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Quint's politically charged interview with John Cusack about WAR, INC. has finally arrived!
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. This interview is a long time coming. For those fans of REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER, like me, this interview happened the week before his appearance on that show. With that on the horizon and the political charge of the film we’re discussing, WAR, INC, we get an interview with a lot of political opinions going back and forth.
Needless to say, we’re both pretty liberal people, so we didn’t disagree about much, but I thought it’d be best to kind of stand back and let him take the floor.
Anyway, I still haven’t seen the movie. Can’t wait to. In the meantime, here’s the chat I had with John Cusack. Enjoy!
Quint: Hey, how’s it going?
John Cusack: Pretty good man. How are you?
Quint: I’m doing well. I’m doing a lot of catch up; I have been pretty much nonstop since Sundance, so I’m finally getting a chance to relax a little bit.
John Cusack: Good.
Quint: Well thanks for talking with me. I really appreciate it. I’m really curious about the project, because the other films that you have a co-writer credit on are some of my favorites that you have made, like HIGH FIDELITY and GROSSE POINTE BLANK.
John Cusack: Well, thanks.
Quint: What do you pick to be that involved in? Your writing credits… are these collaborations from the beginning or do you come in and get a script and then do a polish or something?
John Cusack: No, I’m there at the beginning of all of them.
Quint: What do you pick to get that involved with? Does it always start with an idea like you go out and find the book, like for HIGH FIDELITY, or did you find the idea for WAR INC?
John Cusack: Yes. GROSSE POINTE BLANK was an original idea and the three of us, two are my writing partners, worked on that and then we did it over at Disney when Joe Roth was running Disney. He was a friend and a great benefactor to my career, so we had done that and then Disney had the rights and so Kathy Nelson who did the music with us was sitting with Joe in one of her meetings and she said. “Well we have this property and we have already got the three guys to write it.” Literally I got it just sent to my desk. We just got sent this great book and they said “Do you want to write this?” Before they had even finished the sentence we said yes. That was just pure luck and the good fortune of Joe and Kathy and that’s how that came to be.
Quint: Nice and that was for FIDELITY, right?
John Cusack: Yeah, that was like the last year Joe Roth was head of Disney.
Quint: Cool and then how did you come to WAR, INC then?
John Cusack: With WAR, INC I had wanted to make something when the Bush administration invaded Iraq and you saw the shock and awe of the thing. It was like a biblical, Jehovah like air to it and I thought it was so ill conceived that they would be doing that and predicating the whole thing on lies and putting troops and their families at risk and Iraqi people and all of the stuff that the soldiers would have to endure. I then thought that I would want to do a kind of a real time sort of response to it in the tradition of mockery of the rich and the powerful and institutions and all of that stuff.
Quint: Definitely and doing it, at least judging from the trailer, it looks like it is a very satire rich film. I saw Jason Reitman talk and he was saying that with comedy and satire, he can say so much more than he could with a drama, because when you do a drama, unless you do it just right, people will feel preached to, but with comedy you can slide it in there.
John Cusack: I think of even the great tradition of political cartoons…
Quint: Yeah, definitely.
John Cusack: You can get to a harder truth than you can when you don’t put it that way, but I think the tradition of taking on the power elites and aristocracy which this administration is clearly part of, kind of a corporate aristocracy, but I think it’s healthy and great in the tradition of insurrection and change. You know, tell alternate versions of history that aren’t kind of a corporate history… so that’s the tradition we have, so we decided we would go and do this and go make a punk rock song about war profiteering.
Quint: Are you excited this year? Everybody I know is caught up in the excitement and I don’t… I have some friends that voted for Bush in 2000 elections and they are campaigning aggressively for Barack Obama and I think the combination of having a couple of really interesting candidates for the nomination and seeing the Bush administration leave office is making this a really exciting time.
John Cusack: I think it is an exciting time, but I also think it’s a dangerous time, because it’s almost like people who have a sense of what is happening or what has happened to this country are almost exhausted and numb and the people who have done this to this country are kind of rabid in its self defense in its agenda, so I’m very, very hopeful that there is so much energy going on to kind of reverse this, but I don’t take it for granted that the Democrats are going to win. I think we need to broaden the debate and I think one of the things about the movie that I think is pretty cool is that it’s challenging the fundamental concepts and nature of what the war is, which is an extension of this ultra-ultra right wing kind of fundamentalist ideology where everything is about corporate interest in the free markets and expanding the markets.
These companies should just set up shop right inside the state department and just use the government as an ATM and ultimately the thing that is crazy about it is that it’s not even a free market. It’s like a protectionist’s bracket and they have got it totally rigged, so that’s even a lie, but the whole idea that what’s good for Bechtel and Lockheed Martin, Halliburton, and all of these companies… what’s good for them is what is good for American foreign policies is just a hideous obscene lie.
