John Cusack's career is one that many actors would aspire to have. His success is marked not only by his enduring presence in the industry but also by the diverse roles he has taken on. Starting with quirky teen comedies, Cusack has evolved to feature in international action films, amassing more than 75 credits in his filmography.
The films featuring John Cusack represent some of the finest cinema from the last several decades, showcasing his collaborations with renowned directors like Spike Lee and Terrance Malick, along with other distinguished filmmakers.
1. Grosse Pointe Blank (1997年)
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Produced among the boom of flashy crime movies that proliferated after the success of Pulp Fiction, Grosse Pointe Blank could have been another slick but soulless Quentin Tarantino knock-off. However, director George Armitage — working off a screenplay by Tom Jankiewicz and D. V. DeVincentis, revised by Cusack and Steve Pink — created a more thoughtful and sweet movie.
Armitage effectively utilizes the understated quality that Cusack embodies in his roles, enabling him to portray Martin Blank, a hitman grappling with an existential crisis that leads him back to his Michigan hometown for a high school reunion.
2. 电影《成为约翰·马尔科维奇》（1999）
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Cusack has played plenty of weirdos in his career, but he rarely allowed himself to portray someone as off-putting as the embittered puppeteer Craig Schwartz in Being John Malkovich. Written by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Spike Jonez, the surreal Being John Malkovich involves a mysterious portal that allows anyone who goes through it to enter the mind of the titular actor.
Cusack’s bold approach doesn’t aim to garner the audience’s sympathy, forcing viewers to grapple with the film’s peculiar premise. This film continues to stand out as one of the quintessential John Cusack features.
3. Say Anything… (1989)
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Writer and director Cameron Crowe wasn’t the first person to cast Cusack in a teen comedy. But with Say Anything…, Crowe found the perfect vehicle for young Cusack’s unorthodox charm.
Lloyd Dobbler, the lead character and an optimistic kickboxer, might easily fit the mold of the typical romantic outsider chasing after the stunning valedictorian Diane (Ione Skye). However, Cusack skillfully encourages viewers to question Dobbler's lofty declarations, transforming the teenager into a more nuanced and relatable figure.
4. Love & Mercy (2014)
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On paper, Cusack seems an odd choice to play Beach Boys member Brian Wilson in the biopic Love & Mercy, directed by Bill Pohlad and written by Oren Moverman and Michael Alan Lerner.
Cusack may not look like Paul Dano or the actual Wilson, yet he infuses the role of the troubled rocker in his 40s with a poignant, anxious vitality. Struggling with over-medication and the oppressive influence of the abusive Dr. Landy (played by Paul Giamatti), Cusack highlights Wilson's fragility during this tumultuous time. This vulnerability not only shapes his relationship with Melinda Ledbetter (Elizabeth Banks) but also sparks a resurgence of his musical creativity.
5. High Fidelity (2000年)
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If placed in the wrong context, the gloomy record store clerk Rob Gordon could come across as insufferable—an overconfident geek who is oblivious to the way he disrespects those around him.
And yet, director Stephen Frears, along with Cusack and his usual team of co-writers — D. V. DeVincentis, Steve Pink, and Scott Rosenberg — show viewers the flaws that Rob refuses to acknowledge. Adapting the novel by Nick Hornby, High Fidelity tracks Rob’s reluctant transformation from a cynical critic to someone who can care about people — a little bit, anyway.
6. Better Off Dead (1985年)
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Before the heartfelt Say Anything…, Cusack made his name in wacky teen comedies from writer and director Savage Steve Holland, starting with Better Off Dead.
When teenager Lane Myer (played by Cusack) experiences a heartbreaking breakup with his girlfriend Beth (Amanda Wyss), he finds himself navigating a tumultuous mix of reckless schemes and profound sadness. His situation takes a turn for the better when he crosses paths with Monique Junot (Diane Franklin), a French exchange student. With her support, Lane trains to conquer a challenging black diamond ski slope in hopes of rekindling his romance with Beth.
