'I rejected it, like, full on': Kevin Bacon was scorched by Footloose fame

Kevin Bacon "rejected" the fame from his role in 'Footloose'.

The 65-year-old star rose to prominence after playing the part of Ren McCormack in the 1984 musical drama film but wanted to be known as a "serious actor" instead.

Kevin told the 'Podcrushed' podcast: "When I became a pop star, the last thing I wanted to be was a pop star.

"I had already moved into, you know, 'I want to be Dustin Hoffman or Meryl (Streep) or John Cazale or De Niro. I want to work with Scorsese. I want to do Chekhov.' You know what I mean?

"I was so into what my idea of a serious actor was, and all of a sudden I was given this thing ('Footloose') that was completely not a serious actor. So I rejected it, like, full on. And really, I think in some ways, I tried to self-sabotage that piece of myself and my popularity."

Kevin is also the inspiration behind the 'Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon' trivia game – which comes from the idea that anybody in Hollywood can be connected to him in just six steps – but it gave him a feeling of unease at first.

The 'A Few Good Men' star said: "I thought that, and this is my own acting insecurity – impostor syndrome – I thought that the joke of it was that the greatest actors could be connected to a loser actor like me.

"They were saying, 'Look, can you believe he can be connected by Meryl Streep?' By the way, I think I had already worked with Meryl Streep, so it wasn't even... It's just in my own head."