BONUS EPISODE! Today's installment of "Ask Kevin (Almost) Anything" features Kevin fielding questions from his biggest fans and those that have called in or sent a message with their very own questions.
In today’s episode of Ask Kevin (Almost) Anything, Kevin shares a little-known fact about the last scene of Footloose. He also waxes poetic on his love of London after a call-in from “Digsy” and then gets serious about the heart-warming work of The Special Olympics.
Tune in for laughs and lots of fun as Kevin fields these questions with Stacy Huston, Executive Director of SixDegrees.org
To submit your own question, head to SixDegrees.org/ask-Kevin
Hey, everybody, This is Kevin Bacon and I am back here with Ask Kevin Almost Anything episode. Hi Stacy, Hi, good to see you. I'm here with Stacy Houston, who is the executive director the stellar executive director of Is that what your title is?
I always forget it is actually the proper way to say thank you.
I'm glad I'm being proper today of six degrees dot org, which is our foundation, and we've tried to, you know, take the podcast, which has been great having celebrity guests on it talking about the things that they really care about. But we're just putting a little spin audit here and Stacey came up with a cool idea of Ask Kevin Almost Anything. And I look forward to these because, boy, you never know what's going to be coming at you. How are you doing? How are the girls?
They're doing great. You know. This past winter was fun for toddlers. I think everyone was sick at least once a week. But we've survibed. Right, there's a light at the end of the tunnel. What about you?
Yeah, good, busy, busy as you know. I saw you in California for like one brief moment. You were out there doing some work with six degrees. And I was out there shooting one day on a movie. It's funny, you know, I've done this a few times. I'm not gonna say what the movie is, but I have done this a few times on films where you know, the movie is great and it just needs maybe one more little adjustment or one more little scene. I actually have a and so you have to do a reshoot or or or additional footage is really more what it's like. And I was doing that, and it made me think about, UH when we did a reshoot on a picture called Footloose, and what happened was the ending of Footloose, you know, has this big kind of dance sequence, and in the original UH, when we originally shot it in Utah, it went into slow motion. And when they tested the movie, everybody said, we don't want slow motion. We want to see people, you know, getting down. We want to we want to feel the music and and see everybody rocking out. So we went to Uh, California and a year later and reshot the ending, but not in slow motion, with a new new choreography and new dancers and a whole bunch of new things, and it's it definitely, you know, helped the move be a lot, I think. But the other thing about it is that as an actor it's very hard because you really, at least me, I don't know about other people. When I when I finish a character, I just want to say goodbye to him, you know, like I've been so in his world that like I don't I just want to like let it go. So they step back into his shoes like a year later, when my head is already in a whole other place. It's always just a strange kind of adjustment.
Yeah, no, I can only imagine. So that iconic scene at the end, you're telling me it was actually shot in California that yeah.
Yeah, So like I walk into the the same so like I come in, I'm trying to remember what it is, but I come into the barn. I guess it's a barn or whatever it is, and I say, let's dance, scream, let's dance. And at that moment in the original version, everything went to slow motion. And the whole end of the movie was like was like slow motion. Yeah, and they had all this crazy stuff like slow motion glitter dropping and like lights around the lenses and stuff like that. And it just didn't. It was romantic, but it didn't rock, you know. And and so yeah, we went back out to LA They hired a bunch of dancers. Everybody got like their hair, you know, back in the same look that you know. Chris Penn was there and I guess and yeah, I guess Lori Singer was there too. I'm trying to remember she must have been. And and then we shot that whole you know ending. Yeah, it was completely know anyway, I nobody asked me that this is supposed to be, you know, ask kept almost anything. This is me just going off on things that I haven't been asked. But I just I'm just gonna say anyway, I just had to get it off your chat. I just had to get my friend sorry to drone on about that. You get okay? Thank you? Well should we what do you say? Should we go to our first question?
Let's do it?
Hello there, mister Bacon A long time, don't speak Digsy. We met about twenty years ago in a pup. All I wanted for Christmas was you. The question that I have is are you going to be branching out with six degrees? I'm bringing it to the UK or is it just going to be a Philly thing forever?
