John Cusack Explains Why He Pulled Back from Hollywood After Decades in the Industry [WATCH]

John Cusack is opening up about why he has largely stepped back from Hollywood after decades in films, and his explanation centers on creative control, as reported by Page Six.

The “Being John Malkovich” star, 60, said he wanted to tell stories without studio executives weighing in. That desire helped lead him to write his upcoming graphic novel “Momo.”

“I always thought [graphic novels] were the closest things to film, really,” he told Variety on Friday. “You’re picking out shots, they’re so cinematic.”

Cusack said writing gave him a way to tell a story without going through the usual studio process. He explained that he “didn’t [want to] negotiate telling a story.”

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“When you ask somebody to put $20 million or $30 million into a bank account [for a film], they want to have an opinion, and they’re afraid and all that stuff,” he said.

Instead, Cusack worked with illustrator Ignacio Noé to make “Momo” independently. The project allowed the pair to shape the work without edits from anyone else.

“This was just like, I wrote it, and I said, ‘I like the story,’ and then I got this beautiful, wonderful artist, Ignacio Noé, to do the illustrations and so nobody edited anything I wrote or that he drew,” Cusack said.

“So it’s really a piece of work that was just done by two people. It was just me and Ignacio’s story, and that doesn’t happen today.”

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“There’s no bull, and there’s no committee. There’s no computer up in Seattle that’s poll testing it,” he added.

John Cusack says he wrote a graphic novel because he “didn’t want to negotiate” his creative vision:

“When you ask somebody to put $20 or $30 million into a bank account [for a film], they want to have an opinion and they’re afraid and all that.”Cusack is debuting his graphic… pic.twitter.com/EpMB4HKXcx— Variety (@Variety) July 24, 2026

“Momo” is Cusack’s first graphic novel and is set to be released on Sept. 29. The story follows two fugitives in 1972 who try to recover an ancient artifact for TV icon Jackie Gleason.

Cusack spent decades as one of Hollywood’s most recognizable leading men. His credits include “Grosse Pointe Blank,” “High Fidelity” and “Con Air.”

In recent years, however, his acting career has become increasingly selective. He appeared in the 2025 films “Fog of War” and the Mandarin-language film “Detective Chinatown 1900.”

Before those projects, Cusack starred in the Chinese espionage thriller “Decoded” in 2024. His only screen credits since 2020 before that were the action thriller “Pursuit” and Amazon’s dystopian series “Utopia.”

Cusack has also spoken publicly about the state of Hollywood before. In 2014, he told the Guardian about a period when his friend Joe Roth ran Disney until 2000.

He said Roth made films such as “The Rock” and “Con Air” while also giving several slots to people he liked. Cusack pointed to that time while discussing films he and other directors were able to make.

“I got to make ‘High Fidelity’ and ‘Grosse Pointe Blank.’ Spike Lee got to make ‘Summer of Sam.’ Wes Anderson got to make ‘Rushmore.’ I had that memory of film, and that’s gone.”

Cusack is not the only member of his family who has stepped away from the spotlight. His older sister, actress Joan Cusack, 63, made her first red carpet appearance since 2015 in May.

Joan attended the London premiere of “Toy Story 5,” ending an 11-year absence from public events. In June, she told Variety that she valued both her career and her life outside the industry.

“I feel so honored to have worked in this industry for a long time,” the actress told Variety in June. “But it’s also great to live your life and raise your kids and be in Chicago and be a normal person.”

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