Kevin Bacon says his family has ‘horror tradition’ after daughter’s success in sleeper hit Smile

For many fans, they first took notice of Kevin Bacon when he starred in the original slasher film Friday The 13th (1980), which went on to becomes a surprise hit and spawn a franchise of 12 films.

It turns out the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, as daughter Sosie Bacon has also now scored a hit in the horror genre with her role in Smile, which spent three weeks at number one.

‘She’s fantastic,’ the proud father, 64, shared in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, before revealing how he was ‘taken aback with, not only with how great she was but also how hard that role was, because it’s one of those parts where there is no break.’

‘Horror family’: Kevin Bacon, 64, gushed over his daughter Sosie Bacon’s performance in the sleeper hit horror film Smile, which comes more than 40 years after his breakout role in the original Friday The 13th, which also became a bonafide hit

Elaborating more on what he means by it being a role without a break, Kevin shared how most characters usually starts out ‘pretty happy for at least, you know, 15 minutes or 20 minutes before everything becomes horrible. 

He added, ‘But that’s a movie where the stress level is [insane]. I was very proud of her.’

Playing Dr. Rose Cotter in Smile isn’t Sosie’s first role, but it is her most successful; having grossed $171.5 million dollars at the box office on a $17 million budget

The sleeper hit also has the distinction of being the highest grossing horror movie of 2022. 

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Surprise hit: Sosie Bacon, 30, scored a bonafide hit in the horror genre with Smile

Breakout: Playing Dr. Rose Cotter in Smile isn’t Sosie’s first role, but it is her most successful; having grossed $171.5 million dollars at the box office on a $17 million budget

Sosie, 30, and Smile’s success is similar to what happened with her father and his breakout role in Friday The 13th, playing Jack Burrell, the teenager who famously gets killed while laying on his back in bed.

After having left home at 17, the Philadelphia native landed the slasher film about four years later, at the same time he had a small role on a soap opera.

‘Friday The 13th was kind of the definition of a low-budget indie. It was made for nothing. I was out in Blairstown, New Jersey. I used to have to take a public bus to a bus stop in the middle of a country road, and somebody from the set would drive out and pick me up. I mean, that was the closest they had to any kind of transportation,’ he said of the shoot for the film back in 1979.

While the budget for Friday The 13th ended up being $550,000, the film went on to become a sleeper hit, earning $59.8 million at the box office. And that was only the beginning as it went on to gain franchise status, with 11 more films, a television series, novels, comic books, video games, and tie‑in merchandise. 

Slasher: Sosie and Smile’s success is similar to what happened with her father in Friday The 13th, playing Jack Burrell, the teen who famously gets killed while laying on his back in bed.

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Franchise setter: Friday The 13th went on to become a sleeper hit, earning $59.8 million at the box office on just a $550,000 budget; it also set up an entire franchise of 12 films

In keeping with the tradition of the family, Sosie’s mother, Kyra Sedgwick, has also starred in a horror film, The Possession (2012), alongside Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Madison Davenport, Grant Show, Natasha Calis, Matisyahu and Jay Brazeau.

Kevin went on to explain how he and his wife of 34 years didn’t even know Sosie was interested in any kind of an acting career until her early 20’s.

She dropped out of college and moved to L.A. and really started doing all the right stuff,’ he said of the process she took in creating a career of her own. ‘Pounding the pavement, doing self-tape after self-tape, and studying.’

Sosie actually scored her first role in the drama film Loverboy (2005), which was directed by her father, who also starred as the lead alongside wife Kyra Sedgwick, 57.

Her resume also includes roles in Netflix teen drama series 13 Reasons Why (2017– 2018) and the HBO limited series Mare of Eastown (2021).

Rising star: Sosie Bacon’s resume also includes roles in Netflix teen drama series 13 Reasons Why (2017- 2018) and the HBO limited series Mare of Eastown (2021); she seen in Sept 2022