Kevin Bacon journeyed to Napa Valley recently to accept the Charles Krug Legendary Actor Award at the 2019 Napa Film Festival. In the 10+ years that I’ve been interviewing actors, I’ve come to realize that you never know how a question will land until after it’s been asked so I was a little apprehensive to ask Kevin Bacon about Footloose as he has publicly stated that he resisted the fame that came attached to that film. While I’ve briefly spoken to Kevin and wife Kyra Sedgwick at events in Los Angeles throughout the years, knowing I would have a few minutes alone with the actor got my mind flowing with questions, but I quickly had my priorities down.
Firstly, I had to ask about what life at home was like for this power couple who always seem so happy together when I’ve seen them at events. As Kevin approached the red carpet, Kyra posed for a few photos and then stepped off to the side to let her husband have the spotlight on the night he was being honored. Having worked together multiple times in the past, earlier this year Kyra directed Kevin in an episode of his Showtime series “City on a Hill.” When asked if they spoke about work at home, Kevin told me, ” All the time. She’s doing a lot of directing, so we talk about that a lot.”
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Next question, when did Kevin Bacon know he’d made it as an actor? Was there a specific role or moment when it clicked?
The point at which I was able to stop working in restaurants and waiting tables and just support myself with acting. That was a moment of pride for me, but it was more about the fact that I able to be employed as an actor more than, than an actual, “Oh I did a great performance”. I’m very self critical, you know.
Kevin Bacon, Napa Film Festival 2019
And finally, the million-dollar question, how does he feel about Footloose and the omnipresent soundtrack? Does he embrace it? Does he wish people would stop mentioning it?
“That’s not the soundtrack to my life, but it’s cool to have a role like that. It’s great, I did my best and people liked it.” Continuing on with this topic in his on-stage interview he added, “When you really think about it in the course of a career, like I was the it-boy for maybe 0.999% of my career, I had that one moment, it was about six months, right? And then, and then that was it. And so it felt great at the time, but I have to say I was very resistant to it. I suppose if I look back, I wish I could’ve been in a position in my life where I would’ve been able to just sort of embrace it and say, listen dude, this is not going to happen every day. So you might as well just enjoy the ride.”
