Kevin Bacon wore a disguise to hide in public, but he hated it

Diversity via Getty Images

Kevin Bacon recently revealed in an interview with Vanity Fair that he had facial prosthetics made so that he could appear in public as an iconic actor without attracting attention. As the actor himself said: “I’m not complaining, but my face is quite recognizable. Putting on a hat and glasses only works to a certain extent.”

“I went to a special effects makeup artist, got a consultation, and asked him to make me a prosthetic costume,” Bacon continued, saying he had false teeth and a slightly altered nose so he could test out what it would be like not to be Kevin Bacon in public. He went to The Grove in Los Angeles and “nobody recognized me,” which the actor didn’t exactly like.

“People were kind of pushing past me and not being nice,” Bacon said. “Nobody said ‘I love you.’ I had to wait in line to, I don’t know, buy a damn coffee or whatever. I was like, ‘This sucks. I want to be famous again.'”

Bacon has been a household name for four decades, since his breakout role in the 1984 teen classic “Footloose.” Speaking on the podcast “Podcrushed” last year, the actor said the film launched him into a Hollywood career that didn’t match his original acting ambitions. Bacon had no idea he was auditioning for a “dance movie” when he auditioned for the role of Ren McCormack.

“When I made the dance film, I wasn’t a dancer. I wasn’t trained as a dancer,” Bacon said. “If I’m honest, I didn’t even really understand that it was a dance film. I thought it was just a film, and then when they hint at dancing, I just get up.”

“When I became a pop star, I didn’t want to be a pop star at all,” Bacon continued. “I had already made up my mind: ‘I want to be Dustin Hoffman or Meryl or John Cazale or De Niro. I want to work with Scorsese. I want to play Chekhov.’ You know what I mean? I was so caught up in my idea of ​​being a serious actor, and suddenly I got something that had nothing to do with being a serious actor. So I rejected it, completely. I tried to self-sabotage that part of myself and my popularity.”

Bacon is currently starring in two new films: “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F” is now streaming on Netflix and “Maxxxine” is in theaters via A24.