Why Kevin Bacon tells DJs not to play Footloose at weddings
Bacon said he had not idea Footloose was a dance movie when he took the role. Photo: Paramount/Instagram
In 1984, the musical-drama Footloose propelled Kevin Bacon into stardom. These days the veteran Hollywood actor actively asks DJs not to play it’s signature song when he’s at events and celebrations.
The 66-year-old told Variety at the SXSW convention last week that he often dreads hearing Kenny Loggins’ signature Footloose song.
“My worst nightmare is to be at a wedding and the DJ puts on the music,” Bacon said.
“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.”
As a result, Bacon actively tells DJs to resist the temptation to play Footloose.
“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 per cent proud of it,” he said.
In Footloose, Bacon stars as Ren, a punky arrival in a small American town that is stirred to rebellion by his infectious talent for dance.
Bacon said when he first landed the role in Footloose, he had no idea it was a dance movie.
“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.”
While Bacon has watched Footloose only “three or four times”, he says his adult children have never seen it.
Bacon has previously said it took years for him to earn respect as an actor in Hollywood and that his role in Oliver Stone’s 1991 drama JFK was a pivotal moment in his career.
“I was kind of spinning my wheels career-wise at that point, having been to the top of the mountain in Hollywood with Footloose,” Bacon told music publication NME.
“But I was kind of sliding back down the other side. And that gave me an opportunity to redefine my career in a way that was really much more true to who I am.
Since making his movie debut in 1978’s National Lampoon’s Animal House, Bacon has forged a prolific and respected career in Hollywood with roles in A Few Good Men (1992), Apollo 13 (1995), Mystic River (2003), and Frost/Nixon (2008) and Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011).
He will play the lead role in action-horror streaming series, The Bondsman, due to debut on Amazon Prime next month.
