my guest tonight has appeared in
numerous films including Footloose
Mystic River and JFK and now you can see
him in the Showtime suit very city on a
hill thrilled he's joining us please
welcome our friend Kevin Bacon Kevin how
are you I'm doing okay how are you
handling the the quarantine situation
are you finding that you are doing
things now that you've never done before
uh yeah I definitely am finding that I'm
doing things I've never done before you
know I've done a certain amount of
cleaning in my life but the truth is is
that now we're in this situation where
clearly we don't have anybody to you
know to help us with the cleaning we
clean all day long we do it dawn till
dusk the laundry I just I literally just
clean the toilets before I put put on my
jacket
and it's happening Kevin that's
something that's something we didn't
need to know okay I wash my hands within
an inch of their life believe I love
that I love it on your to-do list it
said one clean toilet to talk to Conan
you're in this situation I think I'm in
this situation to where if you go out in
the world people usually want a selfie
you're probably finding that that has
kind of gone away it's hey Oprah itself
is over yeah you know I listen we were
taking a walk the other day this was
actually about probably about two weeks
ago and cura said to me hey have you
noticed that nobody stops you for
selfies anymore I said yeah that's
social distancing yeah no it's it's but
also I feel like even before all this
happened in our other lives I have the
kind of face that says he looks sad I
want to go take a picture with him
whereas you being in the movie business
you can
sometimes probably have more of that you
know that thing Jack Nicholson has where
he can he can his very expression can
mean don't come near me
do you know what I mean which I've never
mastered that I don't have that but do
you have that you were able to do that
sometimes I do and I don't even really
know and I'm not even it's not really
even something that I'm consciously
aware of what my kids and my wife will
tell me that I have this kind of like
you know don't it'sit's like built-in
social distancing in my face do you
think that maybe that comes from your
filly side I know that you're originally
filly is tough and sometimes you
probably are able to access on a genetic
level your filly side of Kevin Bacon I
think that's true filly definitely has a
kind of life don't mess with me
sorta vibe and and certainly you know
growing up there were times when really
not out of any kind of courage but
really out of terror I would have to put
that face on if I was walking around in
the hopes that I was gonna you know
stable attack hey if it works for you if
you can if you have a face that can
defend you you I don't have that do you
ever slip into a Philly accent when
you're talking to people oh yeah my
friends will tell me what what just
happened how come you're talking like
that all of a sudden you're going like
what what what's going on with you yeah
I do
it's a weird accent because nobody
really does it you know like people
don't do you you don't grow up hearing
it in movies you know you hear Boston
you hear New York everyone grew up with
you know whatever The Godfather and you
know all the Scorsese stuff but Philly
is like rarely rarely done and I was
like to have a conversation between two
guys where he's going uh hey where are
you going for lunch I'm going on wha wha
what are you gonna get I don't know
Logan a coat really what kind what kind
of hug on the cheesesteak hug maybe um
peppers and onions whoa what you you're
drinking coke no I mean diet what I
you want to diet now I'm not a dying
just drink and Diet Coke there's a movie
right there
that is the opening scene whenever I
hear a Boston accent in a movie cuz I
grew up in Boston I'm shocked at how
many times it sounds like a cartoon
caricature of a Boston accent like the
perfect storm
there's a part where the ships heading
into the storm and I think some woman
says he's headed into the jaws of the
monster and I'm just like oh my god
Amina fiying in the storm
that's enough I've done probably six
Boston characters and I'm doing a Boston
character now and I can tell you that I
I have given myself over to the reality
that no matter how good your Boston
accent is people from Boston are never
gonna like it
now it's just it's just that's just a
thing and like there was a time when I
was kind of like well maybe you know
maybe I'll be able to make the people of
the Greater Boston area happy this time
and I thought I finally just gave up and
said well I'll just you know I just got
to do it the people of Boston don't want
to be happy they're not looking for that
I'm just curious of all the roles that
you've played is there one that you hear
about the most or that has changed your
life the most um well you know I it's
funny because I I think there's a couple
of like kind of turning points you know
certainly footless was a big turning
point for me and then I got this part in
JFK and that really was when it came out
I felt a real shift and I think the
shift was that it was such a strong
character and people and I had always
thought of myself as a character actor
but I think because of Footloose people
kind of thought of me as like a you know
pretty boy kind of you know pops mark
yeah and and it's not really who I am
you know and so JFK was really important
to get people sight reciting lines from
that movie to you
yeah people say lies to me from movies
that I don't even remember sometimes
they'll go like hey pass the salt and
I'll be like I don't even know what
you're talking about
we all remember you and pass the salt
JFK was was crazy we had the scene where
it's very I mean I used a lot of really
foul language
okay we're on we're on a zoom right now
so yeah right okay back then there was
the airline looping that you had to do
with you you had to find the phrase that
will fit with your lips for every single
curse that you would do and and it was
always this kind of challenging sort of
thing and I'll never forget there's a
scene where I'm talking to Kevin Costner
and I'm saying you don't know mr.
