After Joan Cusack made her first red carpet appearance in over a decade at the premiere of Pixar’s Toy Story 5, in which she voices Jessie, her younger brother John opened up about his own absence from Hollywood.
He explained why he turned to writing graphic novels and why he believes they have an advantage over acting.
For years, John was one of Hollywood’s most recognizable leading men, appearing in more than 80 films including Grosse Pointe Blank, High Fidelity, and Con Air.
Highlights
- John Cusack explained why he stepped away from Hollywood despite decades as a leading man.
- His sister Joan Cusack has also embraced a quieter life away from the spotlight after years of success.
- The actor said he believes one creative medium has an advantage over movies.
Image credits: Getty/Katie Jones-Variety
Over the past few years, though, he has become more selective about his projects, which is why fans have been seeing him less frequently on the big screen.
Last year, the 60-year-old actor appeared in the WWII thriller Fog of War and the Mandarin-language comedy Detective Chinatown 1900, playing a US Congressman.
John comes from a family of artists. In addition to his sister Joan, he has another sister, Ann, who is also an actress. She starred in A League of Their Own and The Informant! Their father, Dick Cusack, was an actor, producer, and writer.
Image credits: Getty/Steve Eichner
However extensive his film résumé may be, John is not entirely proud of the industry that made him a star.
Speaking with Variety at the San Diego Comic-Con on Friday (July 24), the Golden Globe nominee revealed why he believes the film industry is no longer the best outlet for expressing his creative interests.
“I always thought [graphic novels] were the closest things to film, really,” he said. “You’re picking out shots, they’re so cinematic.”
Image credits: TFI Friday Official
John explained that he became a writer because he “didn’t [want to] negotiate telling a story.”
“When you ask somebody to put $20 million or $30 million into a bank account [for a film], they want to have an opinion and they’re afraid,” he said.
His first graphic novel, titled Momo, is the work of just two people: himself and illustrator Ignacio Noé.
Image credits: TFI Friday Official
John said he prefers writing novels because he doesn’t have to please dozens of Hollywood executives or let them modify his work.
“This was just like, I wrote it, and I said, ‘I like the story,’ and then I got this beautiful, wonderful artist, Ignacio Noé, to do the illustrations and so nobody edited anything I wrote or that he drew.
“It was just me and Ignacio’s story, and that doesn’t happen today. There’s no bull, and there’s no committee. There’s no computer up in Seattle that’s poll-testing it.”
Image credits: IMDb
Scheduled for release on September 29, Momo follows two fugitives in 1972 who embark on a road trip to fulfill a destiny involving the head of a captured alien in the custody of Richard Nixon’s government.
John has described the story as a "wild fusion of theological noir, cosmic satire, and darkly comic Americana in a mind-bending odyssey.”
Image credits: Simon And Schuster
In a recent interview with Forbes, the Hollywood star further addressed his disappointment with the film industry, which he believes prioritizes money at the expense of originality.
“Back when I was starting to make movies, you would find people who had aspirations to do something totally unique, not just installments in a franchise or something that fit their business strategy,” he said.
The Serendipity actor told the magazine that he is already working on a second graphic novel with Noé.
“I wanted to do something like movies from a different era, and no matter what happens, if someone reads it and likes it, I count that as a success.”
He had voiced similar criticism of the mainstream film industry in a 2014 interview with The Guardian.
Admitting that actors and directors have always had to sacrifice their creative vision for box office success, John said the number of projects he personally likes has become increasingly low.
“Now it’s six for them — with a committee cutting the film who weren’t part of making it – and maybe one for you,” he shared.
Image credits: IMDb
His older sister Joan has also been spending time away from the spotlight. In May, the actress made her first red-carpet appearance since 2015 when she attended the London premiere of Toy Story 5.
“I feel so honored to have worked in this industry for a long time,” the 63-year-old star told Variety in June.
“But it’s also great to live your life and raise your kids and be in Chicago and be a normal person.”
In addition to voicing the beloved cowgirl Jessie in Toy Story, Joan is known for appearing in School of Rock, Working Girl, and In & Out.
In 2005, she received an Emmy Award for her role as Sheila Jackson in the hit comedy series Shameless.
Joan has owned and operated the gift shop Judy Maxwell Home in Chicago since 2014.