John Cusack #CANCELLED

[phantom_power]

What happened to him? In the days of High Fidelity, Con Air and Grosse Point Blank it seemed like he was the go-to guy for intelligent action and comedy films. Now he just seems to do DTV shite that practically no-one watches. Did he stop caring, piss the wrong person off or just make some terrible decisions?

[a duncandisorderly]

What happened to him? In the days of High Fidelity, Con Air and Grosse Point Blank it seemed like he was the go-to guy for intelligent action and comedy films. Now he just seems to do DTV shite that practically no-one watches. Did he stop caring, piss the wrong person off or just make some terrible decisions?

I think it was when 'war, inc.' wasn't a hit... that '2012' thing was unutterably shite. my mrs bought a DVD of it for a fiver, because it was so shit it wasn't even torrentable.

[Howj Begg]

Did a decent job as Brian Wilson, imo.

[phantom_power]

But plenty of actors have weathered fallow periods. He seems to have fallen from grace more spectacularly than others. I suppose others just disappear completely whereas he keeps appearing in "Shit movie poster" thread films

[oy vey]

I still haven't forgiven him for disowning Better Off Dead, though in a recent Idiot podcast he did rightfully acknowledge "It's a shame folks throw away a perfectly good white boy like that" is a great line.

He's a great actor with shades of cunt in there. But can't you say that about everyone?

[St_Eddie]

He's a great actor with shades of cunt in there. But can't you say that about everyone?

Most people aren't even actors, much less great ones.

[oy vey]

Most people aren't even actors, much less great ones.

On this point, we'll agree to disagree.

[mothman]

Dachau Thing.

[DukeDeMondo]

Say what you like about unnecessary sequels, but there's no denying that this Max 2 viral marketing campaign is off to a phenomenal start.

[peanutbutter]

What happened to him? In the days of High Fidelity, Con Air and Grosse Point Blank it seemed like he was the go-to guy for intelligent action and comedy films. Now he just seems to do DTV shite that practically no-one watches. Did he stop caring, piss the wrong person off or just make some terrible decisions?

I think it's just that his look and usual character types beyond a certain age switch from being kinda charming assholes to just being grumpy assholes. There's just no market for it and he's been stuck either putting a lot more choice into what he does at a potential financial sacrifice or doing whatever random crap pays the levels he used to be able to command.

[Enrico Palazzo]

Did a decent job as Brian Wilson, imo.

Thought Paul Dano did a great job. Disastrous decision to have Cusack play him for the other half of the film.

[famethrowa]

I still haven't forgiven him for disowning Better Off Dead

I think this is just it. People loooove that movie, it's just so enjoyable and clever and quirky, and the public is outright offended that he would say negative things about it. We were prepared to give him a chance while he still resembled Lane Myers, but nowdays, forget it .

[Phil_A]

Thought Paul Dano did a great job. Disastrous decision to have Cusack play him for the other half of the film.

The fact they didn't cast Jeff Daniels to play Old Brian is one of the greateat missed opportunities in film history. In my opinion.

[bgmnts]

I just realised somebody labelled Con Air as 'intelligent action'. Now, I love Con Air to death, any shit action film with an amazing premise, starring Cage, is my safe space. However, intelligent it is not.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I just realised somebody labelled Con Air as 'intelligent action'. Now, I love Con Air to death, any shit action film with an amazing premise, starring Cage, is my safe space. However, intelligent it is not.

Grosse Point Blank is a rom-com with an assassin in it. Not intelligent either.

[greenman]

I think it's just that his look and usual character types beyond a certain age switch from being kinda charming assholes to just being grumpy assholes. There's just no market for it and he's been stuck either putting a lot more choice into what he does at a potential financial sacrifice or doing whatever random crap pays the levels he used to be able to command.

He was always heavily tied to a certain era as well I'd say, basically the go to actor for the Gen X charming malcontent but post millennium and indeed middle age that really didn't apply anymore.

There's probably some annoying dissertation in cinema studies to be written on his career up to the turn of the millennium as representing a generation.

[Icehaven]

What happened to him? In the days of High Fidelity, Con Air and Grosse Point Blank it seemed like he was the go-to guy for intelligent action and comedy films. Now he just seems to do DTV shite that practically no-one watches. Did he stop caring, piss the wrong person off or just make some terrible decisions?

I think you can draw one of those circle diagrams with Robert Downey Jnr. in one circle, Nick Cage in the other and John Cusack in the overlapping bit, so with both of them riding relatively high there's just not really any need for him. If RDJ had never made his comeback Cusack could have been Iron Man, how about that then.

[The Culture Bunker]

Grosse Point Blank is a rom-com with an assassin in it. Not intelligent either.

Several assasins, in fact. I did enjoy the subplot about Aykroyd's character trying to unionise them all, and the line about contract killing being a "growth industry".

Fever Pitch is also one of those examples of a film that is miles better than the source material, but it does seem to mark the point his career hit the downward curve.

Lastly, I haven't seen that The Butler film but I really struggle to imagine him as Richard Nixon.

If RDJ had never made his comeback Cusack could have been Iron Man, how about that then.

It's an interesting thought, but I'm not sure Cusack can do the "insufferable wanker" aspect of Tony Stark that Downey Jnr had to a tee.

