Kevin Bacon wanted a taste of regular life for a day — and he learned it was not for him.
“I have a face that’s pretty recognizable,” Bacon, 65, said in an interview with Vanity Fair published on Wednesday, July 3. “Putting my hat and glasses on is only going to work to a certain extent.”
So Bacon had the idea to have a custom disguise made that would make him unrecognizable in a crowd.
“I went to a special effects makeup artist, had consultations and asked him to make me a prosthetic disguise,” he explained.
Bacon’s new look included fake teeth, a prosthetic nose and glasses. The actor decided to take the getup for a spin at one of the most popular attractions in Los Angeles, The Grove, which is an outdoor mall.
When Bacon arrived at the shopping center, he was delighted that the disguise was working and helping him blend in. However, being normal for a few minutes wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be for the Golden Globe winner.
“Nobody recognized me,” Bacon reflected. “People were kind of pushing past me, not being nice. Nobody said, ‘I love you.’ I had to wait in line to, I don’t know, buy a f–king coffee or whatever. I was like, ‘This sucks. I want to go back to being famous.’”
Bacon admitted his desire to achieve success in Hollywood stemmed from watching his father, Edmund, get praise in their hometown. Edmund, who died in 2005, was a notable architect who was crowned as the “The Father of Modern Philadelphia.”
“My father was famous in Philadelphia, which in some ways is a small pond, but for me, it was a big pond,” Bacon shared. “I saw him get recognized by people when he would walk down the street, and seeing that was definitely a big driving force in my life. Frankly, I wanted to be more famous than him. And you can lay me down on the shrink’s couch. We could talk about that for a while. But it was definitely a motivator.”
Bacon ultimately reached his goal, and he’s become one of the most popular actors in Hollywood. He’s gone on to star in countless leading man and character roles, including Footloose and most recently MaXXXine.
“I honestly feel very grateful for where I happen to be,” Bacon reflected to the outlet about his extensive career. “That I can have two totally different movies coming out within a couple of days of each other, and completely different roles. The fact they would both come my way is the thing that I feel the most gratitude for. I’ve fought really long and hard for it.”