Quint: And when they have so many direct ties with those in power making those decisions…
John Cusack: You have people going on TV saying “We must act now” and they are sitting on a board for a company that when war happens, their stock is going to quadruple and so in a sense they are being honest, “We must act now, because it’s the corporation’s duty to make profit for it’s share holders.” That doesn’t mean that they should be making foreign policy decisions with unlimited access to the budget of the country or that they should be able to invade sovereign nations, because their ideology says that “this is the way we are going to reach a utopia on Earth” through corporate free market, which by the way aren’t even free. It’s just hypocrisy and the extent of lies are so intense that you can’t even turn the television on without your eyes watering.
Quint: Now in your film…
John Cusack: It’s out of that outrage that we thought, me and Mark Leyner and Jeremy Pikser and the director and some of the actors, we thought “Well, were are going to do this and put it out there and then we won’t have to stand in the darkest period of America in our lifetime that we just didn’t do anything.” Besides being in the political system, certainly we can make art and hopefully piss off some people, the right kind of people…
Quint: And in the film, the corporation that is pretty much taking over is headed by the ex president, right?
John Cusack: Yeah, well there is a company that is sort of set loosely in the future, but it’s saying that the next place that they invade besides Iraq for their “free markets” is headed by a guy who was a former vice president and you can guess who that is.
[Both Laugh]
John Cusack: But in this war, it’s the first one hundred percent outsourced war, so right now we have more contractors there than troops, so maybe in the future congress won’t even have to declare war, because it can just get private contractors and mercenaries and we can just exempt them from international law, right?
That’s what is really happening right now in the country and they even outsource interrogation, which means they made interrogations a cost plus for profit business, so that means the torture is for profit. That is what is happening right now in our country, so I mean these people are insane and that’s the truth of it. They are insane and I would love to hear one or any of the Democratic candidates talk about that and talk about this new economy and what that means. They are outsourcing what it means to be a state and what it means to be a government. That’s not just destroying the new deal, that’s destroying the country and I would like to see any well meaning Libertarian or Republican that could argue for that or Democrats. All parties should expose and disgrace this kind of ideology.
Quint: Yeah, it seems that Washington is just so entrenched in that kind of business that it… everybody seems to be like “Well that’s the game and we have to play it.”
John Cusack: There’s that sense of “We have to accept this narrative about the way the world is” and this sort of sense of inevitability about the corporations and what they do. “They are the government and we can’t touch that,” but you know we don’t have to believe that. It isn’t inevitable.
Quint: I saw that you are going on Bill Maher this Friday?
John Cusack: Yeah.
Quint: Is this the kind of stuff you are going to try to bring up there? It’s a very succinct argument and I think a lot of people have been trying to talk about this kind of thing but haven’t been able to really nail it within the confines of the corporate structure. h2>
[The representative says to wrap it up.]
John Cusack: I believe in it and part of the thing is no matter how successful the movie is or isn’t, we just went to go do it and it was just such an emotional thing to do and we tried our best and worked hard on such a small budget. What we really hope is that people say “Hey wait a minute, we don’t have to just lay back. At the very least we can tell these people to fuck off.”
Quint: Yeah, the discussion has to start and I think that we have… I don’t know what your feelings are on Obama, but I think why he is so popular right now is because he does kind of represent that person that isn’t willing to take lobbyist money, that isn’t willing to do all of this stuff and a lot of people say that they want change, but I think that his popularity is actual proof that when you actually see it effectively it can actually work for you, you know?
John Cusack: Yeah, and also I would love to have this film be a part of the jumping off conversation that would make the Democrats answer this question too, because the Democrats are complicent in this, too. They can speak out about this, because this is happening under their watch, too. You can make an argument like “Yeah they didn’t have 60 votes and it was a pure political reason,” but they can shut down congress every day just to let it be known that American companies aren’t allowed to just torture people. So I would love to be part of a larger discussion.
Quint: Alright cool. Thanks, good luck with the film, and good luck on Bill Maher.
John Cusack: You, too. See you down the road.
Quint: Alright, bye.
And that’s it. Thanks for reading our political rantings. Hope you enjoyed it!
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
And that’s it. Thanks for reading our political rantings. Hope you enjoyed it!
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
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He's a pretty smart guy, it's always good to hear from actors who have a good head on their shoulders.
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You guys sound like the high school dropouts who wax philosophic at Denny's in the wee hours of the morning. Blah blah war, blah blah corporations.
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or do neither of you know what complicit means?
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this movie made Idiocracy look like strangelove...
