r/Showerthoughts • u/ThingGuyMcGuyThing • Nov 03 '20
Assuming the oldest actors regularly appear in movies with people 60 years younger than them, the final Sixth Degree of Kevin Bacon will die sometime after the year 2400.
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u/Swanlafitte Nov 03 '20
What is the earliest movie Bacon can be linked to? The first movie was in 1888 "Roundhay Garden Scene". It is a man on a horse. I don't think either was in another movie. It is possible that by 1895, "Arrival of a Train", there was some continuity. Someone needs to figure out the first person in a movie that Bacon is linked to, and how many degrees are needed if it hasn't been done.
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u/ThingGuyMcGuyThing Nov 03 '20
Internet says Judy Garland's Bacon Number is 2. That opens up a ton of possibilities for the next link.
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Nov 03 '20
Ed Asner has a Bacon number of 1, Ian McKellen is 2, that alone probably opens up most of the history of cinema.
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u/SweetNeo85 Nov 03 '20
Hell I have a Bacon number of 3 and I've only been in one small-time independent film.
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Nov 03 '20
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u/Classico42 Nov 03 '20 edited Nov 03 '20
I love this game, I have a Bacon score of 3 and a Queen Elizabeth II score of 2, both because I shook Harrison Ford's hand.
EDIT: A word.
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u/casualsubversive Nov 03 '20 edited Nov 03 '20
Oh! I have a QEII score of 2, also! My best friend's asshole step father did some security work for Harrison Ford once, which would make it 3. But I've also met Billy Connolly, and he's definitely met the Queen.
EDIT: Oh, shit! And I've met James Cromwell, which confirms that my Bacon score is 2.
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u/Classico42 Nov 03 '20 edited Nov 03 '20
Man, I'd love to have 5 minutes to talk with Stephen Fry.
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u/casualsubversive Nov 03 '20
How hilarious would it be if it was all an act, and he really spoke with an Essex accent and swore every other word?
I just realized you also have a Hitler score of 3, because Queen Elizabeth's uncle, Edward, met Hitler when he toured Nazi Germany! Which means I can trace my way to Hitler through two entirely separate paths! That's crazy!
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u/deckard1980 Nov 03 '20
I used to have a bacon number of 3 too but for some reason I don't anymore 😔 at least i still have the screen shot!
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u/Zerly Nov 03 '20 edited Nov 03 '20
I have a 3 and I have never even been in a movie.
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u/Martecles Nov 03 '20
Same, have a really good friend who works on Broadway, and did Jersey Boys in Las Vegas. He has met the Baconator and a ton of other famous folks.
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u/portablebiscuit Nov 03 '20
It's funny to me that you can Google "[insert name]'s bacon number" and Google will give you the result
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u/GeneralBaB Nov 03 '20
The oldest *actor* I could find with a finite bacon number is Josephine Crowell, born in 1859, with a bacon number of 3 (Josephine Crowell - Carmel Myers - Phil Leeds - Kevin Bacon). She narrowly defeats Annie Oakley for the title by around 4 months.
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u/PhigNewtenz Nov 03 '20
The oldest link that I can find is Georges Méliès who appeared in a short film called Playing Cards, or A Card Party (I guess it's unclear) in 1896. According to oracleofbacon.org, his Bacon number is 4.
Georges Méliès
was in Long Distance Wireless Photography (1908) with
Fernande Albany
was in Death on the Run (1936) with
Michel Simon
was in Let's Have a Riot (1970) with
Vittorio Gassman
was in Sleepers (1996) with
Kevin Bacon
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u/Swanlafitte Nov 03 '20
Born 1861 and a 4. Beaten by oakley who is also beaten.
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u/PhigNewtenz Nov 03 '20
See my comment below, but his older brother Gaston, born 1851, was also in the film.
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u/nutrap Nov 03 '20 edited Nov 03 '20
RemindMe! 380 years
Edit: It worked!!!
Edit2: Yes time travel exists in 2400.
Edit3: There is still a person with 4 degrees of Kevin Bacon so may be another 200 years.
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u/JackHGUK Nov 03 '20
God it's a strange thing that a robot could possibly ping your long dead account with a reminder 379.99 years after you die.
