Product Details:
Hardcover 180 pages (October 6, 2005)
Publisher: Dewi Lewis Media Ltd
Language: English
ISBN: 0954684362
Category(ies): Music, Stage & Screen
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 226,418
(Publishers and authors: improve your sales)

Book Description
'The twelve minutes' allotted time soon stretched to over an hour and a half-You want George Clooney? OK. And before I knew it, Brad was on the phone to George setting up my next link. And at the end of it all, when we'd finished comparing which actresses were hot and which were not, and my shots were in the can, he gave me a big enormous hug and said the shoot was the most fun he'd had in ages.'

'Degrees' is loosely based on the 'six degrees of separation theory' and the world famous cinema game 'The Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon'; this is the theory that you can connect ANY actor you can think of to Kevin Bacon.

Andy Gotts has had extraordinary access to the world's most famous faces. Over 100 A-list actors feature in this fascinating collection of photographs and anecdotes. Each actor Gotts photographed then suggested a best friend, or someone they really admired, as the next person. This gives a wonderful chain of 'who knows who'. Dustin Hoffman suggested Brad Pitt, Brad suggested George Clooney, George suggested Julia Roberts, Julia suggested Susan Sarandon, Susan suggested Paul Newman, Paul suggested....etc.

Two weeks before he died Sir Alan Bates wrote a text for Andy Gotts ­ it was his last penned work ­ and is included as a foreword. Sir Alan had suggested Pierce Brosnan as his 'connection', and Pierce has written a tribute to him. As an afterword, Kevin Bacon himself plays the 'six degrees' game, linking himself back to Sir Alan Bates, by just using the actors photographed for the book.

Synopsis
Based on the 'six degrees of separation theory' and the world famous cinema game "The Six Degrees" of Kevin Bacon, this is the theory that you can connect any actor you can think of to Kevin Bacon. Over 100 A-list actors feature in this collection of photographs and anecdotes. This gives a wonderful chain of 'who knows who'.

Most people will, at some point, have played "six degrees of Kevin Bacon", the game that challenges you to link the prolific film star to any other in five steps. But Bacon's own thoughts on the game will finally be published next month in a new book. We reprint his afterword below

Monday September 12, 2005
The Guardian

I first heard about the game many years ago. In fact, I remember thinking: "This won't last, it will fade like Hula Hoops and Pet Rocks." I remember kids coming up to me and telling me they were hung over from having played it in a bar the night before - you know, take a shot of whatever for every degree of separation. I thought I would be accused of contributing to rampant alcoholism sweeping America's campuses.

Then there was the urban legend crowd. "Dude, a friend of mine's cousin made up a game about you." The internet was exploding and the game spread like wildfire until I was asked to appear on The Jon Stewart Show in 1994 with the creators of the game, three kids from Albright College. At this point I was irritated by the idea. I felt as if I was the brunt of some massive joke at my expense: "Can you believe this loser can be connected to Marlon Brando and Katharine Hepburn?"

But through the years I have learned to tolerate and sometimes embrace the idea. People have asked me if I consider it an honour. Well, all it indicates is that I've been in a lot of movies with a lot of people. And besides that there are plenty of other actors that would work. Six degrees of Kevin Spacey or Kline. But the thing that I've grown to appreciate is that it's just a concept. It's not a thing. You can't buy it or sell it or own it. No one is getting rich off it (much to my dismay). You can't put it on your mantel or bequeath it to your offspring. It just is. And if we take me out of the equation, it is a beautiful concept. If we could remember that every one of us on this planet is connected through six degrees of separation, that we all climbed out of the same swamp, maybe we wouldn't be so quick to rush to war or to turn our backs on our brothers in need.

Do I play? Honestly, no, but as a thank-you to Andy (and using only actors involved in the "degrees" project) I will "six degrees" myself with Sir Alan Bates who wrote the foreword to this book. Here goes: I (Kevin Bacon) was in Flatliners with Julia Roberts, who was in Closer with Jude Law, who was in The Talented Mr Ripley with Gwyneth Paltrow, who was in Seven with Morgan Freeman, who was in The Sum of all Fears with Sir Alan Bates!

· Degrees by Andy Gotts is published by Dewi Lewis Media on October 6. An exhibition of photographs from the book runs from September 30 to October 29 at the Getty Images Gallery, 46 Eastcastle St, London W1.