First off, I'd love to be one of those guys that could like like completely locate Digsie's accent, you know, like I love accents, right, he sounds maybe, I don't know, maybe northern England, but I don't know. You know, it's I'll never forget. When I was a kid, I got this record that was a record of an album of British dialects, and it had the map of England and you look at this tiny, you know, relatively tiny space in between Scotland and Ireland and Wales and England. There's hundreds of accents. You know, it's so interesting. We don't really have that so much in this country because I think we I'm not quite sure why it is, but it was a It's very much like in England. It's a very much of a class thing, a way of identifying you know, who is from where, and you know, kind of like what you're statuses. I'm just going to do a quick plug because I can. Speaking of class. There's this amazing movie Origin that is really based on a book and about the cast system. Basically have you seen it? Did you see it?
Yeah? Yeah, I actually got to go to it streaming of it with ABA.
What did what? Did you think?
It blew me away? I mean, I, I mean, it's obviously very sobering film, right for lots of different reasons. But the writer and the research that she did to kind of look at class, the class system versus or the cast system, I should really say, versus just racism. Like I thought it was really powerful and one of those things that make the comversation broader, somehow broader, but then also more defined and clear. Yeah, I was. I was really blown away. I thought it was beautifully done.
I should mention that it's it's it is. It's not a documentary. It's based on a it's an interesting thing. Is it's based on a nonfiction No, yeah, a nonfiction book. But she has kind of taken the writer's story, the writer of that book, and shaped it into a narrative film. But I agree with you. I thought it was just amazing. Anyway, back to Digsy in a pub somewhere in England. I don't know, did we meet in a pub, maybe, you know, twenty years ago in a pub. I mean, I've had people multiple times tell me about encounters that we've had that don't aren't necessary. I'd like to think that we did meet in the pub Digsie, I will. I'm just going to say yes, but yeah, you know, it wouldn't be the first time.
I would be memorable. He seems like a like a good time.
Yeah, yeah, maybe yeah, he does seem like a good time. He does. And you know, first off, I love the UK. I love London. I've spent a lot of time there. I didn't for the whole first part of my my my years, I didn't go to I didn't go to England until I was probably about I don't know it, well into my thirties. And then when I did go, I started going all the time. I did a couple of movies there. I was an X Men First Class. We shot that in London, so I was there for months and months and months, and then also do commercials over there. It's great. I miss it, you know, I haven't been there since the pandemic. And London to me, you know, especially London, is it's like for a New Yorker, it's such a great city because it's a walking city. It's a you know, a subway city or the tube. You know, there's a lot of different kinds of people that you're going to be bumping up against. Everything is kind of moving in this there's this kind of energy to it that really reminds me of New York. And I will go out and walk, literally, I'll go out and walk for four hours. In London, I'll just go and go and go and find, you know, all kinds of cool things, and you know, not really even have a direction. It's hard to have a direction because, you know, because of the way that the you know, the city was constructed back and I guess whatever it was Middle Ages or something like that. I'm not that much of a historian. You know, they just kind of put the houses wherever they were, so, you know, streets, it's very hard to find your way around because each only lasts like a block. It's like the name of a street, you know, it's like Covington Street or something. It's only a block long and then it ends and it has another name and they don't. Yeah, there's no there's no grid, you know, Yeah, there's no grid. Like that's the one different, big difference between Philly and and uh and and uh and and London or New York. In London, you know, you don't have numbered things. I mean it's a little bit like I guess Greenwich Village is a little bit like that, you know, sort of streets kind of intersecting, and but London could be very confusing. Anyway, I love it, And yes, I mean, well you should talk to that, Stacey. Just in terms of six degrees in our our reach.
Yeah, I mean we definitely although you're obviously a Philly Needed and we love Philly Need too, a fair share of work in Philly. Obviously, we reach across the whole United States, and that's really just been because we believe that there's a lot of really great global organizations and we felt like the impact that we could make most intentionally was here in the United States, and a lot of that had to do with like your projects and other people that we work with. You know how we often can kind of tie into that with social impact activations and a lot of them are filmed or when you're touring here in the United States. But with that being said, big fan also of the UK, and we actually have a lot of followers and supporters both that listen to the podcast and it's probably our second biggest market. And then in terms of supporters for six degrees, we have like a really nice chunk of supporters that are actually in the UK. So I've always sawne that fascinating and and I know that you've done some work there as well, so that that definitely helps. But there's some great organizations that do work, you know, in the UK and here in the US, and I think that's probably a way to tie in and see if we can do some greater good. But not opposed to it, for just you know, have been so focused kind of on the US outside of a couple of activations that we did that just went viral, right, Like I think like that I Stay Home for campaign back in twenty twenty was something that we couldn't even envisioned at the time would have went so global. But we were all experiencing a pandemic and everyone was being asked by their governments to do the same thing, right, And so that was one of those exceptions to kind of our work transcending the borders. But yeah, the UK is a very cool place and definitely very socially conscious and they do a lot of great.
