The “messed-up” actor who accidentally made Kevin Bacon a star: “I was a total idiot”Hollywood is a place where a single what-if, near-miss, or mishap has the ability to alter the course of multiple careers, if not cinema history itself, and one of them handed Kevin Bacon the sharpest double-edged sword he’s ever encountered. On the other hand, it was so overwhelming that he almost self-sabotaged his professional life because of it, even if he did recover. Most people would be grateful for having one movie that strapped a rocket to their back, but not him. “I was a mess back then,” the actor, who struggled with alcoholism before getting sober in the late ’80s, recalled. Unfortunately, his personal issues made that a non-starter, opening the door for Bacon to swoop in and secure the job that sent his star soaring.