Kevin Bacon has dozens of memorable roles, but it's his 1984 film "Footloose" that he's asked about most frequently -- or asked to dance to.
Ahead of his new Prime Video series, "The Bondsman," Bacon sat down for a career retrospective at SXSW on March 7. During the conversation, he opened up about how his life changed after landing the role of Ren in the hit movie.
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"It's what I wanted, I have no one to blame but myself. It was definitely my dream to have all those things," he said of becoming famous after the movie came out. "But until you really have that, you don't really realize there's something kind of strange about it."
Being asked to do photo shoots shirtless and pose for teen magazines, Bacon felt "it was just so the opposite of how I wanted to view myself."
Now, he's able to navigate the lifestyle as a working adult actor -- but he still doesn't want to dance to Kenny Loggins' "Footloose" at weddings. Because then, the day becomes about him.
"My worst nightmare is to be at a wedding and the DJ puts on the music," he said during the conversation. "They always start out being about the bride, and then there's alcohol involved. And by about 10:30, the song comes on, and suddenly the wedding becomes about me getting out and dancing. People will literally form a circle around me and clap their hands like I'm a trained monkey."
Now, he says, he goes to the DJs and asks, "Please don't play that song" at weddings -- and recently did so at an event.
"It's not because I don't love the song, I do love this song. It's not because I'm not proud of the movie, I'm 100% proud of it," he said.
He recalled landing the role and not being aware it was a dance movie -- so much so, when he heard there was a choreographer, he said he didn't really need one. "The script was not written in that way at all, and there was no indication other than one line, like, he gets pissed off and dances or something," he said. "I was not a trained dancer."
Little did he know, it'd go on to include a dance routine he's always asked to redo. He's only seen the film "three or four times," he added. And his adult children have never seen it: "What's up with that?"