ALL AN ACT: Notes on John Cusack and the art of being yourself > Press Play

IndieWire: I was almost 12 when I saw John Cusack on the street and thought he was Lloyd Dobler. I was with my best friend Lisa and we were waiting to cross the street in New York City. We saw a black trench coat. A tall man waving his arm impatiently on 8th and Broadway. We saw a short, nervous woman with long brown hair beside him and thought she was Diane Court from Say Anything. We couldn’t believe our eyes, but we wanted to believe them. Say Anything had come out the year before and Lisa loved it more than I did. Quoted from it. Played the song that defined the movie. Had the poster of Say Anything, of Lloyd Dobler, on her bedroom door, with Lloyd holding his boombox above his head. His sonic heart blasting into song. Like Lloyd, Cusack was wearing a trench, baggy cargo pants, and high tops that night, but what came first, the clothes or the movie? The character or the actor? Cusack himself had admitted, “Usually I do everything in reverse. I practice something in movies and then I try it in real life.” But all of us do that.