The role Kevin Bacon wanted but was rejected for: “I didn’t get the part”
As one of the leading names in Hollywood, it’s hard to imagine Kevin Bacon ever being turned down for a role he actively sought out.
What’s more, as one of the most prolific actors in the industry, Bacon has pulled in quite a list of credentials when it comes to renowned directors and filmmakers. After all, over four decades, he’s worked with several defining names, from Clint Eastwood to Rob Reiner. Suffice it to say, therefore, that Bacon has very few regrets when it comes to his career, and always goes for roles he feels a deeply ignited passion for.
This is a fairly grand statement considering the fact that, of all projects – big and small – it’s only natural to assume that Bacon does, in fact, regret some of his choices. After all, as with most actors with such a hefty filmography, there are more than a few questionable titles deep in the weeds that aren’t even worthy of mentioning.
There are also the obvious extracurricular activities, like Bacon’s unrelenting streak with EE, and the fact that an entire generation doesn’t really know the type of actor he’s actually supposed to be, just that they’ve seen his face in a variety of different places for countless different reasons.
Still, there are a few things across the board that make you wonder, like whether Bacon regrets turning down the role of Lieutenant Dan in Forrest Gump, and whether he feels the same way about the Footloose theme song as Kate Winslet does about Celine Dion’s ‘My Heart Will Go On’ (he does).
Perhaps unsurprisingly, however, the only regrets that Bacon does actually have are the opportunities he never took or the roles that he really wanted but never got. One was Raising Arizona, mainly because he has such a bone-deep respect for the filmmakers that he regrets not doing a better job of buttering them up when it mattered the most.
As he reflected to Business Insider, “Part of the reason is because I love the Coen brothers so much. They went on to make just so many incredible movies, and I had a meeting with them and completely fucked it up. So that’s the one that resonates with me.”
Another is the fact that Bacon tried and failed to get a part in Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, an effort that didn’t even pay off after having previously already worked with its director, Rob Reiner. Bacon had crossed paths with Reiner on A Few Good Men and loved the original Spinal Tap movie so much that he’d tried to play one of the ill-fated drummers in the follow-up, but was turned down when he asked to be involved.
“I wanted to play one of the exploding drummers in the new Spinal Tap, basically, but I didn’t have [Rob Reiner’s] number,” Bacon admitted during The View. “Somebody called him for me, and I didn’t get the part. Spinal Tap, I’m so excited about part two, and the original, it was a running joke that they just had drummers that would disappear.”
Bacon joked about potentially being included in the third instalment, still vying for the position of one of the doomed drummers, with the running gag being that many of the band’s drummers inevitably die from a range of strange circumstances. Mick Fleetwood even played into the joke once when he auditioned in 1992, arriving in a fireproof suit so as not to fall victim to the same fate. With any luck, Bacon will be the one behind the kit next, especially now that he does actually have the director’s contact details.
