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John Cusack [1966-0] American

Rank: 103
Actor

John Paul Cusack is an American actor, producer and screenwriter. He appeared in several teen films in the mid-1980s, most notably Better Off Dead, before he starred in Cameron Crowe's romantic comedy-drama Say Anything... in 1989, for which he gained teen idol status.

Romantic, Famous, Movies, Amazing, Christmas, Cool, Courage, Dad, Death, Friendship, Good, Home, Poetry, Politics, Technology, Teen, Trust, Truth

Quote	Tags	Rank
Hopefully as you get older you get more selfless. That would be probably a good goal. I don't know if we do, though.	Good	101
I force people to have coffee with me, just because I don't trust that a friendship can be maintained without any other senses besides a computer or cellphone screen.	Friendship, Technology, Trust	102
When applied to politics and taken to its extreme, kitsch is the mask of death. Fascism was all aesthetics. There was no core principle to it. There was no truth to it.	Death, Politics, Truth	103
It's something we, guys, have all done. Made tapes for girls, trying to impress them, to meet them on a shared plane of aesthetics. Read them someone else's poetry because they do poetry better than you could do it, because you're too awkward to do it.	Poetry	104
I remember once acting really cool on a bus with this girl named Stephanie. When I got home, I realized that I had a really big zit on my forehead. If you have acne problems, you really shouldn't be acting like Don Juan. I should have been contrite - and apologized for exposing her to the angry pimple.	Cool, Home	105
I think that Poe is so resonant because he represents that part of us that is in misery or sorrowful or wants to explore the darkness. He wrote a great story called 'The Imp of the Perverse' about the instinct towards self-destruction. Poe is the godfather of Goth literature and that whole movement.		106
I read Noam Chomsky. I like some of Gore Vidal's stuff.		107
There are some good people. But a good chunk of them will lie for no reason at all - it'll be ten o'clock and they'll tell you it's nine. You're looking at the clock and you can't even fathom why they're lying. They just lie because that's what they do.		108
I kept saying that I'd never live in L.A., and I didn't think I would. But that's where the work is, and I ended up making a lot of friends there, and my old friends moved out to Los Angeles too. And also, I think when you're famous, its hard to live in a small town.	Famous	109
I try not to dwell on the past. I'm not a big go-back-and-try-to-relive-your-past kinda person.		110
Texas women have an amazing sense of purpose when they lose it. They're the best girls in the world - they're loyal and fun, but when they get mad, they'll try to kill you.	Amazing	111
Kitsch is more dangerous than it looks when taken to the extreme.		112
I remember the '80s being about the Cold War and Reagan and the homeless problem and AIDS. To me, it was kind of a dark, depressing time.		113
There's also some element of coming of age during the Reagan administration, which everybody has painted as some glorious time in America, but I remember as being a very, very dark time. There was apocalypse in the air; the punk rock movement made sense.		114
I think being self-referential is really narcissistic. Who's to say anybody's even thinking of you that much? But some of these movies that I've done, people still recite lines to me, even 20 years later.	Movies	115
I just love the process of working with other actors. It's like jamming with a musician, except it takes a little more effort to get to that place as an actor, because you have the cameras and lights and everything. But I love jamming with these people.		116
I have a good friend who's a Texas girl; Texas girls are a whole different breed.		117
Any time you stop looking at evil as a black and white thing, it's helpful. So the fact that there won't be any obligatory Islamic terrorist stereotypes in movies any more, that'd be helpful.	Movies	118
Good actors can sort of see into people and immediately you have a chemistry with them or not. It's like an affair with no mess.		119
If you're going to get into social criticism with absurdity and satire, you can't be politically correct when you do that.		120
But, you know, I'm sorry, I think democracy requires participation. I mean, I don't want to proselytize but I do feel some sort of duty to participate in the process in some way other than just blindly getting behind a political party.		121
Death is a billion-dollar business. They can't even pass a law where it takes seven days to get a gun. Why don't you have to go through the same kind of screening you do to get a driver's license? It's totally insane.		122
Hitler was so modern, in that he was obsessed with being famous. He was caught up with this rush to be have achieved greatness before turning 30.	Famous	123
I like the George Romero films, which were really great, social satire movies; really twisted.		124
I think when you get to the point where you don't need to be in love, then you could be in love. You have to just be OK with yourself-and that's a long process.		125
I was raised Irish Catholic, but I don't consider myself Irish Catholic: I consider myself me, an American.		126
People try to keep their past, like kind of holding on to their past. Every Springsteen song talks about that.		201
Do I listen to pop music because I'm miserable or am I miserable because listen to pop music?		202
