December 4th, 2007 / Author: cwillett
At an event to promote John Cusack’s new film Grace Is Gone, the thinking girl’s heartthrob opened up to OK! about playing a guy who loses his wife in the Iraq war and has to cope with telling his two young daughters about the loss.
Donning glasses and bad posture, John’s character is a far cry from the cads he usually plays in his films. But the role of dad is one he’s taken on as late playing a father in the thriller 1408, his family comedy Martian Child and now Grace Is Gone.
But does John have any real-life experience to use when playing these parts? “It’s kind of a complicated answer," the actor explained to OK!. "But you just use your life, your imagination — your writing sparks your imagination — you try to put yourself in other people’s shoes.”
Playing a distraught and confused husband turned single father is the plot of the story and although it’s not something he’s personally experienced, John, like everyone, has lost loved ones. “If you have friends who died or family members, or if you can just have some empathy and compassion — it’s pretty harrowing stuff.”
And he hopes people can look past the war themes of the movie and just see it for what it is — a movie about loss and a way to gain perspective on such an intense time as the war. “You can’t put your mind around — it’s too abstract — the stuff that is really happening,” he added, “it’s really hard to process. This is a way to maybe make it more real — make it less abstract.”
By Jocelyn Vena
October 22nd, 2007 / Author: OK! Staff
Amanda Peet is going to milk her first Halloween as a mom for all it’s worth – her 8-month-old daughter Frances Pen is going to be a cow come Oct. 31.
“She’s going to be a cow,” the Martian Child star tells OK!. “Because we love that Bob Dylan song – “Milk Cows Half Blues” – and we sing it to her a lot. And one of the animals is a cow.”
Motherhood has changed Amanda’s priorities in life, but the 35-year-old, who’s married to screenwriter David Benioff, says she doesn’t feel inclined to take kid-friendly roles now that she’s a parent. Instead, she just picks up the leftovers.
“I just try gravitate towards the best written one that’s been thrown my way after a lot of girls have passed on it,” she reveals. “That’s really the truth. I’m just being really honest because you’re like, “What roles are you attracted to?” But it’s not like I look for roles. There’s not that much forethought. I just try to get something that’s respectable.”
That also includes television roles. A vet of the small screen, having starred in Jack and Jill and the under-appreciated Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Amanda is dying to get back to TV on her favorite show — 30 Rock.
“I’m trying!” she says. “I’ve been calling and begging, but not yet.”
Hear that, Tina Fey?
October 22nd, 2007
John Cusack, who left his mark on girls’ hearts everywhere when he starred in Say Anything, is playing a dad in his new movie Martian Child, opening on Nov. 2. He talked to OK! about that role and whether or not he’d like to play it in real life.
Does playing these dramatic parent roles make you want to have kids?
I don’t know. Yeah, theoretically. I tend to do everything in reverse. I practice in the movie then try it in real life.
Do you like playing writers?
I don’t really think about it. I guess I’m drawn to people who are trying to figure stuff out.
You have a knack for picking “zeitgeist-y” roles.
Well, they only become zeitgeist-y after, not before, I make a movie.
Do you know that when you pick up a script?
That’s the plan, right? I plan to take over the world! [laughs] You do stuff not knowing if it’s going to be interesting when it comes out. Like that movie Grace Is Gone that I’m doing seems to have a lot of swirl around it right now. But you just never know if something’s going to be successful right out of the game. Maybe it’ll be in five or 10 years’ time, who knows? You just hope people will like it.
How often do you see your sister Joan?
My sister doesn’t talk on the phone. You have to go to her house if you want to talk to her. We live near each other in Chicago and so I just go over and knock.
Do you coordinate your schedules to work together?
No, we don’t really. It’s just if projects come up and if I’m producing it, if there’s a funny role I ask her to do it ’cause I know she’s going to kill it — she’s just going to crush it. So it’s just a no-brainer. She’s so gifted.
By Alison Moodie
