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For Kevin Bacon, 2024 isn’t just the 40th anniversary of Footloose, it’s also the anniversary of the last time he went to the Oscars.
On Thursday, ET’s Nischelle Turner caught up with the legendary actor, 65, at the Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F premiere in Los Angeles, where he shared that he hasn’t gotten the chance to return to Hollywood’s biggest night since the height of his Footloose days.
“It was crazy. I was thinking about it — I have never been to the Oscars since 1984,” he shared, adding of that season of his life, “I was like the ‘It Boy’ of the year.”
At the time, Bacon attended the Oscars not only as an invited guest but as presenter, handing out the award for Best Sound Effects Editing to Jay Boekelheide for The Right Stuff. He presented alongside Daryl Hannah, who had a hit of her own that year in Splash with Tom Hanks.
In Footloose, Bacon starred as Ren McCormack, a transplant from Chicago who moves to a small, rural town only to discover the municipality has a strict ban on dancing, which was put in place by a local minister.
Back in December, Bacon spoke with ET at the premiere of another film he starred in for Netflix, Leave the World Behind, where he discussed the long-lasting legacy of Footloose ahead of its 40th anniversary. The movie — which also starred Sarah Jessica Parker, Lori Singer and John Lithgow — premiered in February 1984.
“40 years. That’s one of those movies. It did change my life,” he said. “To say nothing else would not be true. I was working and I knew I’d be an actor for the long haul, but I thought a character actor — which I am — but this took over people’s psyche for that moment and my life switched.”
Despite being four decades since the film’s debut, Bacon says Footloose remains the movie that people approach him over. “I’ve done a lot of work since then, but that’s what people come up and talk to me about,” he noted.
In a fun twist of fate, Bacon is now starring in another movie that aired its first film in 1984: Beverly Hills Cop. On Thursday, the actor said that he could not have been more thrilled to get the opportunity to join the Eddie Murphy-led flick, calling it the “greatest fish out of water franchise.”
“I loved the movie when it came out, you know, I don’t remember exactly where I saw it — it was probably, I’m sure that I paid money for it, it was a big deal,” he said of seeing the December 1984 release for the first time. “I sat there with strangers in the dark and my popcorn.”
Despite his love for the franchise and Murphy, 63, Bacon said he had very little overlap with the actor until now. It’s partially the reason he jumped at the opportunity to join the latest installment in the Beverly Hills Cop franchise, which comes 30 years after the last sequel released.
The film picks up with Murphy’s Axel Foley and his estranged daughter, Jane (Paige), a criminal defense attorney who pulls her Detroit-based dad into a California case. After his daughter’s life is threatened, Jane and Foley team up with his new partner, Det. Bobby Abbott (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), and old pals Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and John Taggart (John Ashton) to turn up the heat and uncover a conspiracy.
Watch the trailer for the film in the player below:
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F premieres on Netflix July 3.
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