Kevin Bacon on his role as Kevin Bacon in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ holiday show: ‘I love making fun of myself’

Even Kevin Bacon — a decades-old zeitgeist so ubiquitous that he produced a game called The Party turned into a board — can be delighted when he’s unexpectedly referenced.

That’s what happened in the summer of 2014 when the veteran actor went to the opening weekend screening of the hit Marvel team-up. Guardians of the Galaxy In a New York City movie theater. On his own too, because that’s how he rolls around.

“On the one hand, it sounded great,” Bacon told Yahoo Entertainment. On the other hand, he had worked with Guardians writer-director James Gunn (who, as no one should be surprised, played Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon) in the 2010 indie comedy excellent. “So I wanted to see what he would do with this crazy kind of franchise.”

That’s when Bacon did a double-take upon hearing one of the film’s most memorable exchanges, an all-too-trademark, nostalgic hit from pop culture connoisseur Gunn.

On our planet, we have a legend about people like you. It is called the free one,” Peter Quill born on Earth to Chris Pratt (aka Star-Lord) piques future love interest Gamora (Zoe Saldaña) after she announces she does Not really dance. “And in it, the great hero, Kevin Bacon, teaches a whole town full of people with sticks in their butts that dancing is, well, the greatest thing out there.”

Later, after a particularly heroic moment and their ship goes down MilanoGamora turns to co-pilot Peter and says, “We’re just like Kevin Bacon.”

“I was there alone in the theatre,” says Bacon, “and all of a sudden they’re talking about me. So you can imagine that’s a beautiful out-of-body experience. … It’s one thing if it’s a regular drama or comedy, but they’re in ‘a whole other world,’ another world.” Full. “

The actor immediately called his wife, actress Kyra Sedgwick, after the movie ended.

“I said, ‘You’re not going to believe what just happened. But I’m not going to tell you, I want to go back to that movie with you. I’m telling you, it’s a great movie, you get a big kick out of it. So I took her back and I didn’t tell her what was going to happen. And she has the same experience I had.'”

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Now, Bacon is a part of Guardians The universe is also in the flesh. by spirit For being John Malkovich And the The unbearable weight of enormous talent With Nicolas Cage, he plays Bacon…Kevin Bacon…in Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special.

It was clearly influenced by 1978’s Notorious Star Wars Holiday Special, the 44-minute Disney+ special sees Guardians Mantis (Pom Klementieff) and Drax (Dave Bautista) despairing of cheering up Peter, who is still reeling from Gamora’s death. So for Christmas, the duo heads to Hollywood to bring Peter one of his favorite things in the world… Kevin Bacon.

The 64-year-old actor, whose film credits over 60 also include Friday the 13th, Tremors, JFK, A Few Good Men, Apollo 13 And the mysterious river, playing an improved version of himself, with Gunn and company taking some heartwarming takes on his career. Drax and Mantis believe Bacon is a real hero, not someone who simply portrays heroes, and are shocked to discover that he is just an actor. “The actors are disgusting,” Drax said at one point.

“It’s not like I’m going into this thinking, ‘Oh, I’m playing myself.’ So that has to stay very true to who I am. It’s kind of the opposite. … It’s a take on the movie star life. Which, to me, is funny.” And fucking.

“And I love making fun of myself. I actually do. It plays partly in the idea of ​​how actors are self-involved, their ego out of control. And I think that’s just a funny thing to explore.”

Klementieff, for one, liked the opportunity to move to one degree of detachment from Bacon, whom she often refers to in the special as “Hollywood legend Kevin Bacon”.

“I’m so proud of it,” she says. “I think it’s an achievement, right? I’ve said his name so many times like a praying mantis, rehearsing and doing lines and all that. I feel so close to him now.”

“I think he enjoyed it. He told us it was different for him because he hasn’t done a lot of comedy in his career. So I think he really enjoyed going on this ride with us.”

Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special Premieres on Disney+ November 25th.

Watch the trailer: