Interview with Kevin Bacon

Recently I had an opportunity to interview The Bacon Brothers (Kevin and Michael Bacon) about their music. Kevin Bacon was gracious enough to grant me a few extra minutes to answer some questions after the interview to talk about how he got his start in acting.

Kevin Bacon was born July 8, 1958 and he got his first acting part on the big screen in 1978 as Chip Diller in "National Lampoon's Animal House". Kevin has since starred in a number of well known movies such as "Diner", "Footloose", "White Water Summer", "Flat-liners", "Tremors", "Rails and Ties", and "Taking Chance" to name a few.

I launched right in with the "meat" of the interview and Kevin answered openly.

What got you interested in acting?

Kevin - Well I had taken an acting class and I fell in love with it. I was already playing music -- I was playing in a band with my brother who took off on a music career of his own-- and I thought maybe I will do something else and I took an acting class. You know I really wanted to be rich and famous that was a really big part of it. I got out of high school and I moved to New York and I started studying acting, I fell in love with it and all of the sudden I wanted to get more experience in acting. The fame and fortune part of it wasn't as important to me as the actual acting part, it was really inspiring.

Your first spot in a movie was as Chip Diller in Animal House in 1978, correct?

Kevin - Yes

Can you remember what your thoughts were when you got that part? Did you even consider that it would become a full time career with so many amazing movies in your resume?

Kevin - Well you know I never considered that I was going to be doing anything else, so yes I knew it was going to be a full time career. It was not something that I was just trying out. You know those secret dreams that you have that you never express to anyone. Those dreams of stardom or seeing your name in lights or whatever it happens to be. But really it is baby steps, on a day to day basis. The fame part is not what drives you.

But on a day to day basis. you know, I had to eat and I was working as a waiter during the time of the offer of the "Animal House" movie. Once I got that offer, I was able to quit, but after the part was finished and by the time I got back home I had to take my job back at the restaurant because I had ran out of money already. It wasn't like the door had opened and I stepped through it. It was a long, long process of baby steps.

Speaking of parts, in 1980 you played on the soap opera Guiding Light. How was the experience of being in a soap opera. By the way, have you heard that after 72 years Guiding Light will come to an end in September?

Kevin - Yes I read that. It's amazing, that soap started even before television. That's a long time. It started on radio. It was great for me because I was really interested in doing theater. It was steady work in New York so I could work in theater at night. I was working on Broadway and they were paying me $100 bucks and I was able to gradually not work as a waiter. I was at Guiding Light for that year.

Which movie do you think was instrumental in helping you get noticed - that set the ball moving, so to speak and opened the door for more acting roles?

Kevin - You know I don't really know. I feel like it really doesn't work that way. At some point I knew that I probably wasn't going to have to wait tables anymore. That was around the time that I was in "Diner."

I've heard there is going to be a "Footloose" remake starring Zac Effron. Any chance you will be in the new movie?

Kevin - I think you have your data wrong. He's not going to be in it. He pulled out.

Oh really? Is there still going to be a remake?

Kevin - I don't know. I really don't have anything to do with it.

What movie would you say is your favorite and why? Or do you have a favorite?

Kevin - I really don't and honestly I don't go back and look at them. I watch them maybe once by myself and then once at a screening with people and then I put them away. I try to think ahead so I don't really have a pick.

February 21, 2009 "Taking Chance" premiered on HBO. It is based on the experiences of Michael Strobe who escorts the body of a Marine home from Iraq. Can you tell the readers more about this film and your experiences in playing the part?

Kevin - A great part, loved it, fantastic character, great story. It's about a certain kind of heroism that Michael Strobe found while escorting this fallen Marine home to his final resting place. It is a very emotional movie and emotional story.