He’s kicking off his Sunday shoes.
The historic actors’ strike ended on Wednesday, and to celebrate, Kevin Bacon, 65, posted a video of himself on social media recreating his iconic dance from “Footloose.”
Still limber in his 60s, Bacon performed the dance in a barn, 39 years after first performing the dance in the 1984 classic.
In the video, Bacon is backlit by the sun, and he’s shown in silhouette as he demonstrates that he’s still got his dance chops.
Bacon gave his nostalgic video a simple caption, by way of explanation: “Strike over!” he wrote, tagging the official account for SAG-AFTRA.
Dancing to “Footloose” is especially notable for Bacon, because in 2013 he went on “Conan” and talked about how he bribes DJs not to play that song when he attends weddings.
“I…hand him $20, and say ‘Please don’t play that song,’” said Bacon. He explained that he does this because when the song plays at an event that he’s at everyone crowds around him.
“A wedding is really not about me. It’s about the bride and groom, and it’s embarrassing. It’s awful,” he said.
During that same appearance, Bacon told host Conan O’Brien that he almost lost the iconic role.
“The producer of the movie wanted me, and the director wanted me, but he head of the studio at the time literally said to them, ‘I don’t want that kid. He’s not f–able,’” he recalled. “I was 24 at the time, and I was pretty sure I was f–able.”
One year later, Bacon even recreated the dance — again! — while appearing on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” in 2014.
The strike lasted 118 days, from July 14 to Nov. 8, as the longest work-stoppage in the history of the union.
Actors fought to gain health benefits and better pay for background actors, and protections against studios using AI to use their likeness without permission – or to “reanimate” dead actors, as Robin Williams’ daughter, Zelda, spoke out about.
“I’ve already heard AI used to get his ‘voice’ to say whatever people want and while I find it personally disturbing, the ramifications go far beyond my own feelings,” she posted on her Instagram in October. “Living actors deserve a chance to create characters with their choices, to voice cartoons, to put their HUMAN effort and time into the pursuit of performance.”
The end of the strike doesn’t mean all of the delayed TV shows and movies will immediately return.
“I don’t think production will come back until early next year,” former “Parks and Recreation” co-star Jim O’Heir told The Post.
“I think some shows that shut down in the middle [of production] might be able to come back quicker, but now they’ve got to build sets, rent out soundstages, etc.”
Still, Bacon is feeling footloose and fancy free about it.
Fans flocked to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, to comment on Bacon’s dance video. “This made me nostalgic AF,” one fan wrote, while another said, “God, he’s cool.”
Source link
