Who did Kevin Bacon play in Wild Things? Actor recalls discovering a dead body while filming the 1998 erotic thriller

Kevin Bacon reflects on a crazy incident he experienced while filming the 1998 erotic thriller Wild Things, directed by John McNaughton.

The 66-year-old actor recalled stumbling upon a dead body in the swamp during the making of the film:

“We were out in the swamp one night — a lot of mosquitoes, wow — and we were shooting some scene, I don’t remember what it was, by kind of a river. They had floated a raft out there so that they could put out a light."

He added,

“All of a sudden I hear across the walkie-talkie: ‘Hey, uh, I think I just saw a floater.’ And it was a body that was floating by. It was kind of indicative of the vibe of the movie. We called the police, and they actually grabbed the body and kept it from getting into our shot.”

Wild Things saw Denise Richards and Neve Campbell star as teenagers who enlist the help of their guidance counselor, played by Matt Dillon, in ripping off one of their mothers and bagging a trust settlement. Kevin Bacon played the role of Ray Duquette, the police detective who is suspicious of the trio.

Everything we know about Kevin Bacon and the Wild Things' crew's harrowing encounter while filming:

Campbell previously affirmed that production on one of her scenes with Daphne Rubin-Vega was put on pause after police were called in upon discovering the dead body.

In the book Neve Campbell: An Unauthorized Biography, Campbell revealed that a member of the lighting crew discovered the corpse:

“All of a sudden, one of the crew says ‘cut’—it was one of the lighting guys—and they said there was a dead body in the water,”

the actress said.

“And so, the cops came by and were like ‘You makin’ a movie?’ And we were like ‘Yeah.’ So they actually—typical Hollywood—held the body next to the dock so it wouldn’t float through the shot, so we could finish the scene.”

As for Wild Things, Kevin Bacon once told Esquire's "For the Record" that a “great twist” between his and Dillon's characters didn't make it to the final project.

“In the original script, we start making out,” Bacon recounted of a famous shower scene in the movie. “Part of what was crazy about the movie was that there were all these twists … you know, that was like the hook of the movie, so to me, [the kiss] was a great twist. …But I don't know. For some reason, it got cut. We didn’t shoot it.”

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Kevin Bacon currently stars in Amazon Prime Video's new action-horror series, The Bondsman.

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