Kevin Bacon reveals he's asked to do 'the Footloose dance' at every wedding like "trained monkey"

3 July 2024, 11:29

It's one of 80's cinema's most beloved moments.

When Kevin Bacon's character from Footloose shook up a local stuffy town, he immediately became an on-screen dance icon.

The actor is responsible for a series of iconic roles from that decade and beyond, including A Few Good Men, She's Having A Baby, Tremors, and Apollo 13.

But he's back in 2024 for a reboot of another favourite film franchise from the eighties, starring in the new Beverly Hills Cop sequel alongside Eddie Murphy.

• Kevin Bacon brilliantly recreates 'Footloose' dance 40 years after release of the hit film
• Kyra Sedgwick reveals secret to keeping her marriage with Kevin Bacon fresh after 35 years
• Beverly Hills Cop 4: Eddie Murphy sequel release date, trailer, plot and cast revealed
• 'Whatzupwitu': When Michael Jackson teamed up with Eddie Murphy on ill-fated forgotten song

Featuring as the corrupt law enforcement villain opposite Murphy's loudmouth hero Axel Foley, Bacon discussed his relationship with his co-star, his wife, and his career.

He also revealed in an interview with Metro, that he gets asked to perform 'the Footloose dance' at every wedding he attends.

Naturally, it's not something he wants to perform on command, replying: "I am not a trained monkey."

Given it's the 40th anniversary of Footloose this year, Bacon's legendary dance moves are back in the public consciousness.

Because of four decades of the film, Kevin is continually reminded of his performance despite being the kind of person who doesn't focus too much on the past.

"It’s the 40th anniversary of Footloose," Bacon said. "And while I’m not somebody that has much of a rearview mirror, I’m now forced to look at that moment in my life."

"I don’t think I ever got a chance to talk about this specifically with Eddie. But that had to have been a huge moment for him, too."

When asked if he still gets requests to do the dance at weddings, he responded: "Yeah! I haven’t been to a wedding for a while, but they probably would."

"When people say, 'Do the Footloose dance,' I don’t know what the Footloose dance is. I am not a trained monkey."

"I was on a red carpet recently because we inducted Dean Pitchford – who wrote the Footloose screenplay and co-wrote all the songs in the movie – into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame," Kevin continued.

"And we played the song, my brother and I, for him. And that was really, really fun. But on the red carpet, a couple of people said, ‘Will you do the Footloose dance?'"

"And I’m like, 'No!' I’ll do that when I choose to do it, but not on command," which is surely fair enough.

• Kevin Bacon teams up for cute duet with daughter Sosie on Beyoncé and Miley Cyrus cover
• Kevin Bacon revisits Footloose high school for film's 40th anniversary
• Watch Kevin Bacon join Billy Joel on stage at New York's Madison Square Garden
• Cast of Footloose now: What happened to the stars of the 1984 film?

Later in the interview, Kevin discusses the secret to his long and loving marriage with his wife Kyra Sedgwick.

"We don’t have a secret. We take it one day at a time. I mean, we found somebody that we like to spend time with."

"Today, we will have lunch together and we’ll go and sit in our apartment and talk about what’s going on with our lives."