Work for sure, for sure. But I'm you know, obviously, Dixie, you must be listening to the podcast if you know, you know, came up with a question. So that's awesome. I'm glad that we're reaching there and and thank you, thank you for reaching out. And it's good good to hear from my friends on the other side of the pond. Okay, so we got another question here. I think I will read this one. Okay. So this is Linda Glenn and what she says is every Halloween they play the old scary movies. You were on Friday the thirteenth. You wore speedos when everyone else wore shorts, and you dove into the water when everyone else jumped in. Did the directors tell you to do this? There's one shot in your speedos that doesn't leave much to the imagination. I love your work. Oh boy, wow, all right, let's see how do I respond to this. Well, first off, let me say, Linda, you know, in the eighties speedos were much more common. No, this was actually the seventies that I think about it, I mean, I think we shot that this one in the in the seventies. Uh. You know, when I was I used to have I remember after school i'd have to go to the Why my mother made me go to the y and takes swimming lessons, which I just hated. Was like the middle of winter and you'd have to I'd have to walk down the street and go to the why. But we always had tiny little bathing suits that that was just what. That was, just what bathing suits were. And when you watch the Olympics, of course those guys all wear speedos, but they've just become so out now, you know, nobody, nobody goes to the beach and wears a speedo. I mean maybe they do, now, maybe some people do, but yeah, yeah in Europe, Yeah, right, in Europe they do. That's true. That's true. Yeah, it's just not an American thing, you know. So that so I'm guessing that you're could be wrong, but I'm guessing you're probably a lot younger than me, and so that must look, you know, kind of weird to see that in an old movie. The other thing about it is that, you know, at this point in my life, I can kind of like pick my costumes a little bit more. There's a costume designer, but of course, you know, I have some input. But when I was doing Friday the Thirteenth, I'm just starting now. I just put on what they gave me. You know, it wasn't like I was going to say, oh no, no creative choices there I went board shorts that would not have you know, they would have said shut up, get into your speedo immediately. I'll tell you the other funny thing about that scene that I remember. Now, this is a very low budget movie Friday the Thirteenth, which is part of why it ended up being, you know, such a hit and starting this kind of slasher you know a lot of slasher movies that were made after that. You know, they spent so little money on it, and it's made so much money that everybody in Hollywood went, oh my god, this is this is the golden ticket, right, we just will spend nothing and we'll make a boatload of money. And uh, that movie was shot in New Jersey and it was like October. So if you look at the lake that were jumping in, the leaves are changing around the around the thing. So it was for reezing. I mean, none of us wanted to get into the water. And it was absolutely I mean I thought we were, you know, going to get hypothermia. In fact, I think maybe some some kid might have really gotten I don't know, I can't remember, but I just remember it was. It felt it felt almost dangerous, but it was. It was so cold, but we had to of course pretend that we were it was hot, and we were frolicking, and you know, they had big lake.
And then you chose to dive in.
I chose to dive in. By the way, this is another thing that Linda is pointing out inadvertently, is that I remember a few years ago there was like a meme of how bad my dive was because to say, I'm I'm not a diver by any stretch of the imagination, but I could have done better, or they could have given me another shot, or you know. But I think the whole thing was that our hair was supposed to be dry or something like that. So so we had to do it in one take. I don't know. We didn't get multiple takes. But my dive is absolutely terrible. If anybody wants to, you know, go back and look at it. You could see a very small bathing suit and a very bad dive. You know. That's that's what that's my memory of of of that movie.
And you were the first person to be killed, right, and that was that.
Uh, Like I don't I'm not sure. I think I don't know it's been to say that. I haven't seen it in about forty years, but probably you.
Know, it's like having you jump in like that is like an intentional thing to be like this, this dude's getting killed, you know, like.
