<\/p>\n
While promoting his upcoming graphic novel, John Cusack explained what\u2019s keeping him away from Hollywood in recent years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
The star of movies such as Say Anything<\/em> said his book was the work of two people, himself and the illustrator.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n Now 60, Cusack appears in fewer movies annually than he once did. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n John Cusack<\/a> is proud that his latest project is the work of a bare-bones crew.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was just like I wrote it. And I said, \u2018I like this story,\u2019\u201d Cusack told Variety<\/em><\/a> before appearing at San Diego Comic-Con 2026<\/a> to promote his upcoming graphic novel, Momo<\/em>.<\/p>\n The Say Anything<\/em> alum, who teamed up with artist Ignacio No\u00e9 for the book, has appeared in fewer films in the past few years than he once did.<\/p>\n The reason, on his end at least, became clear as he explained his latest creation.<\/p>\n \u201cNobody edited anything I wrote or that he drew. So it\u2019s really a piece of work that was just done by two people,\u201d Cusack said of himself and No\u00e9. \u201cIt was just me and Ignacio\u2019s story, and that doesn\u2019t happen today.\u201d<\/p>\n He said he appreciated that there was \u201cno committee.\u201d<\/p>\n The star of films such as High Fidelity, Being John Malkovich,<\/em> and Grosse Pointe Blank<\/em> had been looking for that kind of freedom in his work.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t want to negotiate telling a story really,\u201d said Cusack, 60. \u201cWhen you ask somebody to put like $20 to $30 million into a bank account [for a film budget], they want to have an opinion, and they\u2019re afraid and all that stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n To Cusack, graphic novels seemed to be \u201cthe closest thing to film.\u201d<\/p>\n John Cusack stars in \u2018High Fidelity\u2019 in 2000Credit: Buena Vista\/Courtesy Everett<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n Cusack appeared in two films in 2025, the thriller Fog of War<\/em> and Detective Chinatown 1900<\/em>, a Mandarin-language film directed by Sicheng Chen and Mo Dai. Chen also directed his only movie in 2024, war drama Decoded<\/em>. Before that, he did a single movie in 2022 \u2014 the action flick Pursuit <\/em>\u2014 and the 2020 series Utopia<\/em> for Amazon.<\/p>\n He complained as long ago as September 2014 about movie-making committees.<\/p>\n Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our <\/em><\/strong>EW Dispatch newsletter<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cMy friend Joe Roth ran Disney [until 2000],\u201d Cusack told the Guardian<\/em><\/a>. \u201cHe made things like The Rock<\/em> and Con Air<\/em> to make shareholders happy, but then he also gave six or seven slots to people he liked. I got to make High Fidelity<\/em> and Grosse Point Blank<\/em>. Spike Lee got to make Summer of Sam<\/em>. Wes Anderson got to make Rushmore<\/em>. I had that memory of film and that\u2019s gone.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that there was once a \u201cone for you, one for them\u201d system that had ended.<\/p>\n \u201cNow it\u2019s six for them \u2013 with a committee cutting the film who weren\u2019t part of making it \u2013 and maybe one for you,\u201d Cusack said.<\/p>\n