garcin because you've never been and
yeah I mean if you look at my lips it's
like I mean it's kind of like hot what
are you gonna put in there and we're
sitting around on a looping stage and
everyone's like what could it be
and the first thing we have to change is
the so that has to become squat
right that's an easy one sure yeah it's
pretty tough to figure out so I ended up
saying you don't know squat much the gas
cuz you've never been loved by man you
ever see the clean version of mr.
garrison cuz you never had to mow the
grass like let's talk about city on a
hill you got a giant moustache for this
project I know that you guys are
probably held up right now on production
but does the moustache it clearly comes
off when you're not working well yeah
it's what it looked like it was gonna be
a while before we were gonna be back at
work and you know I did this weird thing
where I shaved it and then started to
let it grow back right and it makes no
sense at all but if you remember you
no back in the old days there was the
same where if you light a cigarette then
the bus comes because it means that
you're never going to get to finish so
that was my mentality my dream is that
we go back into production and our crew
has their jobs back and and and and
we've you know tried we've we've come
out of the other side of this thing
before my moustache is ready that's my
dream that's okay it was a weird sort of
like roll of the dice I'm gonna I'm
gonna take it off and plus my wife you
know listen dog lovers she she is very
very supportive of whatever thing I have
to be doing with my hair or my face or
whatever but I you know it's kind of
tough for her to live with a porn stache
for like six months
look it starts off as very erotic
and then the mystery fades let's face it
yeah now let's talk about this great I
stay home for campaigning that you're
doing which has really caught on tell us
how that got started you know it became
pretty clear to me pretty quickly that
the one thing that the virus really
really didn't like at this point was
social distancing and and being you know
us isolating ourselves so we came up
with this hashtag I stay home for and it
was a very simple idea which was just
I've just held up a poster and said I
stay home for kyra sedgwick because the
idea is that you know you can feel okay
but you can go out and somebody can get
sick and somebody else can get sick and
that person could be connected and
connected and connected to somebody that
you really care about you know whether
someone's your grandmother or child
or whatever and you know this is a
frustrating situation because we we want
to have something that we can do and
there are a lot of people who are doing
heroic work who can't stay home medical
workers and and and first responders and
even you know the mailman and them and
the people that are delivering food etc
etc but for those of us that they can't
stay home this seemed like a pretty
simple thing that we could try to do
and the other piece of it is that the
reason that I was the sort of youth like
became the kind of face of it initially
is just because of the six degrees of
Kevin Bacon because I've always felt
that you need to take me out of the game
like if you take if the game has nothing
to do with me which it really doesn't
it's really the idea that we are
connected and the coronavirus is kind of
a terrifying example of that yeah but on
the other hand we see now that the
connections between people are really
really very powerfully and and we're all
really hungry for that I don't know
about you but you know I'm spending time
sumen with my family reaching out to
people that I haven't spoken to for a
really long time checking in checking in
checking in because even though we're
isolated we're hungry for connections
yeah well what I'm doing is I've been
I'm having my manager call everybody and
I'm told they're all doing really well
but no I know what you mean I'm I'm
doing the exact same thing I think we're
all doing that now and I wanted to throw
in my support for your campaigns I think
it's a really cool idea what I'm
supposed to do is write out hashtag I
stay home for my first draft was also
kyra sedgwick she's already been done I
know I understood that you have some
connection with her that I see I guess
is more important than mine I don't
personally get it I just want to say my
parents I stay home from my parents
because I you know my parents are up
there and that's who I think about in
this time in this crisis I'm staying
home and I want to encourage other
people to stay home because I want to
keep people of that generation safe
because you're the most vulnerable so to
me that is dirt bank for there are they
they're doing well so far
and they really love that I'm staying
away from them that's their favorite
part because
they have a lot of kids and I was never
the favorite so let me make sure I
mentioned that season 1 of city on a
hill is available on Showtime on demand
and there's never been a better time to
catch up on these great shows that are
out there on streaming it is a golden
age of streaming city on a hill is
terrific so check it out now while
you're sitting at home waiting for your
post mates delivery and join in on the
hashtag I stay home for campaign on
social media and you can learn more
about Kevin's philanthropic work at six
degrees dot org it's organization that's
doing a lot of good Kevin thank you very
much for doing this but it is so much
for having me and you know hopefully
next time we see each other it won't be
on zip I'm told I actually looked better
and zoom this might be the way you
prefer to talk to me next time so thank
you for being here Kevin and take care
of yourself and my best to Kiera back at
Simon