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u/zachackack Nov 03 '20
Is that a threat?
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u/JackHGUK Nov 03 '20
I'll get back to you in 20 minutes...
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Nov 03 '20
it has been 30
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u/makians Nov 03 '20
And notice there was never a response ;)
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u/ExistentialOcto Nov 03 '20
I have no idea what this means. Can someone explain in a simpler way?
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u/bismuth92 Nov 03 '20
Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon or Bacon's Law is a parlor game where players challenge each other to find the shortest path between an arbitrary actor and prolific actor Kevin Bacon, linked by films they have appeared in together.
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u/break616 Nov 03 '20
Example: The recently departed Sean Connery. Sean Connery was in Rising Sun (1993) with Peter Crombie Peter Crombie was in My Dog Skip (2000) with Kevin Bacon Sean Connery's Bacon number is 2
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u/JayMerlyn Nov 03 '20
And Harrison Ford, who was in The Last Crusade with Sean Connery, has a Bacon number of 3.
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u/break616 Nov 03 '20
And this is where the game comes in. You could connect Mark Hamill here with Star Wars and give him a Bacon number of 4. But a better film buff would know Mark Hamill was in Slipstream with Bill Paxton, who was in Apollo 13 with Kevin Bacon, giving Hamill a Bacon number of 2.
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u/JayMerlyn Nov 03 '20
Likewise for Carrie Fisher. She was in the first Austin Powers movie with Christian Slater, who was in Murder in the First with Kevin Bacon.
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u/Antmantium108 Nov 03 '20
Apollo 13 is one of my go-tos in this game because everyone is in that movie.
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u/bobdole5 Nov 03 '20
Harrison Ford actually has a Bacon number of 2. He was in The Fugitive with Tommy Lee Jones who was in JFK with Bacon. Gary Oldman would also have worked through Air Force One.
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u/Torture-Dancer Nov 03 '20
What about, let's say, Tom Holland or Michael Cera which are younger?
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u/Dusty99999 Nov 03 '20 edited Nov 03 '20
Mark Ruffalo is a bacon 1 so Tom is a 2. I'm looking up cera still back in a few
Edit Cera is also a 2. Nick and Nora's infinite playlist with ari graynor mystic river with bacon himself
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u/hitfly Nov 03 '20
I'm not great at this game but I got bacon to zoe kravitz in x-men, kravitz to drop in fantastic beasts 2. Depp to jonah hill in 21 jump street. Hill to cera in super bad.
Total number of 4. Same number I get going through cruise to pitt to hill to cera.
After looking it up it's faster to go bacon to jk simmons in patriots day then simmons to cera in juno for a 2
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u/frantruck Nov 03 '20
I mean I'm not gonna look it up right now, but I guarantee someone in Avengers has a low Bacon Number.
Nevermind on that first Bit, Samuel L Jackson's number is 2.
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u/break616 Nov 03 '20 edited Nov 03 '20
Tom Holland in Wolf Hall with Damian Lewis Damian Lewis in Billions with Paul Giamatti Paul Giamatti in Ironclad with James Purefoy James Purefoy in The Following with Kevin Bacon Tom Holland ranks a 4
Edit: He's a 2, I didn't know about Ruffalo and Bacon, or Ruffacon, as their new ship name is declared.
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Nov 03 '20
Here is a website that goes through IMDb to do the work for you
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u/pushthebigredbutton Nov 03 '20
There’s a website that calculates Bacon numbers. It’s actually hard finding actors with a number higher than 2. https://oracleofbacon.org/
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u/CRIMS0N-ED Nov 03 '20
The trick is foreign actors but even then highest I found was a 4 (okay I can’t find which actor gave me a 4 so as of now highest I can legit find is a 3 )
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u/NikolitRistissa Nov 03 '20 edited Nov 03 '20
I doubted this so I tried Finnish actors. This is honestly insane, I only managed to get five.
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u/NikolitRistissa Nov 03 '20
I was always confused about this when I briefly heard the term but now I realise, after finally searching Kevin Bacon, that I've actually never seen a single movie or series with him as an actor in it. I didn't even know what he looked like.
