Actor of the Week: Kevin Bacon
There aren’t many actors who have a game named after them, but Kevin is one of them. The game consists of selecting an actor/actress at random, and then trying to connect them to Bacon, via the films they’ve been in. The reason why this works so well is because Bacon has worked alongside countless number of high profile actors, which is why he’s our Actor of the Week. Not because he has a game named after him, but because of the amount of quality actors he has starred alongside, which only highlights the quality of Bacon himself.
Bacon had starred in a few films when he started out, but the one that truly put him on the map was his role as Ren McCormack in the 80’s classic Footloose. Footloose sees McCormack move into a religious town, which is under very strict rules, one of which being partying being something that is frowned upon. With McCormack being someone who thrives off of music, adjusting to this new town is hard for him, but he soons come to the conclusion that it’s not him that needs to adjust, it's the town itself, allowing Ren to go on to inspire the youth of this town to express themselves through the medium of dance, inevitably having the town look at themselves and how they have been living in this emotionless bubble. I have to be honest with you, Footloose is not a film I enjoy but I respect the effect it had on the 80’s and how it also introduced Bacon to the world.
I can’t write this Actor of the Week without mentioning the cult classic that is Tremors. I really don’t think this will be a film Bacon will hold in the highest regard, especially compared to some of the other films he has worked on, but for me it is a film I hold quite dear. It’s a film I remember that me and my family had recorded on VHS and we used to watch it all the time growing up.
So when did Bacon start working with all these big names in hollywood? I’ll tell you when... as soon as he took the role as Captain Jack Ross in A Few Good Men, where we see Bacon start alongside, not only, acting legend and former Actor of the Week, Jack Nicholson, but also Tom Cruise and Demi Moore. Captain Jack Ross is the prosecutor on a military case, seeing two soldiers who claim to have been ordered to kill another soldier who was massively falling behind in training. Bacon is brilliant in this film, with his dynamic between Cruise, the defendant being pivotal.
Once Bacon started working with these Grade A actors he continued on this streak, starring alongside actors such as Meryl Streep in The River Wild, and former Actor of the Week, Tom Hanks and Ed Harris, in Academy Award Nominated, Apollo 13. Not only this he also went on starring with Brad Pitt and Robert De Niro in Sleepers. These are just a taste of the incredible actors Bacon has worked alongside which only highlights Bacon’s ability as an actor.
One of the main reasons for picking Kevin Bacon as our Actor of the Week is somewhat a random one, it’s his role a villain Sebastian Shaw in X-Men: First Class, one of my favourite superhero films of all time. X-Men: First Class is a brilliantly put together film about the friendship of Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr, with Shaw being the catalyst of this befriending. Bacon plays the sleek but evilness of Shaw perfectly, being one of the core reasons I love this film so much. I also believe it be one of the reason why the X-Men films since have not been of the same quality, because it lacked the extremely experienced quality Bacon brought to the film’s villain.
Bacon hasn’t managed to work with the world best actors by fluke, he has managed to gain such an accomplishment because he is a world class actor himself. His career may have massively slowed down now, but you cannot doubt his talent and the classics he has starred in. Thanks Kev!
