Dating John Cusack

Angela Dawson
VNU Entertainment News Wire
Jul. 28, 2005 12:00 AM

HOLLYWOOD - As one of the most eligible bachelors in Hollywood (and in his hometown of Chicago), John Cusack would be a catch for any girl. Funny, handsome and rich, he seems to have it all. But like a lot of singles, Cusack has found the search for that one true love elusive.

The 39-year-old actor has ventured on his share of blind dates, mostly set up by his sisters and friends. His most enduring relationships, he's found, have resulted from chance meetings.

One option he hasn't tried is online dating. (Imagine the number of hits he'd get.) But his lack of experience didn't stop Cusack from portraying a character looking for love in cyberspace in the romantic comedy "Must Love Dogs."

Getting the role of Jake, a lonely boat builder who finds romance with lovely Diane Lane (playing a recent divorcee), happened entirely by chance. "I was supposed to go off to do a film in Europe and, like what happens so often in this business, it fell apart at the last minute," recalls Cusack.

After meeting with director Gary David Goldberg, best known for creating the hit series "Family Ties" and "Spin City," he was sold. Cusack was also excited about working with a stellar cast, including Lane, Christopher Plummer and Stockard Channing. "The group of people they got together were so nice and Gary set such an amazing tone and made it all seem sort of effortless," says the actor with a smile.

Cusack, who is also a filmmaker, brought "reams of pages of dialogue" for his character, according to Lane. He added little quirks to the role. For example, Jake watches "Dr. Zhivago" whenever he is down. (Cusack finds the word "Zhivago" comical.)

A veteran of such romantic comedies as "Serendipity" and "America's Sweethearts," Cusack has picked up some dating tips from his movie characters. "You can practice a little bit in the film if you get more than one take," he jokes.

Would he ever consider borrowing a line from one of his characters in real life? "No," he insists. "I hope not."

He points out that a lot of the characters he's played are somewhat misguided when it comes to romance. "They're wrong, they're always wrong," he says. "I mean, 'High Fidelity' is about somebody who finally gets beaten into submission with his Peter Pan syndrome."

His advice to would-be daters? Endurance is more important than truth. Asked to elaborate, he shrugs. "It just sounded cool," he says.

While he admits he's not much of a computer whiz, Cusack reveals he browsed some online dating sites in preparation for "Must Love Dogs" and found them "intense." He denies feeling the temptation to put his profile on the Internet, saying he would be hard pressed to come up with a good description of himself.

"I would probably say 'partial insomniac,' " he says coyly. "I'd probably put something just really funny and absurd like black Irish basket case, nice person, sometimes brooding."

Asked to describe a memorable bad date, he declines. He won't even reveal the name of a dog he used to share with an ex-girlfriend. He evades specific questions about his current dating status or even if he has a special someone in his life.

The son of a documentary filmmaker and a teacher, Cusack grew up in a large and boisterous household in suburban Evanston, Ill. He ventured into acting at an early age. At 12, he had an impressive list of stage credits.

An original member of the Brat Pack, he made his film debut in the 1983 teen comedy "Class" followed by John Hughes' "Sixteen Candles." His transition to adult roles was relatively easy. In 1990, he starred as a con man in the noir thriller "The Grifters."

The actor-writer-producer has had his share of hits ("High Fidelity," "Being John Malkovich") and misses ("Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," "Money for Nothing"). A darling of the independent world, Cusack is no stranger to big-budget studio films.

He is one of the founders of the New Crime Theatre Company, an avant-garde group in the mold of Chicago's famous Steppenwolf Theater Company. Along with old high school chums Steve Pink and D.V. DeVincentis, he subsequently formed New Crime Productions to develop films. Their first production was "Grosse Pointe Blank," co-written by Cusack and starring his then-girlfriend Minnie Driver, Dan Aykroyd and his sister, Joan Cusack. (Three other siblings are actors as well.)

Cusack was brought up in a politically liberal household. His mother was active in the peace movement during the Vietnam War. And the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Cusack has been active in supporting liberal candidates over the years. During the last election, some Cusack fans even put up a Web site trying to recruit the actor for president.

It's a wonder the workhorse performer, who divides his time between Los Angeles and Chicago, has time for dating, given his demanding schedule. Having wrapped "The Ice Harvest," a dark comedy co-starring Billy Bob Thornton, Cusack is currently filming Menno Meyjes' science-fiction drama "The Martian Child" in Vancouver. He last paired with Meyjes on "Max," the controversial 2002 film about young Adolph Hitler.

Cusack next heads to Bulgaria to shoot the Bruce Beresford thriller "The Contract," co-starring Oscar-winner Morgan Freeman, in one of his rare villainous roles. His is also developing a project about the late paranormal expert Edgar Cayce. The project is a labor of love for Cusack, who wrote the screenplay with his father before he died.

"I just think that world (of psychic phenomena) is fascinating," he says, adding that he is a big believer in instinct and intuition. "You wake up and you know something's up with somebody."