Yes, I had the chance on Monday to speak with the renowned actor, who was in town to discuss his new film, "Loverboy," which he directed and also appears in.
A few notes from the roundtable interview at Philadelphia's Ritz Carlton:
- Bacon, of course, is a Philadelphia native, and his father Edmund Bacon was the city planner in the 1960s and '70s. He said he grew up just blocks away from where we were interviewing him, and couldn't believe how much the area has improved.
- He doesn't really have a favorite role, and when he finishes a film, he said that he immediately starts thinking about the next one- until a year later, when it's time to promote it. Bacon also said that he often sees his own movies while flipping channels, and usually flips right past.
- Bacon directed his wife, Kyra Sedgwick, in "Loverboy," and the entire first act of the film consists of Sedgwick having sex with a succession of strange men. Asked if it was awkward for Bacon to direct these scenes, he replied that it was probably even more awkward for the actors.
- The actor said he heard about Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon for the first time in the mid-'90s, has met the creators, and said he would like to somehow harness the popularity of the game for some charitable purpose. Bacon said the most impressive permutation of the game was when someone connected him to John Wilkes Booth in less than six steps.
- Surprisingly, Bacon did not, at any point in the interview, mention his band, the Bacon Brothers.
- And finally, Bacon said he now regularly works with people who were born after he got into the business. I then mentioned that I happened to have been born on July 28, 1978- the day Bacon's first movie, "Animal House," was released.
Posted by Stephen Silver at June 7, 2006 02:23 AMI have to know - how the heck do you get from Kevin Bacon to John Wilkes Booth?
Posted by: Gib at June 7, 2006 09:34 AMBooth to Bacon - probably Booth worked with someone who worked with someone who turned out to be one of the very first film actors, who very late in career (and life) worked with a very young Kevin Bacon.
So now you're 1 degree. I'm 2 degrees, if you go the non-Hollywood route, by the fact that my uncle's father and later my uncle worked with Ed Bacon on many of his Philadelphia projects.
Sweet.
Posted by: LilB at June 7, 2006 02:15 PM