Well, right, but I'll tell you what is yes, that. But the other thing is there was such a trope in horror movies that continued forever, and that was that if you did sex, if you had sex or did drugs, you were definitely gonna die. That was like number one because they always had this slightly kind of skewed morality to them, you know. And by the way, I love horror. I mean, you know, it's been good to me, and you know, I'm I'm a fan. I'm a consumer of it myself. But you know, in the in the seventies, certainly there was a an idea of like, you know, the trashy, especially the trashy girls. You know, they're gonna they're gonna get it, you know. And in Friday the thirteenth, I h had sex and smoked a joint. So the floor they there was no way, yeah, yeah, there was no way I was surviving. So the combination of the speedo and the marijuana and the and the sex meant that I wasn't gonna stick around in that movie for very long. No, not at all, Not at all.
Yeah, I mean I had an older brother and sister six and eight years older than me. I have an older brother and sister, and they were watching horror movies. And I remember like sneaking into the living room when they were having sleepovers or staying up to like watch horror movies. So I was watching horror way too young. But my brother had this Freddy Cougar Krueger like poster on the outside of his bedroom door. Why I don't know why on the outside not the inside. And as a kid, I would always run down the hallway and like I had to pass his room to get to the main part of the house, and I remember just like bolting as a kid, and I'm like, why did my parents just say, like, no, we kinda take that down. They're like put it on the inside of the door, you know. But it's like a vivid memory of just like.
I don't know, Like, I don't know why they didn't do that. They should have have no idea. They definitely so that's sad. Poor little Stacy running down the hall past Freddy Krueger. That breaks my ar.
I mean for like a long time, I feel like it. I'm sure if I asked man will now She's like, no, No, that's like it was like a week or two, right, But in my memory it was like all of my childhood. I was running past Freddy Krueger.
Oh Man, that's funny. Running from Freddy. Yeah, like like running many exactly like many before you and since wow.
The next clip that we're going to play is from a caller. Her name is Alexandra, and she called in about an organization that is really close to her art, So we'll play that now.
Hey, Kevin, my name is Alexandra, and I have absolutely loved your podcast so far. I love listening to the guests and listening to their stories. I love listening and learning on how I can be an active citizen. I really enjoyed that episode with well, both episodes with Mark Bruffalo and Matthew McConaughey, they were fantastic. I think it would be really great to shed a light on the special Olympics and maybe talk to Timothy Shreigrin. It's an organization that I have been volunteering with for nearly a decade and they just do such wonderful things, and involunteering with them, I always smile, and I feel like we could all use some smile. So I think it would be really awesome if you all shed a light on them.
So yeah, I heard the name Shreiver, and obviously I was like, hmm, I wonder if this is if he's related to Maria Schreiber. And fun fact that I was not aware of it. There's a really rich history about the Special Olympics. And it was actually founded by Kennedy Did you know that.
I had no idea. I had no idea. Wow, that's so fascinating. Yeah, when was it?
So it was back in nineteen sixty eight, So it was actually JFK's sister. Okay, you nice Kennedy Schreiber, and she's really a pioneer, and it was and it was founded in Chicago. I think that's when they had their first one. It was like the summer of nineteen sixty eight, which I thought was just a really fascinating fact. And we did try to reach out to the Special Olympics and Timothy Shreiver himself. We talked to their team. There was a lot of travel on their schedule. So we'll definitely share anything that we get along the way and we'll drop it in the show notes.
But yeah, cool, Yeah.
The Special Olympics, what I kind of found most fascinating and looking more into them is, you know, they they're very similar to the Olympic Games in that way they have like that every four years, so they'll have like a Summer Olympics and a Winter Olympics, and they'll stagger them so that every two years there's one or the other. Okay, so it's like mirrored in that type of way. And I know, obviously that's an inclusion piece, right, so that these athletes can take part in a very similar kind of Olympic tournament to really showcase their talent every every four years. But they also kind of kick off with that torch, you know, with the iconic torch ceremony where you see people.
Do they use the same song? Do they use the same song? They do? They do? They do?
But they THEIRS is led and so you know, we have kind of different leaders and icons and that sort of thing globally that participate. THEIRS is led by law enforcement specifically, and law enforcement uses it as a fundraiser to really raise funds and awareness for the Special Olympic Games, which I thought was really really cool.
