Kevin Bacon and Dad's Garage have teamed up on a hilarious bit of indie filmmaking following a serendipitous friendship the actor and the Atlanta improv troupe struck up a couple of years ago.
Bacon, who filmed the Billy Bob Thornton movie "Jayne Mansfield's Car" here in 2011, returned the next year for "The Following," his hit Fox television thriller. The pilot was filmed in Atlanta before hitting the road for New York, and his stint here for that project happened to coincide with BaconFest, an annual event benefiting Dad's Garage.
BaconFest organizers naturally saw a great opportunity and invited Bacon to attend that year. He showed up and had a blast.
"He developed a bit of a relationship with Dad's Garage," said artistic director Kevin Gillese. "I was bugging him to come back and he said, 'I don't know if I can come back, but let's make a video!'"
So they did.
“We wrote several scripts and sent it his way,” Gillese said. “We had just written something we thought he would have fun with. He just ran with it so hard.”
Bacon filmed his bit separately and emailed it, and the Dad’s Garage techno team managed to weave it into comic gold. In the clip, Bacon takes on three different characters, all trying to persuade Gillese to expand BaconFest into a monthlong celebration.
“It’s phenomenal,” Gillese said. “It really speaks to his character. Let’s be honest, he is going to get nothing out of this. We get everything out of this. The fact that he took time out of his day to do that is so cool. I couldn’t believe how into it he was. We feel really lucky that we happened to stumble into this relationship.”
BaconFest starts at 1 p.m. March 29 at Masquerade Music Park, 695 North Ave. "Beer, bands and bacon" is the festival's credo, and highlights include a "hobo wine tasting," hair and beard styling, "naughty face painting" and all sorts of wacky fun. Plus lots of food and music. Admission starts at $25. See www.dadsgarage.com for full details. Note: This is an event for adults 21 and older only. No kids or pets.
“We have kind of ramped up everything,” Gillese said. “We are moving to a new venue. We’ll have burlesque performers. I rented a bounce house and a video game truck.”
Who knows who might show up this year?
