Kevin Bacon has finally addressed a long-standing rumor about his involvement with the 1990 film “Ghost.” In an interview with Business Insider, Bacon, now 66, clarified that he was never offered the role of Sam Wheat, which ultimately went to the late Patrick Swayze.
“No, I wish,” Bacon said when asked if he had been offered the part. “I don’t think I would’ve turned it down. I mean, I have no memory of that.” He added, “And by the way, the other piece of that is Ghost without Patrick Swayze — I don’t know. It could have gone nowhere.”
“Ghost,” famous for its iconic pottery scene between Swayze and Demi Moore, was the highest-grossing movie of 1990, surpassing other hits like “Home Alone” and “Pretty Woman.” The film also earned Whoopi Goldberg an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role as psychic Oda Mae Brown.
In 2015, Bruce Joel Rubin, the screenwriter of “Ghost,” revealed that the script had been sent to “every major actor in Hollywood who was hot at the time,” but “everybody” turned it down. Rubin mentioned that actors like Harrison Ford, Michael J. Fox, and Paul Hogan all passed on the role. “Harrison Ford said, ‘I read this thing three times and I still don’t get it,’” Rubin told Vanity Fair. He added that many actors “didn’t want to play dead men” and that “when Patrick said yes, he basically saved the movie.”
Bacon, who is currently starring in “MaXXXine,” recently celebrated his 66th birthday with a shirtless selfie on Instagram, captioning it, “This is 66. 🎂.” His wife, Kyra Sedgwick, commented, “Not too shabby! ❤️”
In another interview with Vanity Fair, Bacon shared an amusing anecdote about trying to go incognito in Los Angeles. He had a special effects makeup artist create a prosthetic disguise for him. However, the disguise worked too well. “Nobody recognized me,” Bacon said. “People were kind of pushing past me, not being nice. Nobody said, ‘I love you.’ I had to wait in line to, I don’t know, buy a f–king coffee or whatever. I was like, ‘This sucks. I want to go back to being famous.’”
Despite not being involved in “Ghost,” Bacon has had a prolific career with many standout performances. However, he admits that there are roles he wanted but missed out on. “Being an actor is a lifetime of rejection. It’s a lifetime of getting just close,” he said. One role that stands out to him is from the Coen brothers’ 1997 film “Raising Arizona,” which starred Nicolas Cage. “Part of the reason is because I love the Coen brothers so much,” Bacon said. “They went on to make just so many incredible movies, and I had a meeting with them and completely fucked it up. So that’s the one that resonates with me.”
“Ghost,” directed by Jerry Zucker, starred Swayze as Sam Wheat, a banker who is murdered and becomes a ghost. He tries to save his girlfriend, Molly Jensen (played by Demi Moore), from danger with the help of a psychic named Oda Mae Brown (played by Whoopi Goldberg). In his 2009 memoir “The Time of My Life,” co-written by his wife Lisa Niemi, Swayze mentioned that he felt he was perfect for the role of Sam after reading the script, but Zucker wasn’t initially keen on him. Swayze said that notable actors like Bacon, Alec Baldwin, Tom Cruise, Harrison Ford, and Tom Hanks were all considered for the part. However, Swayze was granted an audition, where he acted out six scenes and convinced Zucker that he was right for the role.
The film went on to become a box office hit, grossing $505.7 million on a $22 million budget. “Ghost” was also nominated for five Academy Awards, with Goldberg winning Best Supporting Actress and Rubin winning Best Original Screenplay.
Despite not turning down a role in “Ghost,” Bacon remains philosophical about the roles that got away. “It’s part of the territory,” he said. “You just have to keep moving forward.”
Source: US Magazine, Business Insider
