There’s an idea that’s been floating around the web for many years now that actor Kevin Bacon can be linked to anyone in the film industry with a variation of no more than six degrees of separation. It’s such a well-established concept that there’s a website where you can find anyone’s “Bacon Number.” This is a talking point that was initially meant to establish how well-connected Kevin Bacon is in the industry, but in reality, this can be done with almost anyone. In fact, the aforementioned website will allow you to enter the names of any two actors and find the films that link them together (usually with four films or fewer).
Let’s Play A Game
This concept could easily be left as a fun fact that you look into one time and forget forever – or you could make it a game like we do. Test the theory with any two actors of your choice, and then watch all of the linking movies to add a dash of fun to your movie nights. (While the site linked will do all of the work for you, sometimes it’s more fun to just dig through IMDb and find your own variation of films to link people.)
For this week’s game, we tried to find the quickest way to link Jodie Foster to Jonah Hill, which we managed to accomplish with just three films.
The Beaver
The Beaver is a 2011 drama that features Foster and stars Mel Gibson, who plays a dad who decides to put a beaver puppet on his hand and communicate through it from there forward. The film tackles relationships, depression, and healing in a frighteningly real and often funny way.
The Beaver is streaming now on Freevee.
What Women Want
What Women Want is a Y2K film starring Gibson that features Marisa Tomei. Gibson plays a chauvinistic jerk who suddenly acquires the ability to hear what women are thinking. It’s funny, surprisingly sweet, and very 2000s.
What Women Want is streaming now on Paramount+.
Cyrus
Cyrus is a 2010 romantic comedy starring Marisa Tomei, Jonah Hill, and John C. Reilly, unsurprisingly making it heavy on comedy. The film is directed and written by Mark Duplass and Jay Duplass, and if you’re familiar with their work, you already know they don’t make your average fare. A Duplass brothers film is always a little offbeat and idiosyncratic.
Cyrus is available to rent on the platform of your choice.
Just like that, we connected Jodie Foster to Jonah Hill (Foster and Gibson to Gibson and Tomei to Tomei and Hill). The question remains – who will you try to connect during your next family movie night, and how many degrees of separation will it take?