Better Off Dead doesn’t have the most compelling plot in the world, but Holland’s zany approach sets it apart from other entries in the genre, brought to life by a game Cusack.
7. Grace is Gone (2007年)
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In his most famous roles, Cusack plays characters who cover their vulnerability with a thin veneer of cool. In Grace is Gone by writer and director James C. Strouse, Cusack applies that same approach to a sensitive drama.
Upon learning that his wife Grace died in combat, Army veteran Stanley Phillips (Cusack) avoids telling his daughters to prolong their happiness as long as possible. While Grace is Gone has much higher stakes than Cusack’s other roles, the story functions much like those previous comedies, as Stanley struggles to present himself as a carefree father despite the tremendous sorrow he feels.
8. 1408 (2007年)
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Directed by Mikael Håfström and written by Matt Greenberg, Scott Alexander, and Larry Karaszewski, 1408 turns the Stephen King short story into a claustrophobic horror film. Cusack plays skeptical author Mike Enslin, who visits a haunted hotel room to debunk its legend. Mike ignores the warnings of the hotel manager (Samuel L. Jackson) and stays in the room, which does indeed prove to host spirits.
While Håfström delivers numerous frights in his portrayal of Mike's eerie hotel experience, the true strength of the film lies in how he confronts the trauma the spirits compel him to confront, allowing Cusack to showcase a range of emotions in a role that might have otherwise been reduced to a simple horror victim.
9. The Slim Crimson Line (1998)
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As the first movie the great Terrance Malick made after a two-decade absence, The Thin Red Line drew an all-star cast, including George Clooney, Nick Nolte, Woody Harrelson, and more.
Although the film features a roster of well-known actors, the uniquely unconventional Terrence Malick chose to pursue his personal vision in adapting James Jones’s World War II novel. He reduced the roles of several prominent stars to brief cameo appearances. John Cusack’s portrayal of Captain John Gaff remains significant, showcasing him as a beleaguered leader during the film's most intense action scene, as he directs his comrades in a crucial assault on a disputed hill.
10. War, Inc. (2008)
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Together with Say Anything… and Grosse Pointe Blank, War, Inc. completes a loose trilogy of films about the ongoing destruction wrought by the American military-industrial complex. Cusack’s War, Inc. character Brand Hauser, a hitman with CIA connections, feels like an older and more cynical version of Lloyd Dobbler or Martin Blank.
An outrageous comedy directed by Joshua Seftel and written by Cusack, Jeremy Pikser, and postmodern author Mark Leyner, War, Inc. takes broad shots at the relationship between the media, capitalism, and the Iraq War. It may not have the heart of some of Cusack’s other movies, but War, Inc. attacks its subject with a soldier’s viciousness.
11. The Grifters (1990)
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In The Grifters, his first collaboration with director Stephen Frears, Cusack plays Roy Dillon, a small-time con man with big ambitions. Roy’s plans bring him into the orbit of grifter Myra (Annette Benning) and his mother Lilly (Angelica Huston), an old pro who works for the dangerous gangster Bobo Justus (Pat Hingle).
In his quest to impress Lilly and capture Myra's heart, Roy finds himself entangled in a perilous web of crime. The screenplay, crafted by seasoned crime novelist Donald E. Westlake and based on Jim Thompson's novel, unveils a chilling landscape where treachery and brutality lurk behind every transaction and con. Among all the films featuring John Cusack discussed here, this one is sure to keep audiences gripping their seats in suspense.
12. The Runaway Jury (2003)
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By 2003, Cusack had outworn much of the cool that made him a teen movie star in the 1980s. However, he still had a gift for playing slick fast-talkers, as demonstrated in the John Grisham adaptation Runaway Jury, directed by Gary Fleder and written by Brian Koppelman, David Levien, Rick Cleveland, and Matthew Chapman.
