Kevin Bacon Says Having Kids 'Really Does' Help in Seeing a 'Different Point of View'

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Kevin Bacon is adjusting to the times.

The Golden Globe winner, 64, tells PEOPLE "it really does" help having kids when seeing things from a "different point of view" as he discusses his new Peacock Original film They/Them, an LGBTQ horror movie set at a conversion therapy camp.

"I think that in the past few years, even someone as old and weathered as me can say, 'Let me start to listen a little bit more and start to look at things from a different point of view,'" Bacon says. "Certainly when it comes to young people, they are our future."

The actor shares son Travis Bacon, 33, and daughter Sosie Bacon, 30, with wife Kyra Sedgwick, whom accompanied him on the red carpet at Sunday's Outfest premiere of They/Them at the Theater at Ace Hotel in Los Angeles.

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Bacon stars in They/Them (pronounced "They Slash Them") as Owen Whistler, the proprietor of Camp Whistler, an LGBTQ conversion camp where the counselors start turning up dead. "I think the timing is really good for a movie like this," he says of the film, on which he also served as an executive producer.

The movie comes as 23 states have introduced anti-LGBTQ bills in 2022, according to HRC, many of which affect LGBTQ youth. At least 13 states have signed such legislation into law this year. Meanwhile, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has recommended revisiting the rulings that protect the rights to same-sex relationships and marriage.

Referencing the film's cheeky title, Bacon admits that the idea of preferred gender pronouns presented a learning curve for him at first. "I remember thinking to myself, 'Oh boy, now I got to do this,'" he says.

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"That's the reaction a lot of, certainly older people have. When you think about it, is it really that much of a hardship?"

"There's other things that are hard to do in life. But respecting something or not using language that's going to make somebody feel uncomfortable or hanging a flag that's going to make someone have a traumatic memory, is it that much of a hardship to adjust your way of thinking? I don't think so," Bacon adds.

See Kevin Bacon in They/Them, premiering Friday, August 5 on Peacock.