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When it was called Dr. Strangelove, and it was a lot funnier and better done. I love The Cusack, but this movie was a piece of crap.
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Its interesting that this interview does not have the tang of propaganda about it. Cusack's opinion seem critical of both parties in their handling of Iraq and the aftermath. That said, if his wish is to spark a wider debate (as he states) then I think he will fail - but not from a lack of will. From what I gather the film is a bit too confusing and heavy handed in its satire, so it may well get dismissed by any wider viewing audience as being "crap" based on negative reviews. A shame, as I agree with him that any film that sparks a debate is a good film for the country.
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extremely disappointing. it looked so good, but just completely let me down.
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All this political bullshit from some uneducated Evanston brat living in a beach house in Malibu. This is what happens when an actor is cooped up in a trailer watching TV all day. A real actor like Sean Penn actually steps up and DOES something. Johnny just makes BAD movies and gives rambling quasi-political interviews.
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mena suvari naked...http://tinyurl.com/2a548x
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I will see this regardless of talkback, or reviews.
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first he/she has to take a trip to iraq?
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Damn You Michael Bay
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What could have been a great indie drama, turned out to be some road trip flick.Not to mention that the "payoff" near the end was weak.
As for Clint eastwood's score, hey "Dirty Harry" stick to directing movies, instead of adding music to them.Only guy who i know is capable for doing both scoring and direction goes to John carpenter..well atleast in his prime.War Inc looks like a psuedo sequel to gross pointe blank..it's got Danny but where the fuck is minnie?!? -
I generally dig anything he's involved in, even Con Air. It's a very guilty pleasure, indeed.
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I can't wait to miss it.
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cusack is pretty spot on about the lies propogated by neo cons who argue for "free market" when in fact they're only interested in protectionist economics.
they are a vile bunch of people.
cusack and obama, keep up the good work.
at dinner once, bush jr had to ask bush snr what a neo con was. true story -
I've downloaded this and I still can't be bothered to watch it.
Cusack concerns me - everyone seems to like him but in reality he seems a bit of a twat.
Come on Cusack make Grosse Pointe Blank II. the first one is my favorite film ever. If not that then make Better off dead II - even though you disowned the origianl. There's an interesting article about it here: http://tinyurl.com/6eyyt5
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i just can't imagine this is as bad as you kids are saying. i'll see it, thats for sure.
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hey film fans... check out this great new blog on blogspot. it's called thebitterproducer
it's hilarious -
hey film fans... check out this great new blog on blogspot. it's called thebitterproducer
it's hilarious -
I like Cusack, but he falls into the same trap that all of Hollywood and, indeed, many on this site fall into. That is that the public, the people who pay their salaries by buying tickets, do not want a politically driven movie. Name one movie about the war in Iraq that made good money. The public does not want to see it. Some time in the last decade to a decade and a half, Hollywood forgot that their job is to entertain not to spew out political propaganda like they are the liberal media arm of the democratic party. I'd say the same thing if they were Conservatives as well. I don't care about political movies. I go to the movies to escape, not to be given a heavy-handed lecture on the politics of war. It is a waste of time and money for these guys. The Indie film craze was bad enough, but this is much worse because there is no entertainment value in it at all unless you are an uber liberal.
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I was expecting a Lewis Black like tirade.
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So then this movie is about the Civil War?
What a total douchebag. -
"we won’t have to stand in the darkest period of America in our lifetime"...read what he said man...In our lifetime...dont throw him under the bus for your misgivings in literacy
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Man, that's a dull interview. We waited for this??
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... give a voice and credence to what ill-informed ACTORS like John Cusack or George Clooney have to say.Because we should all believe in what a bunch of high school graduates believe about politics, world economics, and things far above their education level, right?
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And I certainly don't like a single one of the candidates for next term. If Hilary, Barack, and McCain are in a sinking boat - who is saved? America.
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or thank you for smoking...people will spend money to see politically tinged movies...if they are well made
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is he wrong about what is occuring in iraq, or about the fact that the military industrial complex that eisenhower told us to beware of is now basically holding the purse strings?
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"Look at me, I'm a moron...don't know when to say 'you, too'..."
