Early on in Sarah Jessica Parker’s career, the Sex and the City star received a supporting turn
in the 1984 classic Footloose which meant quite a bit for her future. Of course, the
star of that film was Kevin Bacon, who had just recently come off of filming the successful film,
Diner. Sarah was a big fan of Diner and Kevin’s role in it and found herself star-struck
upon starring in Footloose with the actor. Though Sarah didn’t play Kevin’s main love
interest in the film, fans have noticed that there is some considerable romantic
chemistry between the two whenever they are on the screen together. Join Facts Verse as
Sarah Jessica Parker and Kevin Bacon’s chemistry in Footloose finally makes sense.
Sarah Jessica Parker Had a Crush on Kevin Bacon For more than two decades, Sarah Jessica Parker
has been married to fellow Hollywood star Matthew Broderick. However, before marrying Matthew,
there were a few other notable figures that the actress dreamed about spending her life with.
Sarah got involved with Matthew Broderick after breaking up with Robert Downey Jr.,
but, before that, the actress found herself head over heels in love with Kevin Bacon
while the two were filming the movie Footloose.
Sarah Jessica Parker was only 19 years old at the time that she received her supporting
role in Footloose as the character of Rusty Rodriguez. The role was only a supporting one,
though it meant quite a bit to the fledgling actress as it was the most significant
role that she had received up until that point in her career. Previously, Sarah had been best
known for portraying one of the main characters on the short-lived television series Square Pegs.
While Sarah Jessica Parker was a relative unknown in the entertainment industry at the time that she
received the role of Rusty Rodriguez in Footloose, the film’s main star was anything but! Of course,
the leading actor in Footloose was Kevin Bacon, who had previously risen to superstardom thanks
to his appearance in 1982’s Diner, which had been a massive hit for writer and director
Barry Levinson. It was Kevin’s successful turn in Diner that made director Herbert Ross convinced
that the star was the right man for Footloose, even though he wasn’t a professional dancer.
Sarah Jessica Parker Saw Diner 11 Times At the time that he agreed to take on his
Footloose role, Kevin Bacon already had many, many adoring fans on account of his role in the
aforementioned film Diner. One of those fans just so happened to be starring with him in
the new picture! 19-year-old Sarah Jessica Parker was apparently just as big of a fan of Diner and
Kevin Bacon’s role in it as anybody else, with the actress claiming that she saw the film 11
times while it was still out in theaters. Sarah’s favorite aspect of the film was Kevin himself,
and she would cut pictures of him out of magazines and put them on her wall. When she found
out that she was going to be starring with her celebrity crush in a new movie, she freaked out!
As a result of her increasing infatuation with him, Sarah Jessica Parker did everything that she
could during the filming of Footloose in order to get as close as possible to Kevin Bacon. One of
the ways that the anxious teenager went about trying to get close to the star
was by knocking on the door of his motel room every morning in order to ask him if he wanted
her to pick him up some groceries on her bicycle. The majority of Footloose’s cast and crew were
staying at a location by the name of Rodeway Inn, and this included both Sarah Jessica Parker and
Kevin Bacon. Sarah would ride her bike to a nearby Albertson’s every morning to pick herself
up some groceries, but she was really only doing this as a means to get close to Kevin.
In order to ensure that Kevin never figured out exactly what her motives were,
Sarah Jessica Parker also knocked on the doors of every other cast and crew member staying at
the motel in order to ask if they needed groceries. This seems like a whole lot of
effort to try and get attention from a man who didn’t even reciprocate your feelings,
but this is the kind of thing that happens when you’re young and in love on a film set!
Sarah Jessica Parker claims that she was so head over heels in love with
Kevin Bacon that she would’ve done just about anything for her Footloose costar.
Sadly, it seems like the only thing Kevin wanted her to do was mind her own business!
Kevin was involved in a serious relationship at the time, and it’s uncertain if the actor
was ever even made aware of just how in love with him Sarah supposedly was. Thankfully,
Sarah was able to move on and find love with Matthew Broderick. If you’re enjoying this
video so far, be sure to hit the like button to show your support! Also, subscribe to the channel
if you’d like to be among the first to know when more Facts Verse videos are on their way!