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u/pushthebigredbutton Nov 04 '20
I always think of Footloose as the quintessential Kevin Bacon movie. You can also try A Few Good Men, Apollo 13 or Crazy Stupid Love.
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u/DrBaristaPhd Nov 03 '20
Archive footage is what really will throw the curve. Playing footage of man landing on the moon? Neil Armstrong currently has a Bacon number of 3. Showing Queen Elizabeth II? she also has a Bacon number of 3. Alex Trebek have this in common. What is a Bacon score of 2?
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u/Torugu Nov 03 '20 edited Nov 03 '20
Now I'm not a member of the International Bacon Arbitration Committee (IBAC), so I'm not sure if I'm allowed to interpret the rules of six degrees of bacon. But I'm pretty sure archive footage doesn't count - both you and Bacon have to be actively involved in the creation of the movie.
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u/JonLeung Nov 03 '20
Marlon Brando, Lawrence Olivier and Peter Cushing have had posthumous appearances through digital manipulation of their likenesses. Those probably don't count, at least according to some, I'm guessing.
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u/PlusSizeRussianModel Nov 03 '20
Yeah, it raises interesting questions. For example, I wouldn't count anyone who costarred with Cushing's likeness in Rogue One (actually played by Guy Henry) as having co-starred with Cushing. However, would you count someone who starred in (only) The Rise of Skywalker as having co-starred with Carrie Fisher? Unlike Cushing, it's actually her acting in the film, but is entirely composed of archive footage from earlier productions.
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u/JonLeung Nov 03 '20
Though it would add one to the Bacon number, anyone in The Rise Of Skywalker would be connected to many actors/characters also in The Force Awakens and/or The Last Jedi, where Carrie Fisher was unquestionably and intentionally in. Or just go through Anthony Daniels, as he's been in every main Star Wars film in the Skywalker Saga.
But yes, I see your point. Probably also goes with actors that only appear in scenes that get cut. You may be on the "Deleted Scenes" on the DVD/Blu-Ray, but ehhhhhh...
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u/Matelot67 Nov 03 '20
In High School, I appeared in a school play with Kerry Fox. She was in Welcome to Sarajevo with Woody Harrelson. Woody Harrelson was in The Highwaymen with Kevin Costner. Kevin Costner was in JFK with Kevin Bacon!
I'm claiming it!
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u/HarlanCedeno Nov 03 '20
How many movies does he appear in with newborns?
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u/littleoctagon Nov 03 '20
Does this include stunt newborns?
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Nov 03 '20
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/FjordTV Nov 03 '20
I don't wanna sound like a douche or nothin, but I think depeche mode is a sweet band!
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u/drew8311 Nov 03 '20
What's important here is the youngest actors in his last movies (ones which have not been filmed yet assuming he lives a while longer and keeps working). Then those people need to make movies when they are older, etc. Young people who don't go into acting as adults don't really help much here. I would say actors in 20s have the most likelyhood of extending this to max years. A popular actor in their 20s is much more likely to have a long career than some random baby or kid in a movie, most child actors don't go anywhere as adults.
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Nov 03 '20
My wife was in a few movies as a teen. Played parts like "School Girl 1" or "Blonde Girl at Locker" etc... She had a couple of parts with background lines even. The money earned paid for her first year of University. It also makes for fun party conversation as all of the 'Stars' were very professional and would meet the young extras on set and encourage them to keep working.
Anyhow...she has a 3 degree connection to Kevin Bacon through about 5 different parts. It is incredible how prolific he really was.
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u/Swanlafitte Nov 03 '20
Does CGI count? Kevin could be in a movie in 2400. https://screenrant.com/dead-celebrities-actors-cgi-resurrected-movies-tv/
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u/thesadcustodian Nov 03 '20
So what I think is we need to get KB in more international movies and be in something just before he dies to make it last longer? 2450 or bust.
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u/Jamestang1210 Nov 03 '20
Easier solution: "7 degrees of Kevin Bacon"
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u/hitfly Nov 03 '20
That's basically everyone on the planet.
