Kevin Bacon has book on his promise to return to the Utah high school where his iconic 1984 film “Footloose” was filmed.
Bacon appeared at Payson High School on Saturday, months after students at the school launched the #BacontoPayson social media campaign. As part of the effort, students recreated movie scenes and choreographed videos in hopes of attracting the actor’s attention to appear at the school’s prom.
Payson High School is expected to move at the end of the school year.
“When I first heard about this story from Bacon to Payson, I was like, ‘Wow, that’s crazy.’ But you were all tireless,” Bacon said Saturday in his speech on the school’s football field, according to ABC7. “You have convinced me.”
Bacon said he appreciated the student’s commitment.
As part of Payson High School’s efforts to bring Bacon back to campus, they have committed to creating 5,000 essential resource kits to help its Sixdegrees.org foundation, which benefits underserved and underresourced communities. The organization aims to package and distribute up to 40,000 kits as part of its “Free40” initiative.
In his speech Saturday, Bacon thanked the students for “turning what could be just a movie star coming back to get a pat on the back into something really positive.”
Bacon received an honorary diploma from Payson High School, posed for photos with students and even swung by his locker during his visit, according to a video posted on Bacon’s. Instagram Saturday stories.
“Footloose” was released in 1984 and starred Bacon as a teenager who moves to a small town that bans dancing, a measure he works to reverse. The film ends with a prom which, after 40 years, is apparently still the perfect place to break free.
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