Kevin Bacon will never escape Footloose—even if he tries.
The 66-year-old actor recently opened up at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas, about how the 1984 film that launched him into stardom still follows him to this day. While fans continue to celebrate the movie and its infectious theme song, Bacon admits it sometimes makes for awkward moments—especially at weddings.
During the panel, Bacon confessed that his biggest fear involves a wedding DJ, a dance floor, and one particular song: Kenny Loggins’ Footloose.
“My worst nightmare is to be at a wedding, and the DJ puts on the music, and the song comes on, and suddenly the wedding becomes about me,” Bacon said. “People form a circle around me, and I become a trained monkey.”
The actor, who played rebellious teenager Ren McCormack in Footloose, shared that he sometimes has to take matters into his own hands to avoid the situation.
“I’ve gone to the DJs and said, ‘Please don’t play that song.’ It’s not that I don’t like the song,” he clarified.
Loggins’ Footloose became a massive hit, earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song in 1985 and solidifying itself as a pop culture anthem. However, for Bacon, the song is less of a nostalgic jam and more of an inescapable reminder of his breakout role.
Although Footloose became one of the most famous dance films of all time, Bacon wasn’t exactly a trained dancer when he took on the role.
“Growing up in Philly, I loved dancing,” he explained. “In [New York], I would go to Studio 54 and dance all night all alone—this was when I was a waiter. I always loved it.”
But when he signed on for Footloose, he didn’t realize just how much dancing would be required.
“When they sent the script to me, I did not know it was a dance movie,” Bacon admitted. “They had talked about choreographers, and I was like, ‘I don’t really need a choreographer. You can just turn the music on, and I can just dance around and have fun with it.’ And they were like, ‘Ah—na na na, you don’t know what you’re getting into.'”
Despite his initial hesitation, Bacon’s performance in Footloose made him a household name and cemented his status as a Hollywood star.
In April 2024, Bacon made a surprise return to the Utah high school where Footloose was filmed, thanks to a viral social media campaign by the students of Payson High.
After re-enacting scenes from the movie and sharing them online with the hashtag #BaconToPayson, students successfully convinced the actor to visit the school.
“When I first heard about this ‘Bacon to Payson’ thing, I was like, ‘Wow, this is crazy.’ But you were all just tireless. Unrelenting… You talked me into it,” he said during his visit.
A video of the moment showed Bacon joking, “Things look a little different around here. I’d say the thing that looks the most different is me.”
While Footloose made Bacon a star, he spent decades proving he was much more than a teen heartthrob. He went on to star in critically acclaimed films like Apollo 13, Mystic River, A Few Good Men, and Frost/Nixon.
Reflecting on his long career, Bacon admitted that fame initially felt strange to him.
“It was my dream to have my name in lights and to sit with Johnny Carson on his talk show,” he said. “But when I finally achieved those dreams, I realized that there is something kind of strange about it.”
The actor revealed that early in his career, he struggled with impostor syndrome and resisted the idea of becoming a pop star.
“I wanted to be a serious actor—I did not want to be a pop star. It was the opposite of how I wanted to view myself,” he shared.
Despite his complicated relationship with Footloose, Bacon acknowledges that it remains a major part of his legacy. While he may do his best to avoid wedding dance circles, he ultimately appreciates the film’s impact on pop culture.
After all, no matter how much time passes, when the beat drops and the lyrics “Everybody cut loose” start playing, Kevin Bacon will always be the guy who brought Footloose to life.