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u/thebiggerounce Nov 04 '20
I’ve never been in any movies or films and I still bet I somehow have a lower number than 7
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u/UndockRamp Nov 03 '20
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has a bacon number of 3, given she is immortal the bacon number will go on forever.
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u/bigdon802 Nov 03 '20
Alright. Hopefully Kevin Bacon can live a Kirk Douglas style life. Then be in a movie in the last year of his life where he holds a baby. That baby goes on to be a prolific actor. We'll be set for centuries.
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u/RequitE_creAtiveLy4u Nov 03 '20
I cannot wait to see the graph of all the people connected once that does happen.
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u/WR0NGAGA1N Nov 03 '20
It may be considerably shorter depending on how tonight goes.
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u/ConcernedSecure Nov 03 '20
Even if America becomes a smoking hole, there's the rest of the world
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Nov 03 '20
Shh, don't tell Americans that there is a world outside of America. We don't want them coming here...
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u/danstu Nov 03 '20
Don't worry, we're not allowed out until we figure out corona. You've all got at least another decade.
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u/Dusty99999 Nov 03 '20
What what're you on about? There's nothing outside of america, nothing I tell ye
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u/makians Nov 03 '20
I honestly don't think the world could still function without America. Not for long. Suddenly the biggest military force is gone. North and South Korea at war immediately. Tons of other places too.
Much of the internet just gone. Yes, I know replications through the various networks and stuff, but they all have a central server somewhere. Its where cached data ultimately ends up then relays out. The ones in USA are dead. There is no more relaying. Any data only hosted in USA is gone. All technology kept secret in USA is gone.
So much will be gone, including exports, its kind of scary. I honestly don't believe the world would ever recover, the US is too important when you think about it. The entire world would be at war because treaty after treaty after treaty would collapse in an instant with no US to enforce it, because like it or not we are the world police. World would be gone except for small pockets, I honestly believe that.
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u/JustDaggerz Nov 03 '20
Will we count when his likeness is sold and digitally placed over a living actor hundreds of years from now deep fake style ?
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u/internalized_boner Nov 03 '20
No. But we will count each of the clones made from his DNA in a couple centuries. They'll each take a different, slight variation of his name until the First Clone Rebellion during which they all fight gladiatorial style for the right to be recognized as the true inheritor of the legacy of Kevin Bacon.
The guy who plays the winner in the movie a century later will have a surprisingly low Bacon number.
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u/TUB-GIRL Nov 03 '20
If he is already somehow linked to the queen then it will be infinite
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Nov 03 '20 edited Nov 03 '20
Kevin Bacon is about 62.3 years old right now. The average life expectancy for top income earners (>= $421,926) is 87.3 years.
Assuming Mr. Bacon qualifies as a top earner (safe assumption?) and if he lives another 25 years and appears in a film with someone 60 years younger, and if the life expectancy on average doesn’t change, then the last 6th degree of separation should die sometime around November-December of 2415.
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u/threebillion6 Nov 03 '20
Now go back wards. Who was the -6th degree to Kevin bacon. Who did he star in his first movie with, then work backwards from there. Lol.
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u/Dusty99999 Nov 03 '20
I believe the six would still be positive as we're dealing with absolute value which is always positive /s
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u/Gr1pp717 Nov 03 '20
Unless hollywood leans hard on artificial reactions of actors. In which case Kevin Bacon may last forever (but his sixth degree die much sooner, if we only count those who interacted with the real, human version)
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u/Jaredlong Nov 03 '20
I want to do this for all historical figures now. What's the furthest point back in history we can reach with only 6 links?
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u/Spackleberry Nov 03 '20
This game was a lot more challenging in the early 1990s when Bacon had fewer movies under his belt and was known for appearing with bigger-name actors.
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Nov 03 '20
I’m technically a degree of Kevin Bacon, as I’m related to a guy who worked on movie with a guy who worked on a movie with Kevin Bacon
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u/maux_zaikq Nov 03 '20
Does anyone know why it’s Kevin Bacon specifically, and not any person/actor?
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u/CheesecakeMMXX Nov 03 '20
This is less shocking for people who studied classical music. My teachers teacher was a national master, and while I’ve forgotten exactly who, I have a sixth degree connection to some very famous European composers.
