Kevin Bacon explains what it was like not to be famous for a day

Veteran actor Kevin Bacon has been famous for a very long time. It has been four decades since Unbound came to the cinemas and catapulted him to stardom, and before that other roles in films such as Friday the 13th And animal shelter made sure that even if not everyone knew his name, he was at least recognized on the street.

That’s why Bacon recently decided to find out what it would be like if this recognition didn’t exist.

In a recent interview with Vanity Fair to promote his roles in new releases Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. And MaXXXineBacon explained that he found it difficult to navigate the world without being recognized, no matter what kind of glasses and hat he used to hide his “fairly recognizable” face. After 40 years of near-constant public attention, he thought about what it would be like to just go out for a day and be anonymous. Ironically, he used a little Hollywood trick to make his dream come true.

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“I went to a special effects makeup artist, got a consultation and asked him to make a prosthetic costume for me,” Bacon said.

To blend into a crowd, Bacon had his face fitted with prosthetics, including a false nose, new dentures and glasses. All of these disguised him so well that he believed the trick might work. To test it, he went to The Grove shopping mall in Los Angeles, a constantly crowded place where many tourists flock in search of movie stars. The trick worked.

“Nobody recognized me,” Bacon said, adding, “People were kind of pushing past me and not being nice. 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’s fame has certainly brought with it privileges over the years, but he believes one of the greatest is not his ability to spend a day pretending he’s not famous, but his ability to play a wide range of roles. His two most recent films offer Bacon very different characters to play, and his recent track record, including the Peacock original You themproves that he is still open to new things and is not afraid of changing perspectives in his work.

“I’m honestly very grateful for where I am now,” Bacon said. “Being able to release two completely different movies in two days, playing completely different roles. The fact that I got both is what I’m most grateful for. I fought really long and hard for this.”

Want more from Kevin Bacon? See him in the horror films They/Tem and You Should Have Left, now streaming on Peacock.