Kevin Bacon is back in the horror genre for a raucous ride in Ti West's MaxXxine. More than just a genre return, however, the show marks his fourth pairing with Blumhouse, having previously starred in 2016's The Darkness, 2020's You Should Have Left and 2022's They/Them.

With The Bondsman, Bacon returns to the effective mix of Tremors with a more dramatic twist, playing Hub Halloran, a bail enforcement agent struggling to find direction in his life amid the impending divorce from his wife and strained relationship with his teen son. This all changes when a job goes awry and Hub is killed, only to be revived by the Devil with a contract to hunt down demons who have broken loose in his area. With a second chance at life, Hub tries to reconnect with his family while something sinister builds.

Ahead of the show's premiere, ScreenRant interviewed Kevin Bacon to discuss The Bondsman. The Golden Globe winner and Emmy nominee discussed why it was his character that initially drew him to the part, falling in love with the unique place Hub is in with his life, as well as the evolution he takes throughout the season. Bacon also talked about performing some of the stunts for the show, while praising his stunt team and how they do "something special that I can't do".

Hub Presented Bacon With "Something That I Haven't Quite Done Before"

He Was Particularly Drawn To The Show's Mix Of Metaphorical & Real Demons

While certainly no stranger to the horror genre, in looking back on what sparked his interest in the show, Bacon immediately pointed to The Bondsman's Hub Halloran as his biggest curiosity. The star explained how he's "always looking for something that I haven't quite done before" when taking on new roles, and found that Hub was at an interesting point in his life that he hadn't explored in a character thus far.

"Being at this age and still really being kind of a man child," Bacon explained, "living under the shadow of his mother, and basically in her garage, and having not been able to commit to that family 100%, or to a music career 100%. Being kind of stuck and stubborn in his life, and then having this extraordinary situation happen where he wakes up, and he's been dead and has come back to life. That, to me, was just an interesting concept."

Bacon went on to explain that the other major element of The Bondsman that hooked him in was the show's mixture of "the darkness and the guilt" that Hub has boiling inside of him with the more supernatural side of the project, chuckling as he noted, "he's got demons swirling around in his soul, as well as a real one flying down off the ceiling". "All of these things combined with the tone of the show, the way that people spoke to each other, just sounded really interesting to me."

Bacon Sees Stunts As An "Extension Of My Acting"

He Also Praises Stunt Teams For Their Ability To Do "Something Special That I Can't Do"

Mixed in with the show's meaningful character development are plenty of demon-hunting action set pieces, which showrunner Erik Oleson told us in a separate interview that Bacon did many of his own stunts for. When asked himself, Bacon confirmed he did some of his own stunts for the show, expressing that he loves "to have those kinds of physical challenges" and finds he would often "push for more of that" on many of his projects that would make sense for it to be needed. With Hub, in particular, Bacon found a unique kinship with the action sensibilities of the character:

I think what's fun about the character of Hub is that you've got a guy who's my age and doesn't have any superpowers, and yet he's still trying to get out there and figure out ways to fight and kick a--, but also my back hurts. [Laughs]. I just found that really fun. I always like to clarify that I will do everything that I possibly can in pushing it as far as I can, keeping in mind that I really don't want to get hurt, because it puts everybody out of a job who's waiting there on the set.

Bacon did, however, make sure to clarify that the show had a talented stunt team and that he would never consider himself to the level of a stunt performer, praising them for being able to "do something special that I can't do" and acknowledging what they do is different from his work. Instead, he views performing stunts as "an extension of my acting", looking at even fight scenes as "an acting scene" rather than an action scene.

More About The Bondsman

Kevin Bacon stars as Hub Halloran, a murdered bounty hunter who’s back from the dead after being resurrected by the Devil to trap and send back demons that have escaped from the prison of Hell. By chasing down those demons with the help and hindrance of his estranged family, Hub learns how his own sins got his soul condemned -- which pushes him to seek a second chance at life, love, and country music.

Stay tuned for our other Bondsman interviews with:

• Beth Grant, Jolene Purdy & Maxwell Jenkins
• Jennifer Nettles
• Showrunner Erik Oleson

The Bondsman begins streaming on Prime Video on April 3.

Source: ScreenRant Plus