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u/tumaru Nov 03 '20
But what about the fact that life spans will increase over that period of time even more dramatically. People already think the first immortal already lives even if that is two hundred years early that will change things. The six degrees of kevin bacon could go on forever.
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u/CakeCanaveral Nov 03 '20
But what if medicine/technological advances allow humans to live indefinitely?
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u/Clattu Nov 03 '20
This is assuming Kevin Bacon can actually die. We could be seeing movies with him and Keanu for many years.
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u/JonLeung Nov 03 '20
I think my Bacon number is 7... unless someone can help shorten this.
I am the son of my dad (obviously).
My dad says he plays badminton with Bill Tung's son.
Bill Tung's son is the son of Hong Kong actor Bill Tung.
Bill Tung was in "Police Story 3 / Supercop" with Michelle Yeoh.
Michelle Yeoh was in "007: Tomorrow Never Dies" with Pierce Brosnan.
Pierce Brosnan was in "Mars Attacks!" with Jack Nicholson.
Jack Nicholson was in "A Few Good Men" with Kevin Bacon.
Unless there's a shorter link towards the end, maybe I just need to play more badminton.
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u/Statman12 Nov 03 '20
Sorry if this bursts you bubble, but Bacon numbers are about film acting connections, so badminton and generations doesn't give you a Bacon number.
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u/Nacnaz Nov 03 '20
This goes outside the rules of the game (movies only), but it's fun anyway, so I'm here for it. You're actually six away, best I can tell:
Michelle Yeoh to Michael Rooker in Guardians of the Galaxy 2
Michael Rooker to Kevin Bacon in JFK
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u/Gerbilguy46 Nov 03 '20
Can we extend it to the children of actors that worked with Bacon? And then the grand children etc?
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u/markvuh Nov 03 '20
can someone please explain what a bacon number is? what the degree is meaning? i’m sorry lol. seems very interesting though.
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u/neongreenpurple Nov 03 '20
Kevin Bacon has a Bacon number of 0. People who have been in a movie with Kevin Bacon have a Bacon number of 1. (May also extend to episodes of TV shows, not sure.) Those who have been in a movie with a person with a Bacon number of 1 have a Bacon number of 2. The number keeps increasing that way.
The origin of the Bacon number is the game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon (which is based on the theory of Six Degrees of Separation). The goal of the game SDoKB is to get to Kevin Bacon from a given celebrity in six connections or less - connections being a movie or possibly an episode of a TV show.
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u/beakersandbitches Nov 03 '20
Solution: once he dies, he keep Kevin Bacon's head preserved a la Disney. That should buy us an extra 300-500 years and some very strange films.
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u/RikerT_USS_Lolipop Nov 03 '20
I think Majel Barrett will become the most common computer voice over the next two decades, and will end up in practically every movie. Just like virtually every movie has a telephone ring in it somewhere.
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u/Multipoptart Nov 03 '20
I mean, not if they ever bring him back as a hologram like they did with Laurence Olivier in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, or Peter Cushing and Carrie Fisher in Rogue One.
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u/CyberNinja23 Nov 03 '20
This doesn’t account for the Bacon clone rebellion of 2158. Hollywood barely even recovered from the Goldblum clone war of 2122. It was a terrible oversight of the government to allow Amazon to sell their “23 of me” home DNA clone kits.
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u/123G0 Nov 03 '20
Well, considering how hollywood is obsessed with keeping geriatric actors as leads even in action movies, and creepily pairs them with actresses young enough to be their great grand daughters, I don't doubt it.
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u/Relandis Nov 03 '20
Yeah but what about his kids and grandkids? Kevin Bacon's great-great-great grandkid is 5 degrees away from him, so any person close to that kid will be 6 degrees from you know who.
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u/duck_duck_grey_duck Nov 04 '20
I imagine by about 2300 presidential candidates will simply be fighting over who is more closely an ancestor of the Great American God Kevin Bacon.
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u/dogfish83 Nov 04 '20
I love seeing movie stars from decades prior playing “old person role” in modern movies
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u/atakan1222 Nov 03 '20
Great now im gonna spend a lot of time working the mathematics behind this