Bacon on eggs (yes, eggs), LA vs NY and Kyra
You and Kyra have lived in New York for many years. Can you talk about that decision?
It’s hard to know what my career and hers would have been (if we didn’t live in New York). She was born and raised in New York. I was so hell-bent on being a New Yorker and a New York actor, to do stage stuff. Also, back then, I was terrified of Los Angeles in a way that I’m not anymore.
I suppose it would have been a different life (if we lived elsewhere). You change one piece of the equation, and everything else changes. Maybe we never would have met each other, etc., etc. There were years when we defined ourselves as LA haters. Now, we’ve gotten to the point where we absolutely love LA. For the first time a couple of years ago, we got a small house in LA so we don’t have to stay in hotels.
Our daughter (actress Sosie Bacon; they also have a son, Travis Bacon) lives in LA, and we spend a lot of time there. In fact, I wonder if I can ever get Kyra back to New York. I’m having a hard time in New York. But, I’m on a television show that shoots six months of the year here (in New York). I just wanted to clarify that—so, at this point, we’re truly bicoastal.
Your character, Ryan, tries to move on, but he can’t. In real life, how good are you at letting go of the past?
I’m pretty good at that. If I had to pick one thing I’m good at, it’s looking down the road. I really don’t look in the rear-view mirror. I don’t even look at my old movies. I think about the future. I like to feel like the best of times are ahead of me—and that there are places to go that I can still get better at.
People ask, “What is your greatest regret?” As in things that maybe you’ve turned down or didn’t get from a career standpoint. I never think about that. I have to be a forward-thinking person, because I have a lousy memory. My kids tease me about it all the time.
Any particular dream that you see down the road?
I’d love to do more directing. I would like to explore characters I haven’t done before. You have to approach the idea of getting older as an opportunity rather than a burden, because now, there’s an opportunity to play men who are at different and sometimes more interesting points in their lives.
There’s a party scene in the series where Ryan is dragged into the dance floor, and he says that he can’t dance—but, he still has the moves. It was a tongue-in-cheek reference to “Footloose.”
I didn’t write that line, but it was great. I didn’t want to stretch out the dancing too much, because I thought it would be really silly. But, I tried to think, does this guy, based on who he is, necessarily have to be a terrible dancer? I felt like, let’s give him a bit of a sense of rhythm. I thought it was going to play a little better with me and this beautiful woman.
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