Kevin Bacon is having a devil of a good time with 'The Bondsman'

Kevin Bacon surely knows a happening oregon 2 astir catching hell.

In “Footloose,” the 1984 movie that catapulted him to stardom, Bacon played a rebellious Chicago younker named Ren who moves to a tiny municipality and clashes with a strict spiritual person who has banned dancing and stone music.

In “The Bondsman,” present streaming connected Prime Video, Hub Halloran, his latest character, has a antithetic dilemma. The crusty bounty huntsman was murdered during an attempted bust, but is resurrected by Satan and fixed a caller assignment: tracking down demons who person escaped from Hell.

Bacon is having a devil of a bully clip playing him. He was sold aft fearfulness mogul Jason Blum, who is an enforcement producer, sent him the aviator publication flavored with generous doses of gore, Southern-fried acheronian wit and foul language.

“As soon arsenic I work it, I texted him and said ‘I’m in,’ ” said Bacon during a video interrogation past week from New York. “The dependable and code of this satellite was thing I felt was antithetic and had not seen before.”

In “The Bondsman,” Kevin Bacon plays Hub Halloran, a bounty huntsman who is murdered and past resurrected by Satan.

(Tina Rowden / Prime Video)

The seasoned histrion has seen a batch during his decades-long vocation arsenic 1 of Hollywood’s astir respected and prolific actors. His voluminous resume spans cinematic touchstones (“A Few Good Men,” “JFK,” “Apollo 13,”), cult favorites (“Wild Things”), comedies (“Diner,” “Crazy Stupid Love”) and fearfulness (“MaXXXine,” “Flatliners” and the archetypal “Friday the 13th”).

The bid is the latest denotation that though helium is closing successful connected the large 7-0, the 66-year-old Bacon is not slowing down immoderate clip soon. In summation to “The Bondsman” and a slate of aboriginal endeavors, there’s his Instagram wherever his 4.5 cardinal followers drawback witty, philharmonic clips of him and his histrion wife, Kyra Sedgwick, and different household members.

One caller reel showed Bacon and Sedgwick enjoying a nighttime connected the municipality successful Manhattan. “OK, truthful wherefore are we here?” Sedgewick asks. Bacon replies, “OK, I cognize a batch of the clip it’s astir me, me, me. But present we are successful Times Square, it’s day night, we’re going to spell to the theater. So, honey, tonight, it’s each astir you.” The camera past zooms successful connected a monolithic billboard promoting “The Bondsman.”

Over the decades, his relentless thrust has continually propelled him to caller heights. When asked however helium would specify his vocation astatine this juncture, Bacon winced a small bit, saying it isn’t thing helium does excessively often.

“I’m conscionable trying to enactment 1 ft successful beforehand of the different and support moving. If I’m not creating thing oregon being creative, it’s hard for maine to cognize what to bash with myself,” helium said. “I’m doing it due to the fact that I emotion to bash it and I privation the accidental to bash more. I would conscionable say, ‘The Bondsman’ is different chapter, different amusive gig and different accidental to enactment successful the shoes of idiosyncratic antithetic than me.”

“If I’m not creating thing oregon being creative, it’s hard for maine to cognize what to bash with myself,” Kevin Bacon said.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

And Hub is markedly different. Besides puzzling implicit his woody with the devil, he’s besides trying to repair his strained narration with his ex-wife, aspiring state vocalist Maryanne (Jennifer Nettles) and his teen lad Cade (Maxwell Jenkins). Meanwhile, Maryanne’s caller beau Lucky (Damon Herriman) is trying to termination him.

“Hub is the hero, but he’s a precise flawed person,” helium said. “He’s got superior humor connected his hands and he’s made a batch of mistakes. The happening that’s amusive and comic astir him is that each this weird worldly is happening to him, but he’s strangely not freaking retired astir it the mode I would.”

The relation extends Bacon’s extended assemblage of playing bully guys that aren’t truly each that good. In his past TV vehicle, Showtime’s “City connected a Hill,” helium portrayed cocky FBI researcher Jackie Rohr, who operated connected the close broadside of the law, but had a salient acheronian broadside — engaging successful corruption, snorting coke and cheating connected his wife.

“I don’t deliberation I’ve ever played a straight-up bully guy,” Bacon said. “I’m a quality actor, not truly a starring man. Is Hub bully oregon bad? I don’t know. I anticipation radical similar him. To instrumentality with the show, you person to recognize his predicament. He’s got demons flying astir wrong him, and demons flying astir connected the ceiling. The amusement is besides astir redemption.”

His committedness to “The Bondsman” extends beyond the starring role. Bacon’s besides an enforcement producer, and helium and Nettles, who is the pb vocalist successful the state euphony duo Sugarland, wrote and recorded songs for “The Bondsman”- adjacent album, “Hell and Back,” retired Friday.

Showrunner and enforcement shaper Erik Oleson called “The Bondsman” “a bizarre, goofy amusement that has household dramedy, state euphony and Kevin Bacon plunging a chainsaw into the heads of demons. What much could you privation successful a tv show? And Kevin has the earthy charisma for the role, which allows the assemblage to get connected committee for what oftentimes are his maddening choices.”

Kevin Bacon and Jennifer Nettles successful Prime Video’s “The Bondsman.”

(Tina Rowden / Prime Video)

Both Bacon and Oleson are crossing their fingers that “The Bondsman” volition person beingness beyond 1 season. “I intentionally wrote Season 1 to person an ending that would marque it hard for Amazon not to springiness Kevin and maine much chances to marque much episodes. We were evil, devious partners successful trying to marque definite this amusement goes the distance.”

In the meantime, determination are different projects connected the skyline for Bacon — 1 that has him peculiarly excited is “Family Movie,” which helium and Sedgwick person been processing for their household to bash together. Their children, Travis and Sosie Bacon, are slated to co-star with their parents, who volition nonstop the comedy-horror film. “I truly anticipation we tin sprout this spring,” helium added.

Then there’s contributing to his societal media footprint.

“I was truly resistant to the thought of societal media erstwhile I archetypal heard astir it. But I went into it reluctantly erstwhile we were launching SixDegrees.org, my foundation nonprofit organization. ‘Social media with a societal conscience’ was our launching phrase,” helium said. “Then I realized that I’ve ever been doing these small movies for my household oregon for my friends and passing them around. I’ve made a clump of videos for my set [The Bacon Brothers], agelong earlier determination was societal media. It’s different way, successful essence, to perform.”

Although the histrion says helium enjoys creating the footage, helium besides admitted it’s go “a small spot of a double-edged sword.” While the contented whitethorn person a spontaneous, on-the-fly vibe, the other is true: “I program them out. I practice. We’ve done aggregate takes. I person an thought of something, and past fundamentally nonstop it.”

He has mixed feelings astir the effect to his posts: “On 1 hand, radical truly genuinely similar it. On the different hand, sometimes radical volition travel up to me, oregon maine and Kyra, and say, ‘You cognize what my favourite happening you’ve done is?’ And I’ll deliberation it’s going to beryllium ‘Footloose’ oregon ‘Apollo 13’, anything. And they’ll say, ‘Your Instagram.’ And I’ll beryllium similar ‘Geez.’ ”

After a moment, helium said, “It’s heartbreaking successful a way. On the different hand, that’s wherever we’re at. If that’s what radical like, that’s OK. The equine is retired of the barn present successful presumption of that. Why not clasp it?”