Kevin Bacon, Payson High and ‘Footloose’: Can they reunite 40 years later?

By Lottie Elizabeth Johnson

Kevin Bacon was in his mid-20s when he took on the role of Ren McCormack in “Footloose,” the rebellious, just-moved-here-from-the-big-city kid who lights a fire — and many a dance move — in his high school peers who have lived under a ban on dancing and rock ’n’ roll for five years too long.

Despite mixed reviews, “Footloose” was a box-office success and became one of the top-grossing films of 1984. And the film’s popularity has continued over four decades: It spawned a remake in 2011, and just last year, as the monthslong actors strike came to a close, Bacon posted a celebratory video that featured him busting out his “Footloose” line dance moves (it got just over 1.5 million likes).

But perhaps nowhere is the movie’s presence felt more strongly than it is inside the walls of Payson High School in the city of Payson, Utah, where Bacon and fellow “Footloose” stars Lori Singer, Sarah Jessica Parker and John Lithgow, among others, filmed several scenes during the summer of 1983 (other locations included the Geneva Steel mill in Vineyard — the site of Bacon’s Olympic-level warehouse dance — and Lehi Mills).

In fact, as the film officially turns 40 on Feb. 17, Bacon is still walking the halls of the school — at least in spirit.

Stills from the movie are peppered throughout the halls. Images of Bacon and Singer, who plays the reverend’s daughter and Bacon’s love interest, are situated above the now-green lockers where some of their scenes unfolded.

And Bacon’s locker is still on display, complete with a “Congrats! You’ve got Kevin Bacon’s locker!” plaque.

The “Footloose” pride at Payson High is strong. “It’s something we are kind of reminded of a good amount,” Kaleb Dymock, a junior and school student council member, told the Deseret News on a Zoom call.

The halls have been especially overflowing with nostalgia as the building will soon make way for a new high school.

https://www.deseret.com/utah/2024/2/16/24072014/footloose-movie-kevin-bacon-payson-utah-high-school-prom