NY Observer > John Cusack

Reality Plus

Matt Haber — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 09:22:35 -0400

The last time The New Yorker's George Packer was in Iraq was January 2007. He's not sure if he wants to go back, but that doesn't mean it's not on his mind. "I do find myself thinking about it all the time still," he says. "Thinking of other ways to write about it."

One of those ways was the play, Betrayed, which was based on his article of the same name from March 2007. (In January, The Observer's Doree Shafrir profiled Mr. Packer as his show was set to debut at the Culture Project in Soho, where it will close June 16th.)

>> Click here to check out this week's special coverage of the Baghdad Bureaus from observer.com

He also says he has "a little novelistic idea," but, for now, that project remains in his head. "It's as if, maybe the journalism has run its course," Mr. Packer says. "But there are other levels of experiencing it that journalism can't capture." read more »

Yes, He Can: John Cusack Will Not be Outdone by Scarlett Johansson

Irina Aleksander — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 17:33:05 -0400

Yesterday, Scarlett Johansson reiterated her commitment to the Barack Obama campaign and sounded a bit like a smitten schoolgirl when talking about the presidential candidate. But John Cusack, who recently released the satirical film War, Inc. that showed his disdain for the Iraq war, has released his own set of pro-Obama videos, or rather anti-McCain ads, according to AP. read more »

Cusacks' Debacle

Rex Reed — Tue, 20 May 2008 12:41:22 -0400

War, Inc.
Running Time 107 minutes
Written by Mark Leyner, Jeremy Pikser and John Cusack
Directed by Joshua Seftel
Starring John Cusack, Dan Aykroyd, Joan Cusack, Marisa Tomei, Hilary Duff

Vanished '90s It Boy Writer Reappears to Sort-Of Slay Halliburton

Matt Haber — Tue, 13 May 2008 11:04:32 -0400

The legend of Mark Leyner started small. It quickly grew out of control.

“I was an infinitely hot and dense dot. So begins the autobiography of a feral child who was raised by huge and lurid puppets. An autobiography written wearing wrist weights,” Mr. Leyner wrote in one of the riffs—“chapters” would be too conventional a description of his style—in his 1990 book, My Cousin, My Gastroenterologist.

Mr. Leyner, who lived in Hoboken, had already published I Smell Esther Williams, a collection of experimental stories that The Times called “prodigiously original.” My Cousin was met with similarly favorable reviews by critics, who saw in Mr. Leyner’s punctuation-flouting, form-bending, au courant prose a reflection of television’s growing influence on a new generation of writers. In 1992, just before the release of his third book, Et Tu, Babe, he was featured on the cover of The New York Times Magazine in a tank top, hoisting an inflatable dumbbell beside the cover line “Mark Leyner Is America’s Best-Built Comic Novelist.” read more »

Singer With a Stinger: Hillary Duff on War Inc.'s 'Challenges'; But Where's John Cusack?

Benjamin Popper — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:42:32 -0400

A large crowd waited on a damp red carpet Monday night for the premier of War Inc., a satire of strife in the Middle East starring John Cusack, Marrisa Tomei and Hillary Duff and set in the fictitious state of Turaqistan.

"It was tough playing a pop star who wasn't me," confessed Ms. Duff, who plays a local Turaqistani singer named Yonica Babyyeah. "But I am getting to an age where I enjoy taking on new challenges."

Rather infamously, in this movie one of those new challenges included filming a scene in which the singer puts a live scorpion down her pants. read more »

Today at the Tribeca Film Festival: More 90's Nostalgia; Mike Figgis Speaks!

Sara Vilkomerson — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 08:29:49 -0400

The Wackness, AMC Village VII, 7 p.m.

This funny and sweet coming-of-age film was a crowd-pleaser when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and should no doubt do quite well for itself when it opens up this July. Jonathan Levine directed and wrote the clever script that follows Luke Shaprio, a smart alecky New York City kid waiting out his last summer before college, dealing pot in Washington Square Park, and listening to Notorious B.I.G. A few things to know about this movie: Sir Ben Kingsley is hilarious (though we kept wondering how Dustin Hoffman didn’t get cast in this role), and—disturbingly—has an onscreen makeout with an Olsen twin. Method Man shows up briefly, and Olivia Thirlby (best known as Juno’s bestie) takes on lead female love interest. Oh, dear. First Squeezebox, and now this. (And keep reading for a Beastie Boy cameo!) The 1990's are not too recent for nostalgia. (Watch the trailer above.) read more »

Serendipity Shuttered!

Chris Shott — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 12:26:42 -0500

Eater is reporting that Serendipity 3 -- the backdrop for that horrendous 2001 John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale flick -- has been shuttered by the Health Department after its "second consecutive failed inspection in a month."

"Both inspections revealed rodent and fly infestation and conditions conducive to pest infestation, including stagnant water in the basement. read more »

Cusack Cracks

Rex Reed — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 14:35:12 -0400

MARTIAN CHILD
Running Time 106 minutes
Written by Jonathan Tolins and Seth Bass
Directed by Menno Meyjes read more »

Hamptons Film Festival's Freaky Friday

Sara Vilkomerson and Hillary Frey — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 14:54:36 -0400

It looked on Friday night as though the 15th annual Hamptons International Film Festival were going to be a washout. Torrential rains slowed traffic to a baby crawl on the Long Island Expressway, and by the time it was a little before 7 p.m., the assorted bedraggled paparazzi were fidgeting and joking among themselves at the sight of the empty red carpet at the East Hampton Cinema on Main Street, the hub of the festival. read more »

King Phones It In

Rex Reed — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 14:01:21 -0400

1408 is the latest product canned by the cottage industry known as Stephen King, but if you go expecting a horror movie, you’ll be disappointed. read more »