Sarah Claims That It’s Easy to Fall in Love on Film Sets
Sarah Jessica Parker revealed the truth about the way she felt towards Kevin Bacon
on the set of Footloose during an interview with famous shock jock
Howard Stern. Of course, Howard went on to become curious if Sarah had ever developed
similar feelings for any of the other notable male costars that she’s had since.
Following Sarah’s supporting turn in Footloose, the actress went on to become a superstar. Of
course, the actress is best known nowadays for her role in the 1998 HBO series Sex and the City.
According to Sarah Jessica Parker, she has never fallen in love with another one of
her costars on a film shoot besides Kevin Bacon, though she can understand why actors
and actresses falling in love during filming is so common! Sarah says that the sets of films can
oftentimes be otherworldly environments. When these otherworldly environments are combined
with the generally demanding schedules that actors and actresses are forced to
maintain during film shoots, this can lead to some fairly intense bonding!
Though Sarah Jessica Parker claims that any actor and actress can fall in love on the set of a film
set, she likely wouldn’t have fallen in love with the lead of Footloose if it had been anyone
besides Kevin Bacon. There were many people that were considered for the role of Ren McCormack,
which was Kevin Bacon’s character’s name in the film. One other person who was seriously
considered for the role was Rob Lowe. Rob Lowe apparently made it all the way to dancing
auditions for the role, but things turned sour when it came time for the actor to perform Ren’s
signature knee slide in front of the producers. Though Rob had taken the audition incredibly
seriously and had apparently practiced his dancing routine for several weeks beforehand, he ended
up messing up so badly while performing the dance move that he tore a ligament in one of his knees!
Kevin Bacon Was Meant for the Part of Ren Rob Lowe wasn’t a professional dancer, though he
had tried his absolute best to impress Footloose’s producers and secure the part of Ren McCormack for
himself. After he injured his knee, the producers let Rob down easy by telling him that they were
deciding to go with a professional dancer for the part of Ren. This was meant to make
Rob feel that he wouldn’t have gotten the role whether he had injured his knee or not, and it
certainly made the actor feel quite a bit better as he was lying in his hospital bed. However,
this nice feeling abated when he received the news only a short time later that Kevin Bacon, who was
no more of a professional dancer than he was, had received Footloose’s lead role. Thankfully, the
painkillers that Rob was on at the time that he received the news helped the loss
go down a lot easier. Rob would go on to appear in the 1985 hit, St. Elmo’s Fire.
Kevin Bacon wasn’t a professional
dancer when he received the part of Ren McCormack in Footloose, so he knew that he was going to have
to work incredibly hard to do the part justice. Kevin worked tirelessly to perfect his dance moves
for the film and ended up being very disappointed when the filmmakers decided to use stunt doubles
for many of Ren’s more difficult dance moves. Kevin believed that he had what it took to do the
dance moves, but the filmmakers thought that they would look better on camera using stunt doubles.
Another thing that Kevin Bacon supposedly did in preparation for his role in Footloose was
go undercover at a Utah high school. Kevin was 23 years old at the time,
and he felt far enough removed from the high-school experience that he needed a refresher
course. Kevin went undercover as a transfer student, and the only people in the entire school
who knew who he really was were the principal and guidance counselor. During the very first day,
Kevin Bacon got so badly bullied by his new peers that he ended up leaving.
Sarah Almost Didn’t Receive the Role of Rusty Besides Kevin Bacon almost not receiving the role
of Ren in Footloose, Sarah Jessica Parker also almost didn’t receive the role of Rusty. Sarah had
been offered the part, but producers wanted her to cut her hair short and dye it red. Given that
Sarah had just come off of a tenure performing the musical Annie on stage where she had been
forced to do the exact same thing, the actress wasn’t interested in repeating the process.
She turned down the role, though the producers ended up calling her just a few days before
filming saying that the actress they had hired to replace her bailed out. Since they were desperate,
the producers allowed Sarah to play the role of Rusty without making changes to her hair.
If anyone has ever wondered why Kevin Bacon and Sarah Jessica Parker have so much chemistry in
Footloose, this video hopefully answered the question! Now it’s time to hear from you:
did you know that the lead role in Footloose almost went to Rob Lowe instead of Kevin Bacon
and that supporting actress Sarah Jessica Parker found herself head over heels in
love with Kevin during the picture’s filming? As always, like this video
to show your support, subscribe, and hit the notification
bell if you’d like to be among the first to know when more Facts Verse videos are on their way!