Kevin Bacon's Family Are Halloween Pros With A "Horror Tradition"
Kevin Bacon is famous for his wide array of starring roles, but there’s one thing he, his wife, and his daughter have in common: a penchant for starring in scary flicks.
Some actors seem to get typecast, constantly playing the tough guy, the bad guy, or the hopeless romantic, so much so that it’s hard to imagine them playing any other character. Others show a mountain of range. Then there’s Kevin Bacon — and his family, wife Kyra Sedgwick and daughter Sosie Bacon — who seem to be able to characters from every type of movie, from Footloose to Animal House. When it comes to scary movies, however, Kevin Bacon is a little bit of an underrated scream king. And his whole family really is part of a horror dynasty, as well.
Kevin Bacon recently sat down with The Hollywood Reporter to talk about the “horror tradition” in his family, including actor/director Kyra Sedgwick and their daughter Sosie Bacon, who stars in the new horror film from Paramount, Smile.
“We didn’t know she was really interested in pursuing any kind of an acting career,” Bacon said of his daughter. “But when she finally, in her early 20s, decided that this is what she wanted to do, she dropped out of college and moved to L.A. and really started doing all the right stuff. Pounding the pavement, doing self-tape after self-tape, and studying.”
Bacon said that when he watched Smile for the first time, he was surprised by the storyline and Sosie’s performance.
“When I saw the movie, I was just really taken aback with, not only with how great she was but also how hard that role was,” Bacon shared, “because it’s one of those parts where there is no break. Usually, you start out, and the character’s pretty happy for at least, you know, 15 minutes or 20 minutes before everything becomes horrible. But that’s a movie where the stress level is [insane]. I was very proud of her.”
Smile isn’t Sosie’s first movie role, but it’s her largest, and Bacon says it’s not a surprise that his daughter launched right into the horror genre — it’s kinda the family’s thing.
“In a weird kind of way, we have a horror tradition in our family,” he said. “One of my earliest movies was the very first Friday the 13th. I was in Stir of Echoes and Hollow Man. Flatliners. I keep going back to horror.”
And, of course, They/Them, and Tremors (one of the best movies ever made), too. Sedgwick has also done horror movies, including The Possession.
“We definitely have a fondness for [horror movies] in our family. I wonder what it is, specifically,” he questioned. “I think that for an actor, you’re looking for things that have high stakes — and that’s what horror gives you. It’s always going to be a radical life-or-death situation.”
Bacon previously discussed his role in the mystery/horror movie They/Them where he opened up about his and Kyra’s parenting philosophy of allowing kids to come into their own.
“With our kids, we really tried our best to say, ‘OK, you can do your own thing and figure it out,'” he shared. “That’s worked out for our kids, but it’s tough.”