[Bad Ambassador]

Cusack was the network's choice to play Walter White.

I think things went wrong after 2012 (the film). That was kicked around town, despite being pretty enjoyable as empty spectacles go, then Hot Tub Time Machine struggled at the box office and carried the stigma of the MGM fire sale. His next two films, The Raven and The Paperboy, both stiffed and had terrible reviews, and Shanghai, a prestige US-Chinese co-production with an impressive cast went unreleased in the US for five years. That was went he started doing DTV stuff like The Frozen Ground, The Numbers Station and Drive Hard, enlivened only by The Butler - which had excellent reviews and was a hit, despite looking fucking absurd - and films with Spike Lee and David Cronenberg, in both of which he was a supporting performer and the films stiffed.

His last leading role in a hit film was 1408, twelve years ago.

[Deyv]

Fever Pitch is also one of those examples of a film that is miles better than the source material, but it does seem to mark the point his career hit the downward curve.

Fever Pitch is just as shit as the source material, but that one starred Colin Firth. High Fidelity is a fair bit better than the book and Cusack is quite charming in it despite playing an utter dick.

[The Culture Bunker]

Fever Pitch is just as shit as the source material, but that one starred Colin Firth. High Fidelity is a fair bit better than the book and Cusack is quite charming in it despite playing an utter dick.

Doh. Sorry, yes, I meant High Fidelity. There was an American Fever Pitch too (about baseball), which may explain the mix up in my knackered brain.

Jack Black may have been the best thing in High Fidelity, despite the fact he usually irritates me. The actress playing the girlfriend was beyond useless, though. I did flick through the book again not too long ago, having first read it in 2001 or so, and found myself wanting to shred every page, concluding that Hornby doesn't actually like music that much.

[Deyv]

Doh. Sorry, yes, I meant High Fidelity. There was an American Fever Pitch too (about baseball), which may explain the mix up in my knackered brain.

Jack Black may have been the best thing in High Fidelity, despite the fact he usually irritates me. The actress playing the girlfriend was beyond useless, though.

Completely agree, but I did hear somewhere that the actress doesn't speak a word of English. I think it was an interview with Stephen Frears, but I may be remembering that wrong. It's odd that they'd cast a non-English speaking person for a main role, I probably am remembering it wrong.

I saw the Cronenberg-Cusack film. I thought it was just okay, it had all these horrible elements and despicable characters but somehow it ended up being very unmemorable. Robert Pattinson was better than Cusack in it, but I still thought "oh, that's a shame" when I saw this thread title.

[The Culture Bunker]

but I still thought "oh, that's a shame" when I saw this thread title.

Aye, me too. I remember watching Grosse Point Blank when I was 16 or so and thinking he was brilliant in it. Plus, a top soundtrack.

[Icehaven]

Completely agree, but I did hear somewhere that the actress doesn't speak a word of English. I think it was an interview with Stephen Frears, but I may be remembering that wrong. It's odd that they'd cast a non-English speaking person for a main role, I probably am remembering it wrong.

Just looking up the cast list of High Fidelity to see what her name was and realised I'd totally forgotten Harold Ramis was in it.

[The Culture Bunker]

Just looking up the cast list of High Fidelity to see what her name was and realised I'd totally forgotten Harold Ramis was in it.

Imdb sez "deleted scene", which may explain why you didn't remember.

[Sin Agog]

Several assasins, in fact. I did enjoy the subplot about Aykroyd's character trying to unionise them all, and the line about contract killing being a "growth industry".

Just listened to a recent interview with Dan Aykroyd where he, in all earnestness, waxed on about his encounters with two Men In Black (well, they were wearing blue denim and staring at him, but they must have been MIBs), and how we're all being cross-bred with aliens to increase our mindfulness levels.  Then I googled more on the subject, and he's spouting crazy alien gubbins all over the strip.  Does being a mad conspiracist make one effectively UnCancellable?

[Sin Agog]

And on the subject of Cusack's career, he'll doubtless find a home on TV like all those other 'what have they been up to?' actors.  The kind of mid-tier, mid-budget movies Cusack thrived in aren't really being made anymore, which is a shite state of affairs.

[Icehaven]

Imdb sez "deleted scene", which may explain why you didn't remember.

Oh good! I'm not going senile then. I had a vague memory of him doing a cameo as someone's Dad and momentarily thought that must be it but then remembered that was Knocked Up, which I can't believe I've even watched, never mind remembered as a Harold Ramis role.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Completely agree, but I did hear somewhere that the actress doesn't speak a word of English. I think it was an interview with Stephen Frears, but I may be remembering that wrong. It's odd that they'd cast a non-English speaking person for a main role, I probably am remembering it wrong.

She's Danish, so I'd imagine she'd speak some English.

[The Culture Bunker]

And on the subject of Cusack's career, he'll doubtless find a home on TV like all those other 'what have they been up to?' actors.  The kind of mid-tier, mid-budget movies Cusack thrived in aren't really being made anymore, which is a shite state of affairs.

True enough. But I am surprised he hasn't appeared in something like a Marvel film in a supporting role - for example, Agent Ross in Civil War/Black Panther, and he would have been an improvement on Freeman. Pretty unlikely now.