With acting, you wanna see if you can get into trouble without knowing how you're gonna get out of it. It's like the exact opposite of war, where you need an exit strategy. When you're acting, you should get all the way into trouble with no exit strategy, and have the cameras rolling.		203
Well, acting itself is a form of rebellion, always. Getting up there in front of people, telling stories - you're kind of going against the grain to begin with, wanting to do that, don't you think? Why else would you do it? Except maybe as kind of a way to affirm your very existence.		204
I was never into the popular school or clique or anything. Then I started doing movies when I was in high school, so then I got popular. Then the girls paid attention to you who didn't before.		205
My dad had a commercial film company, so he had a videotape player before anyone. So he got Mel Brooks movies or Citizen Kane or some classic old movies. And every summer the revival house in Evanston would show the great films from the '50s and '60s and '70s.	Dad	206
It's like those high-school yearbook photos that everyone would rather not see: Oh my God, look at that mullet hair. I have those photos too, but for me, they're, like, entire movies. And they show them on cable.		207
Every role you do is kind of a side of yourself. That's why they give you the part.		208
Well, I think any actor can probably identify with being a professional liar. You don't always look at yourself that way, but I know a lot of days I do.		209
I don't tend to think in terms of a moral authority - be a good boy, do good things - more in terms of what feels right.		210
If I'm in something that I think is kinda good, it stays with me like a fever dream for a long time afterwards. I don't recall the finished product so much as the feeling of making it.		211
I always liked it when people go back in time to discover things about themselves, like with 'A Christmas Carol' and you're getting a tour of your life by the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future.	Christmas	212
Poe had this curious kind of alchemical courage, where he took all the terrible things and terrors that happened in his life, all this shame and fear and pain, and turned them into great works of art. He was a complex, brilliant person who was just wired too tight.	Courage	213
A lot of people are not meant to be together.		214
Being on a movie set is like one long financial crisis.		215
I guess maybe I'm idealistic.		216
I have a bit of a rebellious nature.		217
I was raised Catholic until I was old enough to say no.		218
The British keep employing me, and that makes me like them. It also makes me think they're very intelligent.		219
The film is not a success until it makes money. It's only good when there's a dollar figure attached to the box office.		220
The more you expose yourself as a celebrity, the less interesting you are to watch in your work, because if you're putting yourself out there all the time, you're not holding anything back.		221
New York's like a boxing match. In Hollywood, it's like a Fellini movie or something.		222
I think good actors can sort of see into people and immediately you have a chemistry with them or not. It's like an affair with no mess. You don't actually consummate it, but you get to pretend, imagine what it would be like.		223
It's a very frightening time when something as basic as due process is seen as somehow radical.		224
Well, any time you do anything good, it's man versus himself, right? That's the art, the challenge.		225
My point was that it's hard to make good films, but I'm not under any illusion that you do all the time.		226
If you're a movie star, there's a cycle you go through: adoration, adulation, you're used, and then you're discarded. And it happens again and again, always in that sequence.		301
My job is to just express something that I want to express. And if I'm ahead or behind the curve, that's for others to decide.		302
A lot of powerful people in Washington may think it's a crazy-leftist-fringe position to think the intellectual authors of a torture regime should be investigated and prosecuted.		303
Of course, I think it is legitimate for the Commander-in-Chief to be concerned for the safety of his soldiers.		304
Getting trapped back in the '80s, it's almost like a comic nightmare, which for me is a very real nightmare. Every time I flip through the cable, I have flashbacks.		305
You can only really judge yourself in comparison to other people. How bad you are, but you're not as bad as someone else. So it's degrees of losing.		306
I don't want to produce anymore small or independent movies because it's just too hard these days.		307
The ages two to 15 I spent at different stages of shortness. I didn't become a tall person until I was 16.		308
I feel close to Lloyd in 'Say Anything'. He was like a super-interesting version of me. Only I'm not as good as him. Whatever part of me is romantic and optimistic, I reached into that to play Lloyd.	Romantic	309
I don't walk around talking about my life and spouting my philosophy to people I don't know. I mean, if I get to know them, I'll talk for hours. I guess I like a lower-key scene.		310
You just try to get the best jobs that you can get. Sometimes I produce my own movies, so that's your own sort of vision. That helps things. I don't know what it is. Probably just circumstance. I've definitely been aware of the fact that I want to do different things.		311
