Being John Cusack

Image credit: Grosse Pointe Blank: Melinda Sue Gordon

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John Cusack

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CON AIR (1997) Cusack's first and only total-testosterone action flick -- produced, naturally, by Jerry Bruckheimer. As a U.S. marshal, he and ex-con Nicolas Cage team up against a maniacal John Malkovich. ''I did that one because there were a lot of great actors in it, and I thought it was going to be a hit. And I needed to have a hit -- like a HIT hit. It was very different -- those movies are like a huge, industrial circus that you move around in. I would do another action movie, but I can never find an action script I like, or at least get offered one. There aren't that many intelligent action films.''

GROSSE POINT BLANK (1997) In addition to playing a hitman heading home for his 10-year high school reunion, Cusack garnered his first screenwriting credit, teaming up with Tom Jankiewicz and friends Steve Pink and D.V. DeVincentis. ''When you work on films that don't work, you spend a lot of your time fixing holes in the script. So I just thought, 'Why not write my own structure, and then I can be the one to rip it apart and put it back together again?' I'd known [Steve and D.V.] a long time. I knew my voice and I knew what I could make work.... I want to do a sequel, but they've gotten big and they're doing their own thing. I'd like to have [the character] continue where he left off -- searching for God and redemption.''

BEING JOHN MALKOVICH (1999) Playing Craig Schwartz, the sad-sack puppeteer who discovers a portal into the titular actor's head, Cusack entered the mega-meta world of director Spike Jonze and writer Charlie Kaufman. He'd re-create the role, briefly, in the pair's ''Adaptation.'' ''The two most striking scripts I ever read were 'Max' and 'Malkovich.' When I first met Charlie, it was kind of what I had expected -- really smart, really funny, and a little anxious.... I don't think the script had that ponytail [I wore], but I remember talking to Spike, and I just had this idea of this guy with that hair and these Japanese shoes -- Mr. Sensitive Ponytail Man.''

HIGH FIDELITY (2000) Another script written by Cusack and his ''Grosse Pointe Blank'' buddies (and Scott Rosenberg) -- this one based on Nick Hornby's novel about a music-obsessed cad. They won a Writers Guild best-screenplay nomination for their efforts, while Cusack received a Golden Globe nod for his performance. ''What's great about Hornby is that he writes these sort of universal secret truths about men.... People come up to me all the time to talk about music. [But] I'm always behind the curve. They're always going to me, 'Oh, you haven't heard this?' New music, I don't know -- I'm trying to get into Wilco a little bit.''

SERENDIPITY (2001) The year saw Cusack in two romantic comedies (the other was ''America's Sweethearts'') -- both box office if not critical successes. '''Serendipity' was really helpful. In a way, I thought it was sort of the antithesis of 'High Fidelity.' It was a sweet fantasy, and I don't really like those kind of movies, but it worked. And it made all this money. I sort of felt like I needed to be in it.''

MAX (2002) Set in 1918 Germany, the what-if drama stars Cusack as Max Rothman, a composite of many real figures, who represents, according to the actor, ''the spirit that Hitler tried to kill.'' ''The historical context -- about Hitler's fascination with art -- is absolutely true. What makes this film so central to [what's going on] now is the fusion of art and politics and power. This is a big issue.... Whatever evil comes in the next 50 years, it's going to come from art and images, and whoever controls the images. At some screenings at the Toronto film festival, you would hear people vocally getting into the movie and characters; and at some screenings, it was total silence.... Some people really want to not deal with it -- they're afraid. It would be comforting to think that evil just came down to earth, like a lightning bolt, and then was destroyed like in 'The Lord of the Rings.' But unfortunately, it has a human face.''