John Cusack answers fan questions live at ‘Say Anything’ screening at Hershey Theatre on Sept. 19
From a press release:
Following a screening of the classic romantic comedy “Say Anything,” the Hershey Theatre will host a live conversation with its star, John Cusack, on Wednesday, Sept. 19 at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets for this show, which range from $46.15-$148 (processing fees apply), go on sale this Friday, June 15 at 10 a.m. and will be available at the Hershey Theatre box office (15 E. Caracas Ave., Hershey), online at hersheyentertainment.com and ticketmaster.com, and by phone at 717-534-3405 and 800-745-3000.
Hollywood icon John Cusack makes his way to Hershey for a live interview and audience Q&A this fall. With four decades’ worth of roles in over 70 films, John Cusack will share stories from his career, answer audience questions, and give a behind-the-scenes look into his breakout role as Lloyd Dobler after a screening of the 1989 film “Say Anything,” Cameron Crowe’s directorial debut.
Ranked by Entertainment Weekly as one of the greatest modern movie romances (and No. 11 on the list of 50 best high school movies), “Say Anything” made a star out of Cusack, who went on to success in multiple films, including “High Fidelity,” “Grosse Point Blank,” and “Being John Malkovich,” among others.
Now fans will have the unique and rare opportunity to experience a moderated conversation with him and the chance to ask questions. A limited number of VIP seats will be available, which include a post-show photo-op with Cusack.
Cusack is, like most of his characters, an unconventional hero. Wary of fame and repelled by formulaic Hollywood fare, he has built a successful career playing underdogs and odd men out, all the while avoiding the media spotlight. He was born in Evanston, Illinois to an Irish-American family. With the exception of mom Nancy (née Carolan), a former math teacher, the Cusack clan is all show business: father Dick Cusack was an actor and filmmaker, and John’s siblings Joan Cusack, Ann Cusack, Bill Cusack, and Susie Cusack are all thespians by trade. Like his brother and sisters, John became a member of Chicago’s Piven Theatre Workshop while he was still in elementary school. By age 12, he already had several stage productions, commercial voiceovers, and industrial films under his belt. He made his feature film debut at 17, acting alongside Rob Lowe and Andrew McCarthy in the romantic comedy “Class” (1983).
His next role, as a member of Anthony Michael Hall’s geek brigade in “Sixteen Candles” (1984), put him on track to becoming a teen flick fixture. Cusack remained on the periphery of the Brat Pack, sidestepping the meteoric rise and fall of most of his contemporaries, but he stayed busy with leads in films like “The Sure Thing” (1985) and “Better Off Dead” (1985). Young Cusack is probably best remembered for what could be considered his last adolescent role: the stereo-blaring romantic Lloyd Dobler in “Say Anything.” A year later, he hit theaters as a grown-up, playing a bush-league con man caught between his manipulative mother and headstrong girlfriend in “The Grifters” (1990).
The next few years were relatively quiet for the actor, but he filled in the gaps with off-screen projects. He directed and produced several shows for the Chicago-based theater group The New Criminals, which he founded in 1988 (modeling it after Tim Robbins’ Actors’ Gang in Los Angeles) to promote political and avant-garde stage work. Four years later, Cusack’s high school friends Steve Pink and D.V. DeVincentis joined him in starting a sister company for film, New Crime Productions. New Crime’s first feature was the sharply written comedy “Grosse Pointe Blank” (1997), which touched off a career renaissance for Cusack. In addition to co-scripting, he starred as a world-weary hit man who goes home for his 10-year high school reunion and tries to rekindle a romance with the girl he stood up on prom night (Minnie Driver). In an instance of life imitating art, Cusack actually did go home for his 10-year reunion (to honor a bet about the film’s financing) and ended up in a real-life romance with Driver.
Cusack’s next appearance was as a federal agent (or, as he described it, “the first post-Heston, non-biblical action star in sandals”) in “Con Air” (1997), a movie he chose because he felt it was time to make smart business decisions. He followed that with Clint Eastwood’s “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil” (1997), in which he played a Yankee reporter entangled in a Savannah murder case.
Cusack has always favored offbeat material, so it was no surprise when he turned up in the fiercely original “Being John Malkovich” (1999). Long-haired, bearded, and bespectacled, he was almost unrecognizable in the role of a frustrated puppeteer who stumbles across a portal into the brain of actor John Malkovich. The convincing performance won him a Best Actor nomination at the Independent Spirit Awards. In 2000, Cusack was back to his clean-shaven self in “High Fidelity” (2000), another New Crime production. He worked with Steve Pink and D.V. DeVincentis to adapt Nick Hornby’s popular novel (relocating the story to their native Chicago), then starred as the sarcastic record store owner who revisits his “Top 5” breakups to find out why he’s so unlucky in love.
The real Cusack has been romantically linked with several celebrities, including Driver, Alison Eastwood, Claire Forlani, and Neve Campbell. He’s also something of a family man, acting frequently opposite sister Joan Cusack and pulling other Cusacks into his films on a regular basis. He seems pleased with the spate of projects on his horizon, but admits that he still hasn’t reached his ultimate goal: to be involved in a “great piece of art.”
The wristband policy will be in effect for this show. Fans are permitted on the Hershey Theatre property beginning at 7 a.m. on June 15. Two hours prior to the on-sale, fans will be directed in front of the Hershey Theatre box office, where they will be issued a numbered wristband. Wristbands are available for one hour and, at the conclusion of that hour, a selected fan will randomly choose a wristband that will determine the line order. Once the line is in place, fans arriving after the wristbands were issued will be escorted to the end of the numbered line.
