Kevin Bacon has spoken about his attempt to hide his famous face and go incognito in public.
Speaking to Vanity Fair, Bacon revealed that he recently employed a special effects makeup artist to help him blend into crowds. The prosthetic disguise saw him wear fake teeth, glasses, and an alternative nose, making him look a lot like his character in the Ti West-directed horror film maXXXine. The actor then headed out into the streets of Los Angeles, heading into the Grove, an outdoor shopping mall.
“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 fucking coffee or whatever. I was like, This sucks. I want to go back to being famous,” the actor recalls about his experience at the mall.
MaXXXine premiere was a family affair. In theaters everywhere July 5th. pic.twitter.com/GFvurRqqgH
— Kevin Bacon (@kevinbacon) June 26, 2024
The anecdote is not the actor’s first flirtation with invisibility: in the 2000 film Hollow Man, Bacon took on the role of Dr. Sebastian Caine, an ambitious molecular biologist responsible for developing an invisibility serum.
Later in the interview, Bacon explored his experience acting in the Ti West joint as a sleazy Louisiana detective, relating his now-established reputation as a versatile character actor to his role as Willie O’Keefe in the 1991 political drama JFK.
“Because of Footloose and the movies that I was doing, the way I was perceived was very much like a pop star,” Bacon sais. “So I went in and Oliver said basically the same thing Ti said: ‘Will you go for it?’ I said ‘sure.’ The next thing I know, I’m down in Louisiana, hanging out in these pretty hardcore leather bars.”
The A24 slasher film maXXXine opened on July 3.
In related news, Bacon announced earlier this March that he would be attending the final prom held at Payson High School, the setting of the fictitious Bomont High featured in Bacon’s breakout movie, ‘Footloose’. The actor took on the decision after a months-long campaign by students, following the decision to relocate to a new location for the first time since 1967.