People Kevin Bacon - Interview The Deauville festival starts…. In Paris. Philippine Dautun met the star of Hollow Man at the Plaza Athenee, just moments before he jumped into a limo to regain the Norman shores. Dressed in jeans and a tee-shirt, Bacon is as understated as he is modest. Yet since Footloose, the 38 year old has become one of most acclaimed bad guys of the box office. P.D: Have you ever had fantasies about being invisible? K.B: Well, as kid I wanted to be invisible so I could see naked women. I’ve seen naked women in the flesh since, so … Now I dream more of anonymity. A lot of good things that come from being successful as an actor, but one of the things that I pine for is to be able to deserve the world without the world staring back at you. I just don’t have that anymore. But I think invisibility would be a very lonely and miserable place to be. I think in a strange way the movie is about how you get seduced and intoxicated by that power. P.D: You kept a diary on the set? K.B:It was my publicist’s idea. I went out for the first round: body mould, cyber scanning… I came back and told him what happenned, and he said :»you know, you really should keep a diary of this.» I don’t think of myself as a writer. I had a really hard time writing, because I’m dyslesic. But it became a therapeutic tool. It was helpful to me to be able to put some of these thoughts down, basically to complain. I don’t really like to complain on the set, and I think I needed an outlet. B.D: Was it the very situation, with all the technical makeup, that made you want to complain? K.B: The physical part was a big part of it. Honestly I feel like I could handle a lot physically, but as the movie progressed, I felt less and less like I was doing my job as an actor. Being an actor is what I do for a living; but I felt more like a puppet. As the guy sort of transcends and becomes more of a monster there’s less and less dialogue, and I was constantly being painted again; I felt it was chipping away at me psychologically. But probably the hardest element of all was that L. A. has always been and remains a location for me; I live in New York and I’ve always lived in New York. When my children were young enough, we would just pack up everything and go. But they are eleven and eight now, and have put their roots down, and my wife was working back in NY. There was a lot going on that I was struggling with. P.D: When you saw the film for the first time, with all its special effects, did you actually think «this me suffering » ? K.B: Yes. I was really astounded with the movie. When I was making it, there was only so much of it that I could see. I consciously waited, because I really wanted to have the full impact, and I think it is as good effects wise as anything that has ever been done. I don’t think you realise the extent of detail that goes in to taking a body and peeling away the flesh and organs working inside. The skeletal system and the muscles are all on top of each other. It’s a pretty amazing thing. P.D: Were you interested in the scientific issues? K.B: God, no! I’m an actor. I don’t have a scientific bone in my body. P.D: What about the philosophy behind the movie? K.B: I don’t know if it’s philosophical … Just like science, philosophy isn’t a strong point of mine…(he laughs) I don’t know, what would the philosophical metaphor be? I think possibly the message could be that they should of taken the hint that they screwed around with the forces of nature, and that it was going to have a tragic outcome. P.D: You remember the first words you said in the movie? K.B: I’m a genius. That’s at the heart of who the guy is: a megalomaniac. He’s got a huge ego. I think there are some simlarities between the character and a young film director. Making films is like a big, expensive toy. To be able to direct a film