Fan theories run the gamut from the inspired to the insane, and the latest trying to make sense of the disastrous box office performance of Ridley Scott’s widely-acclaimed and Academy Award-nominated historical epic The Last Duel falls firmly into the latter category.
The filmmaker’s response to his $100 million period piece barely crossing $30 million in ticket sales has long since become the stuff of legend, whether he was blaming its poor showing on millennials refusing to tear themselves away from their cellphones long enough to luxuriate in its 153-minute running time, or telling interviewers to go f*ck themselves midway through a conversation for asking a question he didn’t like.
They don’t call him one of cinema’s most famous curmudgeons for nothing, but a superbly nonsensical theory on Reddit has shifted the blame away from the online generation and firmly onto the shoulders of Kevin Bacon, who wasn’t even involved in The Last Duel in any capacity.
Instead, the speculation posits that the number one reason why the sword-swinging tale of lust, love, betrayal, and a good old-fashioned joust cratered as hard as it did is because nobody involved in the production in a major capacity has a Bacon Number of higher than two when it comes to Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.
It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, and has precisely zero bearing on The Last Duel losing a fortune despite being so rapturously received by critics while being ignored by audiences, but that’s exactly what makes it so goddamned beautiful.