Kevin Bacon Recalls Getting 'Thrown Up on' by Cameraperson During 'Apollo 13' Zero-Gravity Scene

“What's interesting about being thrown up on when it's zero-G is that it hovers there for a while. It's floating, and there's nothing you can really do, except go, 'Here it comes,'” Kevin Bacon shared

Photo: Mary Evans/Ronald Grant/Everett Collection

Kevin Bacon revealed it wasn't all smooth sailing while making Apollo 13.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the Footloose star, 64, recalled filming in a KC-135 aircraft — which the cast called the "Vomit Comet" — to simulate zero gravity for the film, which chronicles the story of the aborted 1970 Apollo 13 lunar mission.

Bacon admitted that he did "get thrown up on" while aboard the plane but he did not get sick himself because he took anti-nausea medication.

"One of the cameramen threw up on me. What's interesting about being thrown up on when it's zero-G is that it hovers there for a while," he explained. "It's floating, and there's nothing you can really do, except go, 'Here it comes,' and when they hit the G forces, it's coming down on you."

Bacon recalled the on-set catering did nothing to help with the nausea.

"We would do about 40 parabolas in the morning, come down and have lunch, and do about 40 parabolas in the afternoon," he shared. "But it was a giant Mexican fest with burritos and chili con carne, and all this really spicy food."

He added, "And I was like, 'Can we just calm down on the lunch thing?' I was afraid I was going to be wearing it that afternoon."

MCA/Courtesy Everett Collection

Despite the tough filming conditions on the 1995 film, Bacon said the hours spent together with director Ron Howard and costars Tom Hanks and Bill Paxton made them grow closer.

"We spent a lot of time in spacesuits unable to move in the chairs. We couldn't really move during lighting set-ups and camera set-ups because it was a real ordeal to get us out of the spacesuits," he said. "So, Ron was there, and me and Bill and Tom, and we would just have these conversations that God, if anybody recorded these, there was some funny s—."

He added, "We'd have 15-20 minutes or a half an hour to just bulls—. We didn't have anything else to do but yak to each other, and it was very funny, good times."

The bonding began with training to play astronauts in the film, which included flight school and space camp.

"We learned all about the switches and levers," he said. "It all went right over my head, but I literally think Hanks could fly in outer space. He was really, really into it. Paxton was too."

The cast were not the only ones who were interested in space travels. Howard said that he hoped to become the first filmmaker to ever direct a movie on the moon. However, he admitted in a 2020 interview with Entertainment Tonight, he has since had a change of heart.

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"I think I've lived a few too many years and have a little too much going on here on Earth to want to take that risk," Howard said. "But somebody will, and it will be really, really exciting when it happens."

"The television world, filmmaking world, storytelling world, it's made up of a lot of really bold and ambitious individuals and somebody's going to do that sooner than we think," Howard added. "I think that'll be thrilling. I'll be cheering them on."