{"id":2550,"date":"2026-07-31T23:39:43","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T23:39:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/?p=2550"},"modified":"2026-07-31T23:39:43","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T23:39:43","slug":"john-cusack-shares-why-he-left-hollywood-after-decades-of-blockbusters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/?p=2550","title":{"rendered":"John Cusack shares why he left Hollywood after decades of blockbusters"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"
Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

John Cusack revealed that after watching his films get \u201cbutchered\u201d for years, he was convinced it was time to step away from Hollywood and tell stories on his own terms.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Keep reading to learn the whole story!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Once one of Hollywood\u2019s biggest leading men, 60-year-old John Cusack spent years starring in hit films including\u00a0Stand By Me, Serendipity<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0High Fidelity<\/em>, the 2000 movie that earned him a Golden Globe nomination.<\/p>\n

But as major roles became harder to come by and projects repeatedly fell apart, the outspoken critic of\u00a0Donald Trump\u00a0quietly stepped away from the spotlight.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Looking back, he said the frustrations of modern filmmaking ultimately pushed him toward a different kind of storytelling.<\/p>\n

\u2018Haven\u2019t really been hot for a long time\u2019<\/h2>\n

Speaking with\u00a0The Guardian\u00a0in 2020, Cusack admitted he had struggled to get projects off the ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t really been hot for a long time,\u201d he confessed. \u201cIn the last few years, I haven\u2019t been able to get projects financed. That could be a function of getting older. Or it could be a function of being cold.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even when projects did move forward, he said the finished product often looked very different from the one he had signed up to make.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

\u201cYou may go make a film\u2026You do all this work. And the movie sort of gets butchered in the editing room,\u201d Cusack, who produced and starred in 2010\u2019s\u00a0Hot Tub Time Machine<\/em>, told the outlet. \u201cAnd that happens, like\u2026nine times out of 10? So, it\u2019s not a very satisfying thing, if only one in 10 movies that you\u2019re making work out the way they were planned.\u201d<\/p>\n

Summing up his experience, the\u00a0actor\u00a0described moviemaking as \u201cbrutal, transactional, superficial and dumb.\u201d<\/p>\n

Making \u2018Momo\u2019<\/h2>\n

Those frustrations help explain why Cusack\u2019s latest project looks nothing like the films that made him famous.<\/p>\n

In a conversation with\u00a0Variety\u00a0during San Diego Comic-Con on July 24, the star of\u00a0Must Love Dogs<\/em>\u00a0explained why creating his first graphic novel, \u201cMomo,\u201d allowed him to tell the story exactly as he saw it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always thought they were the closest things to\u00a0film, really,\u201d he said when asked what intrigued him about translating his ideas into a graphic novel. \u201cYou\u2019re picking out shots, they\u2019re so cinematic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Creative control<\/h2>\n

Illustrated by Ignacio No\u00e9 and published by\u00a0Mad Cave Studios, Momo is described as \u201ca wild, genre-bending road trip with cosmic stakes,\u201d following two criminals on the lam\u201d as they team up to \u201crecover an ancient artifact for Jackie Gleason.\u201d<\/p>\n

The biggest attraction with the book, according to Cusack, is that he was able to create a story without having to compromise his vision.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought, I want to tell a story, but I didn\u2019t want to negotiate telling a story, really,\u201d he said of the book that blends science fiction with political satire. \u201cAnd when you ask somebody to put $20 or $30 million into a bank account [for a film], they want to have an opinion and they\u2019re afraid and all that stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

\u2018Done by two people\u2019<\/h2>\n

Instead, he said the project remained entirely in the hands of its two creators.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was just like, I wrote it, and I said, \u2018I like the story,\u2019 and then I got this beautiful, wonderful artist, Ignacio No\u00e9, to do the illustrations and so nobody edited anything I wrote or that he drew. And so, it\u2019s really a piece of work that was just done by two people [who] did a great job putting it out,\u201d the star of\u00a0Say Anything\u2026\u00a0<\/em>said,\u00a0<\/em>adding that creating the book outside the traditional studio system is something that \u201cdoesn\u2019t happen today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no bull, and there\u2019s no committee,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s no computer up in Seattle that\u2019s poll testing it.\u201d<\/p>\n