How Kevin Bacon Feels About The 2011 Footloose Remake

Paramount

Craig Brewer's 2011 remake of "Footloose" stars Kenny Wormald as Ren McCormack, the character first played by Kevin Bacon in the 1984 original. Both films take place in a small, cloistered fictional town called Bomont, although Bormont is located in Texas in the 1984 version and Georgia in the remake. Similarly, Ren is from Chicago in "Footloose" (1984) but Boston in Brewer's movie.

Both Bomonts are seemingly overseen by a local preacher named Shaw Moore, who's played by Dennis Quaid in the "Footloose" remake and John Lithgow in the original film. Both versions of Ren likewise fall for the preacher's daughter, the rebellious Ariel (as played by Lori Singer in 1984's "Footloose" and Julianne Hough in the redo), and befriend some locals who explain to him that Bomont has enacted a strict rule against dancing due to one of the town's promising teens being killed in an accident after a late-night dance party. The two films, as one can see, are pretty identical.

The biggest difference between the two iterations of "Footloose" is that the 1984 version was a massive hit, making almost 10 times its $8.2 million budget at the domestic box office. The 2011 remake, by comparison, was a more modest success, making $63.5 million in theaters globally against a $24 million budget. Weirdly, though, the remake actually garnered better reviews and holds a 68% critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 169 reviews. The original film, meanwhile, only has a 55% critical score on the website based on 47 reviews.

As it were, you can count Bacon himself as one of the remake's admirers. Indeed, back in 2011 (as outlets such as The Hollywood Reporter revealed at the time), the actor took to Twitter — now officially known as X — to give the film a thumbs-up. 

Paramount

"Footloose" was Kevin Bacon's earliest hit and is considered one of the best teen movies of the 1980s. In fact, it was such a success that Bacon's other '80s star vehicles paled in comparison. He's always turned in A-level work and chosen interesting projects, but that didn't prevent his subsequent movies from that decade from disappointing (culminating with John Hughes' "She's Having a Baby" flopping in 1988). Bacon's prospects changed in the 1990s, though, thanks to films like "JFK," "A Few Good Men," "Murder in the First" (which features one of his best performances), and "Apollo 13." He made his way back to the top.

The actor clearly didn't resent the "Footloose" remake, either, writing on Twitter/X:

"F-Loose! Just saw it. Congrats to Craig, Kenny, Julianne, Dennis, Andie, Miles, and the rest of the cast. U guys rocked it!"

Those are, to recap, director Craig Brewer and actors Kenny Wormack, Julianna Hough, Dennis Quaid, Andie McDowell (who plays the preacher's wife, Vi), and Miles Teller (who plays Ren's buddy Willard). Bacon, of course, is the face of "Footloose" (1984), so getting his approval must've felt like getting the Pope's blessing to the remake's creatives. Bacon didn't extrapolate any further on the matter, though, merely stating that everyone "rocked it." He didn't seem to become wistful about "Footloose," either, choosing instead, it appears, to work in his own idiom.

The same year that the "Footloose" remake came out, for instance, Bacon played the villainous former Nazi scientist Sebastian Shaw in the hit superhero movie "X-Men: First Class." He was also in 2011's "Crazy, Stupid, Love," the Steve Carell-led rom-com with a great but under-appreciated twist. Bacon was taking the work as it came. He's never been less than terrific.