I was working with a great actress - a superior artist in every way - and she really liked Celine Dion. I tried very hard, but I couldn't understand it. I just can't listen to Celine Dion! So I guess music is a deal breaker.		312
I think that taking night trains or meeting someone on the road is pretty romantic. I've done a couple of things like that. I've surprised someone in Paris. And hopefully, when you surprise someone, they're happy to see you.	Romantic	313
I was a teen star. That's disgusting enough.	Teen	314
Art is spiritual.		315
I feel like I'm a filmmaker; I don't feel I need to yell action and cut.		316
I love these movies where it's just about the film. You don't have my face on the poster. It's all about the movie. I like that.		317
I was never interested in being an overly public person.		318
I've seen the people who talk about their love lives in print invariably have doomed relationships with the person they're talking about.		319
Sometimes you meet people and you feel like you've known them for a long time.		320
The reason bin Laden staggered the planes going into the towers was so every camera would be focused on the second tower when the plane hit. It was not only the murder, but the perpetual image of the horror that permeated into people's consciousness.		321
Usually I play people who just keep babbling on and on and on.		322
I think the more you expose yourself as a celebrity, the less interesting you are to watch in your work, because if you're putting yourself out there all the time, you're not holding anything back.		323
It seems to me that one thing people do over and over again is try to figure out how to get married, stay married, fall in love, how to rekindle all this stuff. It seems to me to be a pretty eternal theme so I don't know if you can get typecast from making movies about men relating to women. It seems to be what is going on on the planet a lot.		324
Nope, no sex scandals yet. But I am open to offers!		325
If people are constantly reading about you, and you're overexposed, they've got no reason to go see your movies. Also, it's not pleasant or nice to have your privacy invaded.		326
Acting can be pretty challenging. I can't say making a romantic comedy is challenging, but to do anything well, you have to put yourself into it.	Romantic	401
I just love the process of working with other actors.		402
I'm definitely nostalgic about the music of my youth; The Clash and Fishbone and that whole music scene. I still have all that music to this day. There was some great music going on in the late 70s and 80s.		403
Usually I do everything reverse. I practice something in movies and then I try it in real life.		404
I wanted to just be a filmmaker, and I thought I wanted to do all the aspects, and it seemed like as a producer was the best way to do it, because I could have... You never have control on a movie, but you have as much control as you can.		405
But no, I don't really like romantic comedies, so I don't really care. I never go see 'em.	Romantic	406
I remember once acting really cool on a bus with this girl named Stephanie. When I got home, I realized that I had a really big zit on my forehead. If you have acne problems, you really shouldn't be acting like Don Juan.		407
No, actors go out with actresses as a form of self-flagellation.		408
I was only in one of the John Hughes films, and I never saw the other ones. I didn't understand them. I kept hearing a really hip 40-year-old person talking in teenagers' mouths.		409
I never wanted to come off as self-important.		410
Most movies, once the action starts there's no more characters. You say a couple of dumb lines and then there's just explosions until the end.		411
I am rich enough.		412
The movies have got more corporate, they're making fewer movies in general, and those they are making are all $200-$300m tent-pole releases that eat up all the oxygen.		413
If you wanna give me an award, I'll take it. Just don't make me go to the party afterwards.		414
Hollywood is just a bunch of people going around in Learjets to other people asking them if they've got any money? Well, they might have if they didn't spend it all on jets.		415
I was never a joiner. I tried - I had people I admired and liked and wanted to hang with, but I ended up starting a theatre company and that took me back to Chicago... I guess I wasn't a scenester in the end. Something must have worked out right, as I'm still here - but I'm only a binge socialite.		416
Roy, the guy I play in 'The Grifters,' is a guy who had a very bleak life. His mother had him at 13, and then when she was 17 or 18 and he was 4 or 5, they were trapped in a small Texas town somewhere, and she was ready to do anything to get out.		417
I grew up in Evanston and lived in Chicago for a long time, in Old Town and Wrigleyville. I did three films when I was in high school. The first was 'Class,' with Rob Lowe. I had a supporting role in that.		418
Our parents more or less just kind of wanted us to pursue our passions. Whatever they would have been, they would have helped light the fire. They are very liberal, artistic people, but they didn't force us into acting. They let us find our own ways.		419
Having people remember something that you did 25 years ago doesn't suck.		420
Probably Lloyd in 'Say Anything' is the closest to me - or to who I was at the time. It was just a great love story about people in the '80s, and we all tried to make it feel as real as possible. It was such a wonderful time. We didn't leave anything in the gym; we put it all out there.		421

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