At first glance, Cusack's character Nick Easter appears to be just another relatable everyman who finds himself unexpectedly summoned for jury duty. Yet, both Nick and his accomplice (Rachel Weisz) have deeper motivations that defy their initial impressions, much to the annoyance of the influential consultant Rankin Fitch (Gene Hackman).
13. The Ice Harvest (2005年)
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Don’t be fooled by the Christmas Eve setting. Director Harold Ramis’s The Ice Harvest has no interest in peace on Earth or goodwill toward men, as the script by Richard Russo and Robert Benton, adapting a novel by Scott Phillips, has a heart as cold as the snow that covers the ground.
Cusack teams up with Billy Bob Thornton in this crime caper, playing a pair of petty criminals who steal $2 million from their mobster boss (Randy Quaid). Their escape plan derails when a sudden ice storm traps them in town, leaving them to wait it out and avoid detection. However, things take a turn for the worse, leading the jaded duo to continuously opt for increasingly selfish decisions.
14. Tapeheads (1988年)
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Tapeheads shares a lot of DNA with UHF, and not just because Weird Al Yankovich makes an appearance. Director Bill Fishman, who co-wrote the script with Peter McCarthy, often cuts to wacky video clips, including an over-the-top rap song promoting a greasy chicken joint.
But where UHF stayed in the world of low-budget TV, Tapeheads takes place in the music industry, where would-be big shots Ivan (Cusack) and Josh (Tim Robbins) hope to make their name. Fishman pushes the material to almost cartoonish heights, but Cusack and Robbins follow suit, embracing their slimeball characters and poking fun at arrogant rock stars.
15. America's Sweethearts (2001)
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One might assume that Cusack wouldn’t have to work too hard to play Eddie Thomas, the Hollywood actor he portrays in the comedy America’s Sweethearts, directed by Joe Roth and written by Susan Arnold, Billy Crystal, and Donna Arkoff Roth. However, Cusack uses his familiarity with the business to make Eddie into a neurotic weirdo, something more interesting than the standard movie star.
Cusack's portrayal of Eddie amplifies the humor in his interactions with his girlfriend and fellow actress Gwen (Catherine Zeta-Jones) as well as his frazzled publicist Kiki (Julia Roberts).
16. Stars of the Map (2014)
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Where America’s Sweethearts poked fun at the Hollywood elite, Maps to the Stars eviscerates Tinseltown without mercy. One would expect nothing less from director David Cronenberg, working from a script by Bruce Wagner. Cusack appears in the dyspeptic look at the movie business as dyspeptic Stafford Weiss, father of the child star Benjie (Evan Bird).
Quick to offer empty bromides and slow to self-reflection, Stafford sees himself as too enlightened to fall for the same problems that snared actress Havana Segrand (Julianne Moore) or hopeful Jerome Fontana (Robert Pattinson). But in Maps to the Stars, no one escapes the Hollywood trap, least of all people like Stafford Weiss.
17. Identity (2003) - A psychological thriller that unfolds in a remote motel, where ten strangers find themselves trapped during a storm. As they are killed off one by one, the remaining guests must uncover the connection between them and the dark secrets that bind them together.
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While Cusack has more than a few prestige pictures to his name, he wasn’t above doing fun schlock, not even in the 2000s. Case in point, the psychological horror thriller Identity, directed by James Mangold and written by Michael Cooney. Limousine driver Ed Dakota (Cusack) must recall the investigative skills he developed as a police officer when he finds himself stranded at a motel with a group of strangers, who begin dying one by one.
Although the subject matter may be considered lowbrow, Cusack enjoys the role and uncovers unexpected layers to portray, particularly as the film progresses towards its surprising twist conclusion.
18. The Path to Wellville (1994)
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The T.C. Boyle novel The Road to Wellville may be about a real person, cereal founder and medical quack W.K. Kellogg, and a real place, the Kellogg Sanitarium in Michigan, but writer/director Alan Parker has no interest in realism. Driven by Anthony Hopkins’s goofy take on Kellogg, The Road to Wellville pokes fun at the ridiculous lengths to which upper-class people go in pursuit of health.
