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Louise Thomas
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Kevin Bacon has revealed that he recently donned a disguise in order to experience life as a regular person, but soon concluded: “This sucks.”
The Footloose star, 65, is currently starring alongside Eddie Murphy in action comedy Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F and opposite Mia Goth in horror sequel Maxxxine.
Speaking to Vanity Fair, Bacon explained that he went to great lengths in order to live out his fantasy of being a non-celebrity. “I’m not complaining, but I have a face that’s pretty recognizable,” he said. “Putting my hat and glasses on is only going to work to a certain extent.”
Bacon continued: “I went to a special effects makeup artist, had consultations, and asked him to make me a prosthetic disguise.”
The actor was given fake teeth, a new nose, and glasses before heading off to the busy Los Angeles mall The Grove for a taste of ordinary life.
Bacon says the disguise worked, “Nobody recognized me”, but the experience left a lot to be desired. “People were kind of pushing past me, not being nice. Nobody said, ‘I love you.’ I had to wait in line to, I don’t know, buy a f***ing coffee or whatever. I was like, This sucks. I want to go back to being famous.”
Earlier this week, Bacon explained why he feels he was a bad leading actor “for a lot of years”.
After Footloose shot him to stardom in 1984, the actor said he struggled to live up to the expectations placed on him. He told The Guardian: “Yeah, there was a lot of pressure in it when it finally happened. I’m not sure that I was really ready.”
After Footloose, the actor rounded out the 1980s with roles in films that either received negative reviews or tanked at the box office: Quicksilver, White Water Summer, End of the Line, She’s Having a Baby, Criminal Law, and The Big Picture.
“I continued doing leads for a lot of years, but I wasn’t really doing it very well,” the actor added. “I was doing it OK. But the movies weren’t successful. My picker was off. Like, I couldn’t choose! I didn’t want anybody’s advice. I was making some bad mistakes.”
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Try for freeBacon soon recalibrated his approach, and realised he did not mind not being the lead star after years of being concerned about the hierarchy of on-set power.
It wasn’t until 1990 that Bacon turned things around, starring in Tremors and Flatliners before delivering memorable supporting roles in JFK, A Few Good Men, The River Wild, Apollo 13, and Sleepers.
“When I kind of rethought it, and rethought about the possibility of being number 10 on a call sheet, or number two, or number 25, or whatever – that’s when I figured out who I was as an actor,” the actor said, adding: “So I no longer have a problem doing a small part.”
He continued: “As long as I feel like it’s a good part, an interesting part, something cool, I got no problem moving down a call-sheet.”
Bacon, who has been married to actor Kyra Sedgwick for 35 years, is also a musician. As part of The Bacon Brothers, which he formed alongside his brother Michael in 1995, the actor has released seven albums.
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