ZingVlog

Kevin Bacon first shot to fame after starring in the iconic 1984 musical film Footloose, but did he really perform all the songs and dances himself?

Whilst Kevin Bacon didn’t perform any of the songs on the Footloose soundtrack, he did perform the majority of the dances himself, except for in the famous warehouse scene. Bacon had four doubles on hand to perform the flips and more difficult moves in this scene.

Read more about Kevin Bacon and his performance in the film Footloose.

Kevin Bacon

Kevin Bacon was born in 1958 and is the youngest of six siblings. He was raised by his parents, architect Edmund Bacon and teacher Ruth Hilda Bacon (née Holmes), in Philadelphia.

The Bacon family was tight-knit and very creative when the siblings were growing up. In an interview with WGN News, Kevin’s older brother, Michael, explained that their parents “valued creativity above everything else” and encouraged the Bacon children to take up hobbies in the arts. 

Kevin Bacon revealed in an interview with the San Diego Union-Tribune that he was very interested in music as a child, however “it was kind of assumed that, since Michael was a musician, I should probably do something else”.

Discussing how he first began acting in the same interview in the San Diego Union-Tribune, he said “My mother definitely steered me towards a career in acting and got me into theater,” adding “She pushed me into whatever theater options she could find in Philadelphia.”

At age 16, Bacon won a scholarship to attend the Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Arts at Bucknell University. This five-week summer school programme, at which he studied under Glory Van Scott, cemented his passion for the arts.

Bacon left home and moved to New York at age 17 to pursue a career in theatre. He quickly began acting on screen, however, and was cast in his first film, National Lampoon’s Animal House, in 1979. 

Footloose

Although Kevin Bacon appeared in multiple films and television shows in the few years following the release of National Lampoon’s Animal House, his first big break was in 1984, when he played Ren McCormack in the musical film Footloose.

The film follows McCormack as he moves from Chicago to a small town in Oklahoma, where dancing and rock music are banned. McCormack attempts to overturn this ban throughout the film, in order to allow the senior class at the local high school to hold a prom. 

Kevin Bacon didn’t perform any of the songs on the Footloose soundtrack. However, in an interview with People magazine, Bacon revealed that while he did perform most of the dancing in the film himself, he had a number of doubles for the famous warehouse scene. 

At the time, Bacon was angry that he couldn’t perform the entire routine himself, which included a number of flips and complicated dance moves. In the same interview with People magazine, he said “Are you kidding I was furious,” adding “It’s like a starting pitcher getting taken out of a game – no one wants to be told they can’t get the guy out.”

In the same interview with People magazine, Bacon explained “I had a stunt double, a dance double and two gymnastics doubles.” He said “There were five of us in the f—ing outfit, and I felt horrible.”

Watch Kevin Bacon and his doubles dance in the iconic warehouse scene in the below YouTube video.

Although it is over 30 years since Footloose was first released, Kevin Bacon proved he’s still got it on a recent episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, in which Bacon recreated the final dance scene from the film. 

Watch Kevin Bacon dancing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in the below YouTube video.

ncG1vNJzZmiblaGyo63NrK6eqqNjsLC5jp2mnqtdoLK3tc1mmZqbn6N6s7HApaOyZZSWu6SxjKygp59dnrtuss6oq6Wnn6iycA%3D%3D