Kevin Bacon returns to Payson High on prom night for 40th anniversary of 'Footloose'

Kevin Bacon is at Payson High School today, where 40 years ago, he filmed the 1984 movie "Footloose."

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) -- Kevin Bacon is at Payson High School today, where 40 years ago, he filmed the 1984 movie "Footloose."

"Go Lions! Here we are on this beautiful, beautiful spot on this beautiful, beautiful day," Bacon said as he opened up his speech to the Payson High student body. "It’s been a long time – 40 years – that just blows my mind, you know. Things look a little different around here. I’d say the thing that looks the most different is me."

The film was shot on location at Payson High and Lehi Roller Mills. Payson High's student body has been working to lure the actor back to the school for several months now. Now, 40 years later, Kevin Bacon has answered the calls of Payson High students and others -- including Utah Gov. Spencer Cox -- and returned to Payson High on prom night.

"When I first heard about this Bacon to Payson thing, I was like ‘Wow, this is crazy.’ But you were all just tireless. Unrelenting … You talked me into it," Bacon said. "I think it’s great to see that kind of commitment to anything. I also think that it’s amazing the power that this movie has had to just kind of bring people together, and connect on the basic ideas there are behind the movie – you know, standing up to authority sometimes, and to being forgiving to people who are not exactly the same as you, and for standing up for your own freedoms and your right to express yourself, and for having compassion for other people."

As part of the effort to bring Bacon back to Utah, students have offered to help support the actor's foundation, SixDegrees.org. The foundation is aiming to create 40,000 "essential resource kits" for youth and schools. Payson students have pledged to create 5,000 of those kits today -- on the same day as prom -- as a thank you for Bacon's return.

"And that’s what all of you have shown here, by turning what could be just a movie star coming back to get a pat on the back, into something really positive. And that’s what we’re going to do today when we build these kits," Bacon continued. "Thank you so much for your commitment to giving back to your community and to the people you’re sharing this planet with, and I’m thrilled we’re going to be working here together today."

Bacon's visit also came as a boost for the film commission's 100th anniversary. According to a press release, a 2023 survey indicated that 37% of visitors cite film and/or television as one of the motivators in selecting Utah as a destination. Over the last 10 years, the film commission said those visitors have spent an estimated $6 billion in the state.

Visit film.utah.gov/100years to learn more about the SixDegrees.org Building Kits.