Christopher Atkins was Hollywood's answer to the question nobody had asked, but everybody in the 1980s was delighted to receive: what if a Greek Adonis with magnificent blonde curls became a movie star overnight? Picked from over 4,000 hopefuls for The Blue Lagoon, Atkins became a global sensation, earned a Golden Globe nomination, and even helped send a herpetologist hunting for a newly documented Fiji crested iguana. Naturally, even a man who could inspire scientific discovery was not immune to missing the occasional career debacle.

Atkins recently reflected on one such missed miracle, revealing how alcohol cost him the chance to star in Footloose.

Christopher Atkins has revealed that his drinking habits cost him the chance to play Ren McCormack in 1984's Footloose. During a recent Q&A panel at Fanboy Expo Knoxville in Tennessee, the 65-year-old actor revisited the career-changing opportunity and admitted that he was not exactly in peak audition condition when the filmmakers came calling.

“I was a mess back then. I was partying it up way too much, and they called me in,” Atkins recalled. The actor said he had already been drinking when the Footloose filmmakers insisted on meeting him, but he arrived anyway and completely blew what was essentially his role to lose. “I was so messed up that they said, ‘Yeah, we’re going to have to pass on this guy.’”

The role ultimately went to Kevin Bacon, and the rest became Hollywood history with a killer soundtrack. Footloose turned Bacon, who is making a comeback in the romance genre, into an overnight superstar, while his increasingly interconnected career later inspired the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon phenomenon. Nearly 40 years sober, Atkins can now look back at the missed opportunity with the knowledge that Bacon danced straight into a pop-culture legacy.

Alan Ritchson Recalls Losing the Robin Role Before Joining 'Titans' as Hawk

Even though Christopher Atkins lost Footloose, the 1980s icon remains a beloved actor with fans still eager to follow his next move.

Christopher Atkins is showing no signs of slowing down, with several projects keeping the veteran actor busy across film and television. He is currently filming Heavy Hitters as Mike Burns, while Prism casts him as DEA Agent Shane Carter in a dramatic thriller. Atkins also stars as Detective John Grant in the action feature Out for Vengeance.

His upcoming slate also includes The Curse of the Gorgon, in which he plays Bates, bringing ancient mythology into a modern horror-fantasy setting. With action, crime, television, and supernatural thrills all on his schedule, Atkins has quite the eclectic career menu ahead. Footloose may have been the one that got away, but Christopher Atkins still has plenty keeping audiences watching

Stockard Channing Talks of “Chemistry” With Will Smith While the Duo Shot for the 1993 Comic Mystery

Would you have preferred to see Christopher Atkins in Footloose? Let us know in the comments!