Are You an Idiot Savant?

Today on the radio they were talking to people who have what they called idiot savant talents, something you are really, really good at but has no value at all. My Sister and I call my Mother an Idiot Food Savant (those who know her know what I mean). While she gave birth to both my Sister and myself, she can’t remember what year we were born (she tends to make us a year older than we really are, not cool), but she can remember everything she ate on a road trip to California in 1983. Go figure.

I guess my idiot savant skill is Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. If you don’t know what that is, it’s a game some college kids in the 1990s came up with based on the theory of Six Degrees of Separation which is the idea that everyone is six steps away from any other person on Earth (i.e. a friend of a friend). Because Kevin Bacon has been in so many movies (he’s 52 years old and has been in about 70 movies) the purpose of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon is that any actor can be linked to Kevin Bacon by less than six movies.

I’m really good at this game (and unless they make this into a game show, it has no real value to me) and I’ll give two secrets to being good at this game. #1 – you don’t have to see a lot of movies, you just have to know who was in them. #2 – you only have to know a few of the really well know movies Kevin Bacon was in with high profile actors. I’ll give you some examples using the most recent Oscar winners and I promise you I am NOT cheating by using Google or IMBb.

Colin Firth (Best Actor for A King’s Speech)

Colin Firth was in Bridget Jones’s Diary with Renee Zellweger
Renee Zellweger was in Case 39 with Bradley Cooper
Bradley Cooper was in Valentine’s Day with Julia Roberts
Julia Roberts was in Flatliners with Kevin Bacon

Natalie Portman (Best Actress or Black Swan)

Natalie Portman was in Where the Heart is with Stockard Channing
Stockard Channing was in Strange Magic with Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman was in Days of Thunder/Far Away with Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise was in a Few Good Men with Kevin Bacon

Melissa Leo & Christian Bale (Supporting role in The Fighter)

Melissa Leo & Christian Bale were in The Fighter with Amy Adams
Amy Adams was in Julie & Julia with Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep was in The River Wild with Kevin Bacon

It’s a little bit harder with new, younger actors who have had many breakout roles, obscure actors who only done really small roles, or classic movie actors like Elizabeth Taylor. Movies with great ensemble casts also really helps, like with any of the three major actors in the Harry Potter movies:

Daniel Radcliff/Emma Watson/Rupert Grint were in all the Harry Potter movie with Alan Rickman
Alan Rickman was in Sense and Sensibility with Hugh Grant
Hugh Grant was in Notting Hill with Julia Roberts
Julia Roberts was in Flatliners with Kevin Bacon

Or how about the Twilight actors:

Robert Patterson was in Water for Elephants with Reese Witherspoon
Reese Witherspoon was in Pleasantville with Joan Allen
Joan Allen was in Apollo 13 with Kevin Bacon

Kristen Stewart was in Twilight New Moon with Dakota Fanning
Dakota Fanning was in War of the Worlds with Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise was in A Few Good Men with Kevin Bacon

And just for good measure:

Elizabeth Taylor

Elizabeth Taylor was in The Flintstones with Elizabeth Perkins
Elizabeth Perkins was in Big with Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks was in Apollo 13 with Kevin Bacon

Give me a name and I’ll like them to Kevin Bacon is six or less steps!