411mania Interviews: Joan Cusack
Posted by Al Norton on 08.21.2009
411's Al Norton sits down for a (quick) exclusive interview with two time Oscar nominee Joan Cusack
Joan Cusack is a two-time Academy Award nominated actress whose highly successful film, TV, and stage career is now in its third decade. Her latest project is the Lifetime movie Acceptance, which airs Saturday at 9 pm.
Al Norton: At this point in your career how do you choose your projects and how does that process differ from 10 years ago?
Joan Cusack: I think because I have children, what works with my family is really important. Because usually going to work means leaving home, if it's not something that's meaningful in some way, even if it's just entertainment, than it's harder for me to do it.
Al Norton: What was it about Acceptance that jumped out at you?
Joan Cusack: It's about something that's really real. There is so much pressure on teenage kids in so many ways that sometimes the pressure to be perfect, to get into the perfect school and to have the perfect life can overshadow the opportunity to figure out what the right fit is for them. I think that's something that is real.
Al Norton: Your kids aren't old enough to be dealing with this stuff yet but did you recognize some of the parents and kids in the movie from real life?
Joan Cusack: Yes, definitely. There are kids that are thinking about college while in grammar school, what's going to look to good on their transcripts, very ambitious kids. And they have parents that match.
Al Norton: Do you find the saying about how the older a women gets, the harder it is for her to find good parts to be true?
Joan Cusack: I think a lot of times at a certain point women just get out of the entertainment industry, because it's a really cruel business in a lot of ways (laughing). I know what happened for me; I wanted to have a family, to have children, to have a marriage. Part of the problem is it's such a hard driving business that it's, are the roles not there or are women getting out of the business and not making the roles happen. I think a lot of times women are just not staying in the business and making them happen.
I understand that but hopefully down the line there is more room for women to stay in the business and not be workaholics, to have a family, too. To find a balance and contribute more to both.
Al Norton: I know 16 Candles was a long time ago but to you have any memories of working with John Hughes?
Joan Cusack: Oh yes. Have you read that book The Outliers? He's my outlier. If he hadn't been in Chicago making movies when I was a teenager who happened to have gone to an afterschool theater group than I wouldn't have had an opportunity to do what I've done, I wouldn't have had a chance. He's everything.
Al Norton: Can you give a quick pitch about Acceptance, in particular why someone who wouldn't consider themselves a typical Lifetime movie viewer would want to tune in?
Joan Cusack: I think if you're a parent it's food for thought. I think the kids in it are really good, I think they did a really good job. And the director, Sanaa Hamri, who did Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2, was really wonderful. She really cared. She's from Morocco and her Father was a painter and he would sell his paintings based on whether he liked the buyer as a person or not, so she's always had content be incredibly important to her. The whole project came from a very meaningful place.
Don't miss Acceptance, Saturday at 9 pm on Lifetime
