John Malkovich            John Cusack  

stars of Being John Malkovich

Part 2: Just as we were starting to talk about Malkovich's co-star, John Cusack, said Cusack shuffled in quietly, like a mouse. Cusack's plays a character named Craig Schwartz, a puppeteer who, despite an astonishing talent, can't make a buck at it. A temp filing job leads to wealth in a way no one but Being John Malkovich writer Charlie Kaufman could imagine, as Schwartz and the lovely girl in the office next door, Maxine (Catherine Keener) sell time shares in actor John Malkovich's head. Schwartz falls hard for Maxine, and so does his wife, Lottie (Cameron Diaz) but we'll save the sexual questions for when we StarTalk with the ladies . . .

CrankyCritic: So what did you think, Cusack, when you got this script?
John Cusack: I had been looking around for something really wild and great and original. You read the genre pieces and they're not very good. When I had my theater company in Chicago, I could really do exploratory and radical stuff. I was hungry to do something like that in film. I called my agent and told him he had to get me something to read that wasn't crap. And he said [whispering] "you've got to read Being John Malkovich." He sounded like it was some kind of drug deal. So I read it and thought "the only way this will ever get made is if kid maxes out his dad's credit card and shoots it out of a van." It was fantastic. And there was no way it was ever going to get made.
CrankyCritic: Because it was about Malkovich?
John Cusack:  I've always been a great admirer of his work. When I saw him do True West on stage, I thought "So that's what acting is. I'm going to have to try that some day." I knew and respected him. I thought John would never do it. Then I thought "Well, I know John. We did the Woody Allen movie together. And knew he was just sick enough to do it. He really has got a pretty wicked sense of humor. He probably would like how mean (the script) is and how mean it is to (his image). I thought there's got to be a chance he'll do it. So I just sort of waited And then I heard he was going to do it And it was OK. let's go.

CrankyCritic: Did you think the script was mean-spirited towards you?
John Cusack: (to John Malkovich) In a great way. In a very funny way. It's mean spirited towards everyone
John Malkovich: Yeah
John Cusack: No quarter given.
John Malkovich: Yeah, well, sort of. [laughs] But not in a way that bothered me. Not at all. I must say the first time I met Charlie a couple of years ago And he sort of sidled up to me And said "I really am a big fan of yours" And I said "Charlie, we don't have to do that. I read the script" [laughs] That never bothered me, anyway. I think it's fine.
John Cusack: John is such an unlikely target to be the object of, I don't know...
John Malkovich: Celebrity fascination.
John Cusack: To represent the celebrity culture. I mean he lives in Paris. You know what I'm saying? It probably would have been too easy to use someone who actually courts the limelight And has no integrity. It's even meaner to attack someone who doesn't court celebrity
John Malkovich: Maybe just a little
John Cusack: You couldn't get away, even in Paris.

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