So, we've all heard of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, right? Wherein you prove that everyone in Hollywood is (at most) six degrees away from Kevin Bacon, presumably due to his extensive and varied body of work (and, correspondingly, his inability to say no to even the worst of scripts)?
When I was in college, and especially when I was in grad school (before the whole Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon thing hit pop culture), I would do something similar.
Only, it wasn't just Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. It was Six Degrees of Anyone.
Because, honestly, if you know enough about film and TV, anyone in Hollywood with even a reasonable resume is six degrees away from anyone else. No matter what era.
Let's test it, shall we? I used to joke, once the Kevin Bacon thing became public, that they missed the point by making it about him. I'd joke 'hell it could even be Six Degrees Of Woody Harrelson.'
Thus, I present Six Degrees of Woody Harrelson.
I can link anyone to Woody Harrelson in Six Degrees. By way of examples, I'll try to link him to a) any old modern star, say Christian Bale; b) a younger star like Hillary Duff, and to prove my point c) an old movie star, say Errol Flynn.
Woody Harrelson to Christian Bale in 3 degrees:
Woody Harrelson was in Seven Pounds with Will Smith (1), who was in Enemy Of The State with Gabriel Byrne (2), who was in Little Women with Christian Bale (3).
Woody Harrelson to Hillary Duff in only 2 degrees:
Woody Harrelson was in L.A. Story with Steve Martin (1), who was in Cheaper By The Dozen (and the sequel) with Hillary Duff (2).
Woody Harrelson all the way to Errol Flynn in only 4 degrees:
Woody Harrelson worked in Cheers with Kelsey Grammer (1), who did voicework in Anastasia with John Cusack (2), who was in The Sure Thing with Viveca Lindfors (3), who starredin The Adventures Of Don Juan opposite Errol Flynn (4).
Now, these are not the only routes. Certainly, the closer the two actors are in timeframe, and the larger their resumes, the more routes you'll find. For example, you can take Woody to Steve Martin again, who was in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels with Michael Caine, who plays Alfred to Christian Bale's Batman.
But you'll note, none of them took an actual six degrees. Woody Harrelson has a decent body of work, but he's no Kevin Bacon in terms of being a workhorse (for that matter, he's no Michael Caine, who would work just as well as Bacon in terms of diversity of costars and volume of work).
My point is, it isn't about Kevin Bacon. It never was. Some guys decided it was funny to wrap it around him, when the nature of Hollywood means it will work for almost anyone.
Not convinced?
How about Ke Huy Quan, who played Short Round in the second Indiana Jones movie? Can we connect him to say... Charlie Chaplin? In six degrees?
The Kid Who Played Short Round to Charlie Chaplin...
Ke Huy Quan wasn't just in that one Indiana Jones movie, he was also in Goonies with Kerri Green (1), who was in Lucas with Winona Ryder (2) who did a couple of films with Johnny Depp (3) who was in Don Juan de Marco with Marlon Brando (4) who was in a film called A Countess From Hong Kong which was written by, directed by, and featured a cameo by... Charlie Chaplin (5).
If that don't convince you, nothing will!
Come on, test the theory.
Give me an actor/actress to build a six degrees around. Give me 3 names to connect them to.
I can do it, I swear.
So can you.
posted by Nunzio DeFilippis #
8:31 AM 
