Let's talk about Kevin Bacon. We all know him as the beautiful 80s leading man who fought a small American town for the right to dance. He also fought underground monster worms (graboids) in the surprise hit Tremors. No one can ever forget his stint as a medical student who would kill himself in five-minute intervals to learn he felt bad about teasing a kid from his childhood. His best performance was as a college basketball coach trying to woo an African boy with no formal education into playing for his university.
As he transitioned into the 90s his career shifted. He wasn’t getting leading roles anymore but had a name which lead to key parts in big Hollywood films. He pivoted his career so well no one really noticed he wasn’t the leading man actor anymore. So you get Capt Jack Ross in A Few Good Men, astronaut Jack Swigert in Apollo 13, creepy evil child molester Nokes in Sleepers.
What’s interesting about his career in the 90s is how much more dynamic his characters were. As the leading man he played into a mold. The young, brash, good-hearted hero. His 90s work consisted of different characters. Not just Kevin Bacon with a new name in a sticky situation.
Then in the 2000s he pivots his career again and starts doing more artistic projects. We’re not commenting on the quality of the final product but if you look at his roles there was an effort for delve into deeper subject matter. The critically acclaimed Mystic River, The Woodsman where he plays a convicted child molester trying to reintegrate into society after his prison term (played a child molester twice…yikes), He directed and acted alongside his wife in Loverboy which I honestly don’t know much about but the trailer for this drama makes it seem like it stemmed from an inside joke about parent rearing between the two. Maybe he was chasing that Oscar or maybe he just wanted to take on a new acting challenge.
In 2008 the Bernie Madoff’s ponzi scheme is revealed. Kevin Bacon is one of his victims. No one really knows how much he lost but he took a pretty big hit. Some estimate it could have been around $30 million. This is where his career shifts again. For the decade following, all he takes are payday films. He’s popping up as the main villain in X-Men: First Class, a sleezeball boss in Crazy Stupid Love, he popped up in R.I.P.D. He stars in a the Fox TV drama The Following (because TV series is steady work for actors). In 2018 he returns to the Tremors franchise after almost 30 years.
The lesson we can learn from this is; if you lose all your money make sure you’re famous enough to whore out your name to make a chunk of it back.
Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com
