In the \u201990s, as he became one of\u00a0Hollywood\u2019s most interesting leading men, he added several classics to his resume, including\u00a0The Grifters<\/em>,\u00a0Grosse Pointe Blank<\/em>,\u00a0Con Air<\/em>, and\u00a0Being John Malkovich<\/em>. Then, at the turn of the century, he arguably hit the high point of his commercial viability with the romcom triple hit of\u00a0High Fidelity<\/em>,\u00a0America\u2019s Sweethearts<\/em>, and\u00a0Serendipity<\/em>.<\/p>\n After this, things started to get a bit unsteady for Cusack at the box office, primarily when he made anything outside the boundaries of standard Hollywood mainstream entertainment. First there was\u00a0Max<\/em>, a troubling drama about the friendship between a Jewish art dealer and his angry young client, an Austrian painter named Adolf Hitler. The film posited the idea of how different the world could have been had Hitler realised his potential as an artist, instead of embracing antisemitism and becoming, y\u2019know, one of the most evil men the world has ever seen. The movie was obviously a tough sell, both critically and commercially, and Cusack took the brunt of that failure.<\/p>\n Over the next six years, he starred in a couple of hits, like\u00a0Identity<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a01408<\/em>, but also a fair few duds, before he took another big risk with 2008\u2019s\u00a0War Inc<\/em>. This action-comedy\/political satire hybrid was a real labour of love for the star, who co-wrote and produced the film in addition to starring as a disillusioned hitman tasked with killing the CEO of a West Asian oil company. To Cusack, the film was a \u201cspiritual cousin\u201d to\u00a0Grosse Pointe Blank<\/em>, in which he played a hitman attending his high school reunion.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, the similarities stopped there, with\u00a0War Inc<\/em>\u00a0failing to cultivate the audience the 1997 black comedy enjoyed. It was savaged by critics, with Cusack\u2019s co-star Ben Kingsley even generating a Razzie nomination for his performance, and even though it had an extremely high box office take in the cinemas it was released in, it was only ever available in a maximum of 32 theatres across the US. In the end, this lack of a wide release doomed the movie to a dismal take of $1.2million.<\/p>\n In the aftermath of this latest disaster, Cusack claimed that it was all part and parcel of his desire to follow his creative muse, instead of always following what the market dictates. \u201cI just do whatever I\u2019m interested in, whatever challenges and provokes me,\u201d he told\u00a0Chud<\/em>\u00a0in 2008, \u201cI don\u2019t mind risking things, I don\u2019t mind failing. It\u2019s okay to risk and fail and extend yourself and work without a net.\u201d<\/p>\n For Cusack, it was better to risk it for the biscuit than not try at all, because that cowardly approach would only lead to regret, confessing, \u201cI don\u2019t want to look back at this period and go, \u2018All I did was make money making romantic comedies\u201d.<\/p>\n At the time, the actor probably thought\u00a0War Inc<\/em>\u00a0would just be chalked up as a noble failure, and he\u2019d go back to making the occasional hit followed by another risky proposition. Sadly, the\u00a0business of Hollywood changed around him\u00a0in this period, and the \u2018one for you, one for them\u2019 mentality that used to serve A-list stars so well became almost extinct. \u201cNow it\u2019s six for them, with a committee cutting the film who weren\u2019t part of making it, and maybe one for you,\u201d he legitimately grumbled to\u00a0The Guardian<\/em>\u00a0in 2014.<\/p>\n Before\u00a0War Inc<\/em>, Cusack had only been a part of one direct-to-video film, but since its release, he has been firmly mired in that schlocky, low-budget territory. He hasn\u2019t starred in a theatrically released hit movie since 2014\u2019s\u00a0Love & Mercy<\/em>, unless you count the Chinese productions he\u2019s unexpectedly turned up in, such as 2015\u2019s\u00a0Dragon Blade\u00a0<\/em>and 2025\u2019s\u00a0Detective Chinatown 1900<\/em>.<\/p>\n When speaking about the downturn in career prospects in 2020, he admitted, \u201cI haven\u2019t really been hot for a long time\u201d, and it\u2019s hard not to point to\u00a0War Inc<\/em>\u00a0as the moment that rot truly began to set in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If any actor from the last 40 years of Hollywood history knows the industry\u2019s precipitous highs and dizzying lows better than most, it\u2019s\u00a0John Cusack. After … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3626,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"John](\"https:\/\/cdn1.faroutmagazine.co.uk\/uploads\/1\/2022\/06\/John-Cusack.jpg\")
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