For Cusack, one was the loneliest number
John Cusack is not big on genre films, and the only bona-fide thriller on his resume is 2003’s “Identity.”
But when Cusack was sent the script for “1408” – the new film about a debunker of the supernatural who checks into a hotel suite where, according to myth, no one checks out alive – he had to rethink his natural bias for two reasons.
First, it was based on a Stephen King short story, and second, it offered the ultimate actor’s challenge: Could he hold a screen on his own in a confined space for 94 minutes?
Q. Are you a Stephen King fan?
A. Oh, yeah, he’s an underrated writer. People get hung up on the horror-science fiction thing, but when you read his best stuff, it’s all character. That’s why so many good filmmakers and actors have been drawn to his stuff. Jack Nicholson, Sissy Spacek, Kathy Bates, Anthony Hopkins, Johnny Depp, Tom Hanks, Ed Harris – those are all pretty particular people.
Q. Do you have a favorite King film?
A. Well, I know that King doesn’t like it, but Stanley Kubrick‘s adaptation of “The Shining” is incredible. I first saw it when I was, like, 12, and I was afraid to walk home by myself. “Carrie” is pretty great; that really holds up after, what, 30 years? “Stand by Me,” not a horror film, just a great movie about growing up. There are a lot of clunkers, too, but that’s what happens when you’re as prolific a writer as he is.
Q. Aside from some pretty tense scenes with Samuel L. Jackson (who plays the hotel manager), “1408” is pretty much all Cusack, all the time. Was that the challenge for you artistically, or was it just about giving the old ego a blowout on the highway?
A. It was more like a maniacal dare to myself – no safety net, no tightrope even. … You really do have to work yourself up to it because it’s a psychological hell this guy is going through, and since it’s a thriller, that has to increase in intensity for every scene.
Q. I see that you wrote one of the 20 or so movies you have coming up. Are you building a new house or something?
A. It is about an assassin who’s looking to take out a Middle East oil minister, but a lot of complications get in the way. … It’s wild. The cast includes my sister (Joan), Ben Kingsley and Hilary Duff, so that tells you something right there.
The birthday bunch
Actor Al Molinaro (“Happy Days”) is 88. Actress Michele Lee is 65. Drummer Mick Fleetwood (Fleetwood Mac) is 65. Guitarist Jeff Beck is 63. Actor Peter Weller is 60. Actress Nancy Allen is 57. Actor Joe Penny (“Jake and the Fatman”) is 51. Actress Sherry Stringfield (“ER”) is 40. Singer Solange Knowles is 21.