How old was Kevin Bacon in ‘Footloose’? Actor returns to school 40 years after the iconic film was shot

Actor Kevin Bacon starred in the 1984 musical drama Footloose which was filmed at the Payson High School in Utah. Although he played the role of a teenager named Ren McCormack in the film, he was 25 years old at the time.

Recently, on April 20, 2024, he returned to the location following a social media invitation by the school’s students, as reported by local media outlet ABC4.

“Go Lions! Here we are on this beautiful, beautiful spot on this beautiful, beautiful day. It’s been a long time – 40 years – that just blows my mind, you know. Things look a little different around here. I’d say the thing that looks the most different is me,” the now 65-year-old told the students.

According to the source, the students of Payson High School led a social media campaign with the hashtag #bacontopayson, to draw the attention of the City on a Hill star and get him to visit their school for the prom before it gets moved to a different location.

---

Kevin Bacon urged students to “stand up for their own freedom” during Utah school visit

Over the weekend, Footloose star Kevin Bacon returned to Payson High School in Utah where he shot his breakthrough film exactly forty years ago. Taking to the stage, he addressed the student body and said how great it was to be back on the “beautiful spot” on a “beautiful day.”

He also mentioned how the changes in and around the school premises were amazing while noting that he was perhaps the “thing” that looked “the most different.”

“When I first heard about this Bacon to Payson thing, I was like, ‘Wow, this is crazy.’ But you were all just tireless. Unrelenting… You talked me into it. I think it’s great to see that kind of commitment to anything,” Kevin Bacon observed.

The Leave the World Behind actor further continued by saying –

“I also think that it’s amazing the power that this movie [Footloose] has had to just kind of bring people together, and connect on the basic ideas... standing up to authority sometimes, and to being forgiving to people who are not exactly the same as you, and standing up for your own freedoms and your right to express yourself, and for having compassion for other people.”

For the last few months, the students of Payson High School took to several social media platforms calling out to Kevin Bacon to visit their school for this year’s prom, before it relocated permanently.

They also highlighted on their online campaign how the visit would mark four decades of the film Footloose and recreated movie scenes via their posts using the hashtag #bacontopayson.

Later, the student body also pledged to raise funds to sponsor 5000 “essential resource kits” for Kevin Bacon’s nonprofit SixDegree.org on the day of their prom and use them for underprivileged students.

Soon, the Oscar nominee caught wind of the campaign and announced on the Today show last month how he was planning to visit Payson High School during this year’s prom, adding both the movie and the school were a “big part of my life.”

Back then, he also mentioned how the campaign “hasn’t gone unnoticed,” and praised the students for their efforts. While he didn’t attend the prom, his much-anticipated return occurred on Saturday.

There, during his speech, Kevin Bacon once again thanked the students for their “commitment” to give back to the “community” and shared how “thrilled” he was to share his day with them.

“And that’s what all of you have shown here, by turning what could be just a movie star coming back to get a pat on the back, into something really positive,” he concluded.

The father of two also shared his experience of revisiting Payson High via his Instagram Stories, including sharing a clip of him receiving an honorary diploma from the students, and later shouting the slogan, “Let’s dance!” The video also showed Kevin Bacon checking out his locker from the film.