Charles Ossining, Cusack's cunning character, aims to develop a rival to Kellogg's Corn Flakes. While his storyline may not veer into the absurdity of other narratives in the film, it nonetheless captures the essence of human desperation.
19. Chi-Raq (2015)
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The Spike Lee movie Chi-Raq draws its inspiration from the ancient Greek play Lysistrata by Aristophanes, in which women refuse to couple with any men until the Peloponnesian War comes to an end. However, Lee and co-writer Kevin Willmott take a modern approach to the subject matter, imagining Lysistrata (Teyonah Parris) as a Chicago citizen committed to ending gang violence in her town.
Cusack appears in Chi-Raq as street preacher Mike Corridan, whose fiery sermons help inspire Lysistrata to stay the course.
20. One Wild Summer (1986)
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In his second collaboration with writer and director Savage Steve Holland, Cusack plays floundering high school grad Hoops McCann. Like Better Off Dead, One Crazy Summer takes regular diversions into skits and animation set-pieces.
When it gets down to the business of Hoops romance with rocker Cassandra Eldridge (Demi Moore), One Crazy Summer loses some steam, as the leads don’t gel quite as well as Cusack and Diane Franklin in Better Off Dead. But during the more antic sequences, Cusack reminds viewers why he and Holland made such a good pair.
21. Con Air (1997年)
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Producer Jerry Bruckheimer knows how to assemble overqualified casts for mindless action flicks, and Con Air is no exception. Directed by Simon West and written by Cusack’s frequent collaborator Scott Rosenberg, Con Air stars Nicolas Cage as a good man sentenced to prison for manslaughter who finds himself stuck in a criminal plot to hijack an airplane.
Cusack portrays a confident U.S. Marshal who assists Cage’s character, Cameron Poe, from the ground, aiming to keep the notorious serial killers Cyrus “the Virus” Grissom (John Malkovich) and Garland “The Marietta Mangler” Greene (Steve Buscemi) under control. Alongside his fellow agents, Cusack embraces the outrageous concept, resulting in a fun and entertaining escapade that doesn't take itself too seriously.
22. Serendipity (2001)
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Although he had done many romantic movies during his 1980s run, they most often took the form of wacky comedies, lacking the sincerity of Serendipity. Directed by Peter Chelsom, Serendipity stars Cusack as a producer, Jonathan, who reunites with Sara (Kate Beckinsale), a woman with whom he had a chain of chance meetings years earlier.
Marc Klein's script follows the familiar tropes of the genre, yet Cusack and Beckinsale deliver their performances earnestly, avoiding any self-aware humor. This approach lends the film a cozy and welcoming atmosphere.
23. The Adventure of Natty Gann (1985)
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While Cusack spent most of the 1980s making racy teen romps, he did play a supporting part in the Disney adventure film The Journey of Natty Gann, written by Jeanne Rosenberg and directed by Jeremy Kagan.
Set during the Great Depression, The Journey of Natty Gann stars Meredith Salenger as a girl who rides the rails to find her father (Ray Wise), sent across the country looking for work. Cusack shows up as Harry, an older boy who travels with hobos and takes a liking to Natty. The part affords Cusack fewer opportunities to play a comic lead, but it lets him show off the dramatic chops that will become key parts of his career.
24. The Sure Thing (1985年)
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“Okay, it’s stupid,” declares Cusack’s character, Walter Gibson, in The Sure Thing. “What’s wrong with that?” Within the movie, Gibson makes this argument to his classmate Allison (Daphne Zuniga) when he laughs about getting mooned by a passing motorist. But it could also serve as a defense of The Sure Thing, directed by Rob Reiner and written by Steven L. Bloom and Jonathan Roberts.
The Sure Thing follows the same plot beats as most teen comedies of the era, in which a young man pursues physical relations just to fall for the wholesome girl who was always by his side. But along the way, the movie indulges in a lot of stupid behavior, trying desperately to convince viewers to laugh along with it.
