John Cusack explains why he turned his back on major film studios
The 60-year-old actor revealed at San Diego Comic-Con that losing creative control drove him to leave Hollywood and focus on independent projects.
The 60-year-old actor revealed at San Diego Comic-Con that losing creative control drove him to leave Hollywood and focus on independent projects.
John Cusack, one of the most recognizable actors of the generation that defined American cinema in the 1990s and 2000s, has publicly spoken out about the reasons behind his retreat from Hollywood. At this week's Comic-Con in San Diego, as reported by Variety, the 60-year-old actor explained that the studio system simply no longer interested him because it stripped away what he values most in his work: complete creative freedom.
Cusack did not mince words when describing his frustrations with working inside the Hollywood system. He pointed out that major studios, due to the financial risk they take on, inevitably become co-authors of every project, in a way he found unacceptable.
"When you ask someone to put up 20 or 30 million dollars for a film, that person wants to have their say, they're afraid of losing money and so on", the actor said. He added that under such circumstances, the author's creative vision is almost always subordinated to commercial interests and the opinions of committees that often have nothing to do with art.
Rather than returning to film sets, Cusack has channeled his energy into a graphic novel titled "Momo," due out on September 29. The story is set in 1972 and follows two fugitives searching for an ancient artifact for TV star Jackie Gleason. He collaborated on the project with Argentine illustrator Ignacio Noé, emphasizing that the entire process was free from outside interference.
"I wrote the story, said I liked it, then hired this beautiful, amazing artist, Ignacio Noé, to do the illustrations. Nobody changed what I wrote or what he drew", Cusack stated.
The actor particularly highlighted how precious that kind of collaboration is, which, he says, has become a rarity in the modern entertainment industry.
"This is truly a work created by only two people. It is exclusively mine and Ignacio's story, and that doesn't happen anymore. No nonsense and no committees. No computer in Seattle testing audience reactions", he concluded, alluding to the increasingly widespread use of algorithms and focus groups in creative decision-making in Hollywood.
Cusack also explained why the graphic novel format was not unfamiliar territory for him, but rather a logical extension of cinematic thinking.
"I've always felt that graphic novels are actually the closest thing to film. You choose the shots yourself, everything is very cinematic", he said. That visual and narrative language, shared by film and comics, allowed him to tell stories in a way that feels natural to him, but without the compromises imposed by the Hollywood production machine.
John is not the only Cusack to step back from Hollywood. His sister Joan, known for her roles in films like "School of Rock" and "The Addams Family," recently appeared at the premiere of the animated film "Toy Story 5" in Los Angeles, marking her first red carpet appearance in a long time. Joan voices the character Jessie in that franchise. She told E! News that she consciously stepped away to focus on her family in Chicago, where she lives.
"I have to admit that at one point I said, 'Wait a minute, my priority really is being in Chicago where I live and raising my children'", she said, adding that she has been doing so for ten years.
The stories of the Cusack siblings paint a broader picture of how more and more Hollywood actors, especially those who built their careers outside the blockbuster system or have achieved a certain level of freedom, are choosing to work on their own terms or take a complete break. John's graphic novel "Momo" will be a real test of whether a Hollywood name can attract an audience beyond the silver screen.
