John Cusack isn’t the nostalgic type. “I don’t usually look
backwards too much,” Cusack told CITY via phone from his Chicago residence, in
advance of his Rochester appearance this week. But he’ll make an exception for
the things he loves, such as “old baseball, sports teams, the ’85 Bears,” he says.
“So, I guess I have a sweet spot for things that I like…but as far when you’re
doing it, you wanna keep moving to the next thing.
And what’s in front of you.”
Coincidently
enough, the Kodak Center’s screening of his 1989 film “Say Anything,” which brings
him to town this Thursday night, is very much in front of Cusack. He’s screened
the film in theaters a half dozen times this year. “Say Anything” centers on
Cusack’s character Lloyd Dobler, a noble ne’er-do-well
who dares to ask out fellow high school senior, Diane Court, a pretty, preppy,
straight-A student. Both characters grapple with an unanswerable, unavoidable
question: “What do they want to do when they grow up?” And in this case,
whether they can or should do it together.
The film has
gained cult status and general acclaim since its debut. Its most memorable scene
— featuring Cusack’s trench coat-clad lead character hoisting a boombox over his head, blasting Peter Gabriel’s “In Your
Eyes” outside his ex-girlfriend’s window — became something of a modern
archetypal image of a jilted lover begging for a second chance. And Cusack went
on to have a career of memorable performances in blockbusters “Con-Air” and “Hot
Tub Time Machine,” and niche romantic comedies “Grosse Point Blank” and “High
Fidelity,” which he has also took on the road this year.
For Cusack,
revisiting these films is less about vanity and more about his fans’
relationship with his films.
“If people
keep coming and enjoying it, I’ll keep doing it,” Cusack says. “It’s kind of a
party atmosphere. You can see the fans having an almost interactive experience
with the movie,” he says, adding that the audience’s reaction almost sounds
like the audiences of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
Each
screening is paired with a spirited question and answer session. Cusack says
most fans want to talk about their favorite scenes or characters, while others
want to talk politics, which is a passion of his.
“These days,
I’m mostly upfront with politics because of the Trump Administration and how dangerous
it is,” Cusack says. “The press is under attack. I work on trying to preserve
principles that matter.”
But Cusack’s
principle-driven work started years before the Trump Administration. He’s been
an outspoken critic of drone warfare and sits on the board of the Freedom of
the Press Foundation. That organization was founded by fellow Chicago native
Daniel Ellsberg, who famously leaked The Pentagon Papers during the Vietnam War.
The foundation’s site says that it’s “dedicated to helping support and defend
aggressive, public-interest journalism focused on exposing mismanagement,
corruption, and law-breaking in government.” Other key members of the
organization include Edward Snowden, The Intercept’s Glenn Greenwald, and
filmmaker Laura Poitras.
Cusack says
that politics have always played a role in how he chooses his acting roles.
“You can be in super jingoistic manipulative pieces or choose not to be in
them,” he says. “I’ve always chose not to do those types of things. Sometimes
there’s a lazy way to tell a story. And sometimes there’s a more provocative,
honest way to tell a story.”
His quest
for honest, provocative roles has recently led him to participate in independent
films with unique slants, such as the 2012 dark period piece, “The Raven,” inspired
by the titular Edgar Allan Poe poem; and the 2015 Spike Lee musical, “Chi-Raq,” which is an adaptation of the Greek play “Lysistrata,” set against a modern day backdrop of Chicago gang
violence.
“There’s a
difference between having a point of view and sticking to it,” Cusack says. “Or
having no ideas at all. Even if you’re making a popcorn movie, you can still
try to make something good. Something that has contrast.”
This article appears in Sep 12-19, 2018.
I attended the John Cusack event last night, and truly enjoyed it. While I admire Mr. Garner in general, always an avid reader of his movie reviews prior to his retirement, it felt like he didn’t do his “homework” on John. One example was the question “have you ever thought of directing”, John’s courteous response was “actually, I have directed” and Mr. Garner fumbled a bit on what some of his movies were about. The questions from the audience were very enjoyable; everything from quoting John’s movie lines (did you ever get that 2 dollars?), asking if he’d had a garbage plate, suggesting Irondequoit Mall as a movie location and a very smitten audience member asked John on a date. She was doing the meet and greet after, so not sure how that panned out. I was in the cheap seats or as someone else called it “the group-on section” but was able to see fine, except maybe not as close of a look of John’s face as I would have preferred and he wore a hat, which didn’t help. Overall great experience.