Kevin Bacon on Friday afternoon honored his Tremors co-star, Fred Ward. It was revealed earlier in the day that Ward had died Sunday. He was 79.
“So sad to hear about Fred Ward. When it came to battling underground worms, I couldn’t have asked for a better partner. I will always remember chatting about his love of Django Reinhardt and jazz guitar during our long, hot days in the high desert. Rest In Peace, Fred,” Bacon said on Twitter.
Bacon and Ward starred together in the 1990 cult classic. The Universal Pictures monster suspense film was a box office bomb, but over the years gained a massive fan base for its silliness, action and wit. Tremors centered on the small desert town of Perfection, Nevada, which is suddenly plagued with deadly, enormous worm-like monsters killing the townsfolk.
Its randomness, quite good creature effects and colorful characters made the film enduring and popular with VHS audiences. Bacon, who delivers an epic F-bomb in the film that all but cemented the PG-13 rating, also holds the film close to his heart. Last May, Bacon said in an interview that Tremors was the only film he had done in his career that ever interested him in doing a sequel. Bacon noted he was approached to be in the direct-to-video sequels but had no interest sans a theatrical release.
“We were around the 25-year anniversary. I went to Blumhouse, and they were totally into the idea,” Bacon said then. “Universal didn’t want to remake it as a feature, and also maybe because it didn’t work as a feature the first time. So we put it aside. Then they came back to me and said, ‘What would you think about doing it as a series?’”
The series was shopped around, but died on the vine, Bacon said.
So sad to hear about Fred Ward. When it came to battling underground worms I couldn’t have asked for a better partner. I will always remember chatting about his love of Django Reinhardt and jazz guitar during our long hot days in the high desert. Rest In Peace Fred. pic.twitter.com/WLOB0iVwkd
— Kevin Bacon (@kevinbacon) May 13, 2022