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... I'm no fan of what has gone on in Iraq, or the Bush Administration for that matter.I still believe going in was necessary, it's just that with idiots like Donald Rumsfeld leading the charge, egos out in front, well, like the only decent documentary that's come out of this whole mess said, there was a way to ensure a better victory in Iraq and about a million ways to screw it up, the Bush Administration has screwed it up.But excuse me if I don't take the insincere words of a high school drop-out actor as truth, especially when they start talking about "the troops," like they actually give a shit about those of us who have served. Things being what they are, the Democrats as a whole, still don't respect or care about those who choose to serve in the military. They just use them to prop up their own arguments now. I served under a Democrate president, and let me tell you, it sucked.But is Iraq screwed up? Yes it is. Is it as scrwed up as the media and these uneducated, brain-dead Hollywood liberals (David Mamet's words, not mine) would have us believe?No, it's not.The fact of the matter is, over 90% of Iraq is actually doing pretty good. Fallujah and Basra not so much. As for the insurgents we fight, the vast majority are NOT Iraqi's. They're Syrians and Iranians.See, it helps to know what's going on on the ground with reports from friends who are actually over there doing what self-serving people like John Cusack never would have the balls to do.I'm sorry, but once again, just because someone is famous and their voice is considered "important" because they act in movies doesn't mean we have to listen to them, although I know, in our Celebutarded Worship Culture we've been brainwashed into believing that these people are intelligent (they're not, like I said, most are high school drop-outs) and deserve to be heard.
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The vast majority of insurgents are Syrian or Iranian? Really? The Army says foriegn insurgents in Al Queda linked units are about 5% of the problem. The main problem has always been the Sunni insurgents and former Baathists. Also the Shite militias and criminal gangs linked to Al Sadr. Show me even ONE Iranian captured or killed in Iraq. The whole Iran is the devil argument is another Neocon lie, this time to srup an attack on yet another country that has NOT attacked us, while Al Queda sits laughing in Pakistan.
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Cusack. Yes the reason we went to war was a lie. However, a necessary one. The public, at the time was not ready for the truth. This globe we all live on is like a big chess board. The stakes of the game are preserving our way of life. Some of us get it, some think humans are perfectly capable of living in total peace. I ask you two things: Have we ever? Why?
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Easily the era of the cold war. Nuclear annihilation just miles off our South Easter coast. America and the USSR easily capable and ready to destroy the world several times over...
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... no one I know wants to attack Iran.Insurgents are not tied to any country, they are non-uniformed combatants, which also means they are not subject to the protections of the Geneva Convention interestingly enough.But I like how everyone who doesn't walk in lockstep with the brain dead liberal way of thinking is automatically a neocon. My friends who actually are ideologically conservative would laugh if they knew someone called me that.
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I just read that...Cusack, what were you thinking? B.O.D. rocked. I'm sure there's two sides to the story. He did make you sound like an ass.
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I know a lot of you Cusack fans like me are having a hard time believing that War Inc is as bad as people are saying, but it honestly and truly is. I'm a huge Cusack fan... I've got a Hi Fidelity poster on my wall signed by the man, own almost all of his movies, hell I went as Lloyd Dobler two Halloweens ago, and I couldn't make it to the end of this piece of junk. It is as much a clusterf*ck as GPB was slick and well done, and I blame the director more then the political stuff, although that gets old fast too. The editing is god awful, the storyline is all over the place, words can't describe how disappointing this thing was. Go see it for yourselves, but don't be surprised when you realize the talkbacks were right.
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Try barely coherent ramblings of 2 liberal self satisfied fluff artists. When will the Summer's Eve/Massengil ads start for this page?
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"The Jack Bull". Absolutely brilliant. I always want to Cusack to do well, from " . . . girls underpants" through present. But "The Jack Bull" is vastly underrated, Goodman's brilliant in it and it's a brutal freaking movie on every level. Great movie.
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...so please shut the fuck up and make your movies.
He knows as much about politics as Harry fucking Potter. -
... I'm glad I'm not one of the only ones on here who worship at the feet of these uneducated Celebutards and hang on every purile word they say on whatever topic they believe they are educated enough to talk about.
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...but he knows Jack Shit about politics.
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Libertarians in general do not support this war. Just so you know.
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... Libertarians in general don't support the way the war has been run and don't support the Bush Administration's mangling of running the war.But don't speak for all of us as to what we do and don't support. Some of us realize the necessity of what had to be done.
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this movie is terrible. the only thing its a jumping off point for is...satirical suicide. not a funny film and not an intelligent one either. it would have made more sense to have had leslie neilson star in it. read my review here if you're interested: eattheblinds.blogspot.com - screw u if u aren't
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May 23, 2008 11:09:59 PM CDT
"The Shock Doctrine" by Naomi Klein is a must-read on this subje
by flim springfield
Great book, check it out!
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and Penn and Clooney as well, the difference between fame and significance.
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Instead all we're left with is a Commie doppleganger.
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F 911 was a documentary. They know what Michael Moore is and it still barely made more that 100 million which today is considered a flop in some cases. I wont make that arguement here, but people know what they are getting in to going to a documentary. Also, back then, this was new. Now it is tired and old and people are sick of it.
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