviously, without having read it, I said, I'm in.
07:48I love the Guardians and an opportunity to, you know,
07:51to play myself and make fun of myself and not take myself too seriously.
07:54According to the internet, tell me if this is true, you have a problem with Christmas?
07:58I don't like Christmas, no.
08:00It's funny because even, like, Christmas music, I'm just like,
08:05oh, God, like November 1st.
08:09Like, why?
08:10I mean, we have to start, like,
08:12dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun.
08:17And I don't like the whole pressure of the consumptiveness of it, you know?
08:23The giving and the getting and I am kind of a Scrooge.
08:30Oh, boy.
08:31Britney Spears.
08:32She doesn't look too happy to be having a picture with me,
08:35but I've been in some interesting situations based on this kind of strange life that I've had.
08:41But this one was really something that I never would in a million years imagined.
08:49Kind of dancing, I guess, and running down the street.
08:52And they rigged an outfit that would rip off me, revealing the red catsuit.
08:59Which is not that easy to do.
09:03But it had all monofilament and breakaway pieces, pants.
09:09Just...
09:10They said, just run down the street and go like this.
09:13And it worked.
09:14I couldn't believe it.
09:15I think it worked for a couple of takes.
09:17I don't keep a lot of things, but this is in a drawer somewhere.
09:21Hey, thanks for watching and check out The Bondsman coming soon to Prime Video.