NEW YORK — Actor/heartthrob Kevin Bacon is a modest guy — really. Well, almost always.
His starring role as a newlywed in John Hughes’ adult comedy She’s Having a Baby will put that to the test. “You know, this interviewer asked me today if I had, um, um, stuffed my underwear,” he says, referring to a brief (pun intended) scene in the movie. “Of course, I didn’t. But I can’t believe how many people are actually talking about this.”
Hey, Bacon’s not insulted. “That guy made my week. Let me tell you. I wanted to say, like, ‘Here, take $100, take $200 — and tell your friends.’ That’s the greatest compliment I’ve ever had.”
That people are even noticing him and complimenting him is an achievement for Bacon, considering what his 1987 was like. To put it mildly, it was not great. “Even my dad disowned me,” he jokes.
Bacon found Quicksilver, the poorly received 1986 film about bike messengers, hard to live down — even a year after its release. And another film, Rites of Summer, was quickly relegated to video stores. His personal life also had a big jolt when he and his longtime girlfriend, actress Tracy Pollan, called it quits. (She’s now linked romantically with Michael J. Fox.)
But 1988 is another story. In addition to She’s Having a Baby, Bacon had a role in Wednesday’s American Playhouse TV production of Lanford Wilson’s Lemon Sky, and in April he’ll co-star as a “charming, gregarious sociopathic killer” in the feature Criminal Law, opposite Gary Oldman.
There’s more. Bacon’s currently in Los Angeles filming Big Picture, a biting satire in which he’ll portray a young hotshot film school graduate. “It’s low budget and independent, but it runs the risk of upsetting people — and I like that,” Bacon says with a smile. On the personal front, this summer he’s traipsing happily down the aisle and marrying actress Kyra Sedgewick — with whom he fell in love, incidentally, while both were making Lemon Sky.
He figures that by summer, people will be sick of hearing his name.
Not likely. And with his role in Baby, he’s hoping to win over those who think he’s, at best, a good dancer, thanks to Footloose. “I’ve been waiting for this film. I’m not a teen idol who got a break. I care about my work. I think this movie will show that I do have some range, that I can act.”
The self-deprecating and low-key actor already has won over his toughest critic. Himself. “I loved my performance in this movie. And I liked myself in Lemon Sky, too. She’s Having a Baby was a breakthrough. It taught me a lot about myself.”
To an observer, Bacon, who says he was a “chubby kid,” is far more confident at this point in his life than he ever was. “It has to do with feeling good about the work. I’m very proud of what I’ve been doing of late,” he explains.
But there still is room for humility. “The performances in John Hughes’ films are always terrific,” he says modestly. “And he gave me a great script and it was a great part — any actor would have been an idiot to have turned it down.”
There was a time when Bacon admits he might have been “too careful” in his selection of movies. But even then, he insists, “a million things can go wrong when you do a movie. Quicksilver looked good to me on paper.” He can still quote all his bad reviews. “The opening line in one review said, ‘Quicksilver is six movies in one — and they’re all bad,”‘ he recalls. “And it got worse from there.”
Bacon admits now that he got scared that the film would kill his career. “I felt the icy winds of Hollywood blowing through my veins. Yes, I felt it. People told me I was crazy. But if you were to ask my agents — well, they felt it, too. Things cooled down in my career.”
His personal life is pretty hot right now, but questions about it are off- limits. “I spent a lot of time yakking about it in the past,” he says, pausing — his smile fading. “I’m finding a lot of this material comes back to haunt you. So I’d rather not discuss it any more.”
