Frank Micelotta/FOX "Anyone can go at any time."
Or, you know, kiss at anytime! Such is The Following's, Fox's highly-anticipated new serial killer thrill from Kevin Williamson (Scream, The Vampire Diaries), motto. Proving the whole kissing thing? Stars Kevin Bacon and James Purefoy, who play the show's troubled FBI agent and serial killer. Their characters share a rich and complicated backstory…and chemistry!
At the show's panel during Fox's TCA presentation, a reporter confessed she just wanted to see Bacon and Purefoy's characters, FBI agent Ryan Hardy and serial killer Joe Carroll, kiss because they have so much chemistry on the show in their intense face-offs. And guess what? The two handsome actors granted her wish, indulging in a sweet onstage kiss! "Rule nothing in, rule nothing out," Purefoy cheekily said after the smooch.
When we got the guys later on the carpet during Fox's Star Walk, of course we had to bring up the liplock heard round the ballroom. "I wish he'd kept his tongue in his mouth. It was just a little slip in," Purefoy joked to us. "He's a wonderful kisser. I think his wife is gonna be worried!
Purefoy did have one gripe about the kiss: "He's a little stubbly."
So will Bacon's wife Kyra Sedwick be jealous of the smooch between costars? "Yeah, she'll be very jealous, I'm sure," Bacon laughs. "We'll have to keep it on the down low."
Speaking of their crackling chemistry, Purefoy said working with Bacon inspires him to be on his A-game all the time. "If you're playing tennis against somebody useless, you get worse" he explained.
Of course, Bacon coming to TV after a rich career in film is a big deal, but the actor reveals he'd been looking for a series for about four years before coming across The Following.
"I initially had thought that it was going to be on cable and I read this one and I could not put it down," he explains. "It was just such a page turner and I thought it was such an interesting character. Given the fast paced, heart pounding nature of it, it still had a lot of great heart and the certain kind of almost sentimentality that I really responded to."
While much has been said about The Following's violence and death toll, Williamson assures that it's not all death and despair. "There's definitely some moments that are squeamish, and it's definitely not for the faint of heart, but it's not [all] of the show. Some episodes I find, 'Oh, wow, a lot of people died this week.' So then I sit down and the next week no one dies."
Purefoy, whose character Joe is the center of the show's cult, added, "The acts of violence come out of people's story, out of people's background. It's not completely random." Bacon, who said he was attracted to the show's heart, said of his boss, "He's kind of a softie. He's really interested in the love story of the show." Whether or not that love story is between Ryan and Joe remains to be seen!
The Following debuts Jan. 21 on Fox.