USA: JOHN AND JOAN CUSACK AND MINNIE DRIVER SPEAK ABOUT THEIR FILM 'GROSSE POINTE BLANK'

Record ID: 545201

  • Title: USA: JOHN AND JOAN CUSACK AND MINNIE DRIVER SPEAK ABOUT THEIR FILM 'GROSSE POINTE BLANK'
  • Date: 10th January 1997
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (APRIL 7, 1997) (REUTERS) CREST THEATRE WHERE "GROSSE POINTE BLANK" IS BEING PREMIERED JOAN CUSACK WITH JOURNALISTS JOAN CUSACK SAYING IT WAS FUN TO MAKE, I MEAN I'M TOTALLY BIASED OF COURSE BECAUSE HE (JOHN CUSACK) IS MY BROTHER BUT HE'S GOT SO MUCH GREAT CREATIVE ENERGY AND HE LOVES SOCIAL SATIRE STUFF. I THINK HE HAS A REALLY GOOD MIND AND SO ITS NICE THE WAY HE LOOKS AT THE WORLD AND COMMENTS ON IT. HE WAS ABLE TO DO A LOT OF THAT IN THIS FILM AND SO ITS FUN FOR HIM AND I'M HAPPY (ENGLISH) JOHN CUSACK TALKING WITH JOURNALISTS ALAN ARKIN TALKING WITH JOURNALISTS JOHN CUSACK SAYING WELL I THINK THIS IS A TRUE STORY, IT'S METAPHORICALLY TRUE. (REPORTER ASKS WHY) I THINK THAT A LOT OF THE VALUES OF AMERICA, THE MERCENARY VALUES OF THE CULTURE ARE TRAGIC AND ABSURD AT TIMES. I THINK A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE TAUGHT TO DO ANYTHING TO SUCCEED SO IF YOU EXTEND THOSE VALUES TO AN ABSURD LEVEL, MAYBE YOU GET THIS MOVIE (ENGLISH) MINNIE DRIVER ARRIVES DRIVER SAYING IT WAS A DREAM, IT WAS A DREAM, I USED TO JUST ROCK OUT OF BED EVERY MORNING READY TO WORK. IT DOESN'T HAPPEN VERY OFTEN. (REPORTER ASKS WHY) BECAUSE WE REALLY CREATED. I CREATED THIS PART WITH JOHN AND WITH STEVE AND DEVEY AND THEY LET ME DO WHAT I WANTED. THE DIRECTOR WAS AMAZING, IT WAS RELAXED, IT WAS JUST AN AWESOME SET. (ENGLISH)
  • Embargoed: 25th January 1997 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK AND LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES/ VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVA1CNVKJT1MQG74HBR39UJOT4LB
  • Story Text: John Cusack takes on writing and acting duties in his new dark comedy "Grosse Pointe Blank," which premiered in Los Angeles on Monday (April 7).
    The film co-stars Minnie Driver, Dan Aykroyd, Alan Arkin, and Cusack's real-life sister, Joan.
    Cusack plays Martin, a charming and proficient hired assassin who returns home to Grosse Pointe, Michigan, for his ten-year high school reunion.
    While there, he plans a reunion of another sort with Debi, the girl he left behind played by Minnie Driver. He also intends to do "one last hit." But his plans go awry when a rival assassin, Grocer, played by Dan Aykroyd, shows up with plans to erase his future.
    Meanwhile, Martin's office is being run by his highly efficient, yet quirky, secretary Marcella (Joan Cusack), a woman whose office duties include ordering ammunition and high-powered weaponry.
    "Grosse Pointe Blank" is directed by George Armitage, whose previous credits include the Alec Baldwin crime thriller "Miami Blues." Also in the cast is Alan Arkin, who plays Doctor Oatman, Martin's long-suffering therapist who urges him to go to his reunion and to try "not killing anybody" for once.
    This film was the realization of a long-standing dream for John Cusack. It also offered him the chance to use the talents of his family members and several high-school friends.
    Joan Cusack said it was fun to make a movie with her brother.
    "I think he has a really good mind and so it's nice the way he looks at the world and comments on it," she said.
    John Cusack said he thought of the film as almost a true story, "It's metaphorically true. I think that a lot of the values of America, the mercenary values of the culture are tragic and absurd at times." Cusack, his co-writers and producers were all part of a Chicago-based theatre company he founded. Minnie Driver came to call this group of men the "Chicago Boys Club." Driver said the film was a joy to work on. "I created this part with John and with Steve and Devey and they let me do what I wanted. The director was amazing, it was relaxed, it was just an awesome set," she said.
    Remembering his own High School reunion, Cusack said it hadn't been as bad as he thought it might be. "I saw all the horror that I needed to see but I also saw people who were really happy with these great relationships," he said.
    But Driver has other views on reunions, "It's sick, It's like rubber-necking at a car accident. Everybody wants to see what happened to everybody else and if they were worse off." The film goes on general release across the U.S. from April 11th.
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