That's so cool, that's so cool. Yeah, I mean, the Special Olympics are incredible. I mean, when you think about it, it's just, uh, it's just a germ of an idea. Was just such an interesting idea, you know. And I think that probably you know, the what the Special Olympics did was probably more impactful in terms of people, uh, in terms of you know, like sharing and opening people's minds to our fellow humans who are you know, neuro divergent in some way, you know what I mean, And and that must have really I just think it's I think it's just been I think it's really kind of like in some ways probably you know, changed a lot of people's thinking and a lot of stuff, you know, in this world. And the other thing about it is, you think I'd love to hear like how much it's grown, because when you think about nineteen sixty eight just in Chicago, you know, it's probably like a tiny little thing. I would think. You know, now it's global, right, global.
Super global. They're in one hundred and ninety countries I was reading, So it is truly a global.
Movement in ninety countries.
Wow, And I mean you think about that. And this is a cause that knows no border right or ethnicity or age group. Like any person can you know, be connected to somebody that has either disability or those that, like you said, are neurodivergent. And this opportunity, I think, to inspire people to say yes, they can and should be able to participate in the Athletic Games just like anyone else is extremely important because it's not just promoting inclusion. But what I loved most about the organization is that they really are focused on more acceptance and respect. So it takes it further than just like Okay, let's make a space and include them in this conversation or inclusion them in this opportunity, but like, no, we should also respect them and their should mean acceptance. And they really do a lot of this work through young people. So they have what they call the Unified Champion Schools and a Global Youth Activation Committee, and so these are young people in Shooter heights and high schools that are really taking part in the games and fundraising and supporting them and really educating like their fellow students and others on the importance of it, which I think is powerful because when things start with young people, we know from our work, it can just be something that really resonates with with more people and it can kind of go the distance.
Yeah, that is super powerful. I mean also the fact that it it has to do not just with how many medals does your country get, you know, which can kind of lean into a little of this sort of nationalism, you know, sometimes in a good way, sometimes in a weird way, and winning and losing and you know, bronzing and silver ring and all that kind of stuff. But you know, it has a it's got an actual, you know, social conscience, and I think that's that's really cool. Do we know when the Special Olympics is? When it's is this in twenty twenty four or is it in twenty.
Twenty Okay, that's that's a really good question.
We should find out, I bet you. I'm sure if we go to Special Olympics dot Org. I'm just gonna throw it out there. Maybe I'm wrong, but you know, right, I'm guessing there's a way to find out.
So yeah, definitely put that information yeah, in the show notes both the next Summer Olympics and Winter Olympics. Something that you know, you hear about the Special Olympics a lot, but I am. I live right in you know, outside of Washington, d C. And Fair Facts where we're actually headquartered, held a Special Olympics just a couple of years ago, I want to say. So I know that they have them kind of all over the world, so we'll definitely put that in the notes. They're always looking for volunteers and people that can come alongside them to like like any Olympic games, right, They're just they need so many people to help pull this off, and so we'll share that information as well. But clearly a really great organization to support, to get involved in. And the great thing is that there's kind of chapters and supportive volunteer associations all over the world, so you should be able to connect wherever you are, which is you know, really really special.
That is great, very very special, so to speak. That was fun. I really enjoyed that. Thank you to Christopher Dingley also known as Digsie calling all the way from the UK with with his question, and thank you also to Linda Glenn with her slightly inappropriate question about Friday the thirteenth, and also to Alexandra to wrap with us about the Special Olympics. I'm having a lot of fun with these ask Kevin almost anything questions, and this has definitely fallen into that category, so keep sending them in. You know. We were having a good time doing this and Stacy, once again, thanks for hanging out with me.
Happy to you see you next time. Hey guys, it's Stacy again. So after that last episode, we actually did hear back from the Special Olympics and the CEO, Mary Davis, wanted to send a note about what the Special Olympics means to her and so many others around the world. Listen in.
My name is Mary Davis. I'm the CEO of Special Olympics International, and I started out in nineteen seventy eight as a volunteer with Special Olympics program in Ireland. I then went on to become the first National Director of Special Olympics Ireland. We also host did a Were Games, first time the Games were held outside of the United States in two thousand and three, and I was the chief Executive of the organizing committee for those Games. After that, I went on to become the President and Managing Director of Special Olympics C Europe Eurasia, and from there got the call to come to headquarters in Washington to be the Global CEO. So here I am today.
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