Kevin Bacon

IX DEGREES OF KEVIN BACON JUST GOT EVEN EASIER BECAUSE HE’S GOT two big projects coming out this summer: the third season of Showtime’s (July 31) and the film (Peacock, August 5). “I feel a very strong need to humanize the character, regardless of what is “incredibly corrupt and has a very dark side to him,” which Bacon says he got instantly. “I read it, and I saw him. It all just kind of came to me. It doesn’t always happen that way.” Meanwhile, Bacon’s character in the horror filmis equally dark: the director of a gay conversion therapy camp. He says director/writer John Logan chose the genre “because it is a horror.” Bacon recalls Logan telling him “he wanted a kid who is feeling either closeted or bullied to look at the film and be like, ‘F*ck yeah, that’s me. Let’s kick some a**.’” Even though “message” films have “never been” Bacon’s thing, “in this case, if there’s a moment like that for a kid out there, then I would be very proud of that.”