James Gunn Was Prepared To Recast Kevin Bacon If He Turned Down The Guardians Of The Galaxy Holiday Special

What's the best approach to winning Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon? If you're James Gunn, you simply cast Bacon as himself for your Marvel Cinematic Universe streaming special, "The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special."

The 44-minute special, which Gunn both wrote and directed, catches up with the biggest a-holes in the galaxy sometime after the events of "Thor: Love and Thunder." With Christmas just around the corner and Peter (Chris Pratt) still in mourning for Gamora, Drax (Dave Bautista) and Mantis (Pom Klementieff) devise a surefire plan to cheer him up: giving him a special present in the form of his childhood hero, Kevin Bacon. Okay, it's not exactly the deepest or the most profound premise. In fact, in his review, /Film's Chris Evangelista argued that the "mighty silly and mighty light [special is] so light that it's a wonder it even exists." But then again, one could argue that comes with the territory. At least there's no wookiee porn.

Having Bacon play a fictional version of himself in the MCU is easily the most inspired element of "The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special." In an interview with Variety, Gunn confirmed that it was always his intention to go that route, as opposed to hiring someone else to impersonate the "Footloose," "Apollo 13," and "Mystic River" actor. And if Bacon had turned him down? "I would have recast with a different actor, but I'm glad I got my first choice," Gunn added, name-dropping John Schneider ("The Dukes of Hazzard," "Smallville") as his second pick for the part.

No stranger to Marvel comic book adaptations, Kevin Bacon previously played the former Nazi and head of the nefarious Hellfire Club, Sebastian Shaw, in 2011's "X-Men: First Class." That film, along with the rest of the "X-Men" movies released prior to Disney's acquisition of Fox, takes place beyond the confines of the MCU, so there was never any canonical reason why Bacon couldn't play himself in "The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special." Speaking to Variety, Gunn said that he and Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige never even discussed the idea that Bacon's casting in "First Class" might "preclude" him from joining the MCU:

"One of the things that Kevin Feige has really impressed upon me in running the MCU is that what matters most is the project right in front of him. You may have a plan about how you want to do something down the road, but if it screws up the thing right in front of you, then it doesn't work. The best thing for the holiday special is Kevin Bacon, and if that means that Kevin Bacon is a different character later on in the MCU, it doesn't really matter. It's not real. None of this is real. He was the perfect person to cast as Kevin Bacon. If we had cast John Schneider as Kevin Bacon, it wouldn't have worked as well."

Should Bacon ever sign on to play another MCU character, he would be far from the first actor to tackle multiple roles in the franchise. As for the much shorter list of people who've played themselves in the MCU ... well, let's just say Bacon is readily one of the more reputable individuals to hold that distinction.

"The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special" is streaming on Disney+.