John Cusack Trivia

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Birth name: John Paul Cusack 

Date of birth: 28 June 1966 

Place of birth: Evanston, Illinois, USA 

Nickname: Johnny

Height: 6′ 2½” (1.89 m) 

• Brother of Joan Cusack, Ann Cusack, Susie Cusack and Bill Cusack. Son of Dick Cusack (actor, documentary filmmaker) and Nancy Cusack (teacher).
• Last name is pronounced Q-sack.
• Has a production company called New Crime Productions (that produced Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), and The Jack Bull (1999) (TV) among various stage productions) which he founded with two of his high school buddies Steve Pink & D.V. DeVincentis.
• Education: Piven Theatre Workshop (Evanston, Illinois), run by the parents of actor Jeremy Piven. One semester at NYU.
• Attended Evanston Township High School, Evanston, Ill.
• Turned down Woody Harrelson’s role in Indecent Proposal (1993).
• Dated Neve Campbell. [2001]
• Dated Lili Taylor.
• Dated Alison Eastwood.
• Dated Claire Forlani.
• Dated Minnie Driver.
• Turned down Bill Paxton’s role in Apollo 13 (1995).
• Close friends with actor Jeremy Piven. They have done 10 movies together: One Crazy Summer (1986), Elvis Stories (1989), Say Anything… (1989), The Player (1992), Floundering (1994), The Grifters (1990), Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), Serendipity (2001) and Runaway Jury (2003).
• Is the product of a passionately liberal Irish Catholic family, visited the radical Berrigan brothers when he was growing up, and, like them, his mother still gets arrested for her anti-militarism and pro- human rights protests.
• On free time likes to go “Helecopter Snowboarding” and kickboxing with stunt cordinator Benny Urquidez.
• Tested for the role of Madmartigan in Willow (1988) but lost to Val Kilmer.
• Is the subject of the song “Honorable Mention” by the band Fall Out Boy.
• The novel “Love In The Time Of Cholera” by author Gabriel Garcia Marquez is prominently referenced in two John Cusack movies (High Fidelity (2000) and Serendipity (2001).
• Sister Joan Cusack appeared in 8 of his movies:Class (1983), Sixteen Candles (1984), Grandview, U.S.A. (1984), Broadcast News (1987), Say Anything… (1989), Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), Cradle Will Rock (1999) and High Fidelity (2000).
• Was originally set to play Walter Eberhart in the _Stepford Wives, The (2004)_ . Due to conflicts, he had to drop out and Matthew Broderick got the role.
• Was once roommates with Jeremy Piven
• Attended a theatre school in Chicago with sisters Joan Cusack and Ann Cusack. The theatre school was run by the parents of his best friend, Jeremy Piven
• Irish-American.
• His favorite group is the punk rock band, The Clash. He is also a big fan of The Specials and Elvis Costello.
• Ranked #15 on Tropopkin’s Top 25 Most Intriguing People [Issue #100]
• Die-hard Chicago Cubs fan.
• Some kind of reference to his favorite bands (usually The Clash, The Ramones or The Specials) makes at least one appearance in most of his films. Most of the time, he wears a t-shirt of one of the bands (Say Anything, High Fidelity, Must Love Dogs, etc), but sometimes (Grosse Pointe Blank) he works in a poster of one of the bands. These bands are typically in the soundtracks to his New Criminal’s productions as well. During the famous “boom box serenade” scene in Say Anything… (1989), he is actually playing his favorite Fishbone tape on the boom box, while Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes” is played in the movie. (source: Cameron Crowe commentary on the DVD).
• Member of the “Brat Pack”, the name for the actors who tended to star in teen movies of the 80′s. Others include ‘Emilio Estevaz’ , Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Demi Moore, Charlie Sheen and Diane Lane.
• Most famous member of the Cusack family.
• He and his good friend Tim Robbins made 6 movies together: Bob Roberts (1992), Cradle Will Rock (1999), High Fidelity (2000), The Player (1992), The Sure Thing (1985) and Tapeheads (1988)
• Was, for a long time, attached to play the role of “Nite Owl” in the doomed movie adaptation of Alan Moore’s comic-book mini-series, Watchmen (2006).
• Was originally the actor chosen to play John Bender in the The Breakfast Club (1985). At the last minute, things changed and Judd Nelson ended up in the role.
• Was good friends with Hunter S. Thompson and nearly got to play him in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998).
• Was considered for the role of Paul Brenner in The General’s Daughter (1999), but was deemed too young at the time, so the role went to John Travolta instead.