‘Martian Child' not so far out for John Cusack
‘Martian Child' not so far out for John Cusack

By Gene Triplett

Published: November 2, 2007

NEW YORK — John Cusack isn't the first name that should spring to filmmakers' minds when casting a father role. The former fringe member of the '80s Brat Pack has been playing it cool and unconventional for far too long, as the hard-luck con man of "The Grifters,” the frustrated puppeteer of "Being John Malkovich,” and the romantically challenged music geek of "High Fidelity,” to name but a few of his outsider turns.

Yet here he is starring in the PG-rated "Martian Child” as a grieving widower trying to connect emotionally with his newly adopted 6-year-old son, a part that sounds way too warm and cuddly for the doomed thief of "The Ice Harvest.”

But this isn't standard-formula family fare, and the role of the would-be dad was tailored to fit Cusack alone, the producers said.

"We thought John would be great in it,” said co-producer David Kirschner. "He's John. He's a quirky, interesting, intelligent actor, and people come to his movies because of the films that he's chosen.”

Cusack's choice this time is a screenplay by Seth E. Bass and Jonathan Tolins, based on a short story by science-fiction luminary David Gerrold, who wrote the classic "Star Trek” episode "The Trouble With Tribbles.” Only this comedy-drama is more down-to-earth than Gerrold's usual yarns, and the child's Martian origins are just in his troubled imagination — maybe.

"I thought it was like a character-driven type of family-adult movie, but it was very sweet, and they told me they wanted to get great actors and, you know, it's nice to be one of them,” Cusack told entertainment reporters during a recent publicity junket at a Manhattan hotel.

Slouching comfortably at the interview table, dressed all in black with his sunglasses pushed back on his thick, dark hair, Cusack looks every inch the hip odd-man-out with an attitude, which makes him perfect in "Martian Child” as David Gordon, a successful science-fiction writer still suffering over the death of his wife when he decides to adopt a child.

David is drawn to Dennis, a lonely, alienated kid who claims to have come to Earth on a mission from Mars and must live in a cardboard box during daylight hours because of the sun's harmful rays.

Cusack, the producers and director Menno Meyjes auditioned dozens of youngsters before settling on Bobby Coleman, age 8 at the time, to fill the difficult title role. It was the young actor's amazingly mature grasp of his character's emotional complexities that won him the part.

"Yeah, he was eerily involved and professional,” Cusack said. "And, like, he knew Dennis wouldn't do that, he would do this. He had a very specific point of view. He was so good and so friendly, you forget he's only been around eight or nine years.”

Since the film was shot in sequence as the story unfolds, Cusack kept his distance from young Coleman at first, gradually becoming more accessible to him off-camera as the characters began to warm to one another in front of the lens.

The boy recalls: "John actually came up to me one day and said, ‘I'm not going to play with you right now, in the beginning, and we should just work it through like it really does play out in the script.' It was that kind of relationship.”

Still, Coleman said he learned a lot under Cusack's tutelage.

"Every take in a scene is totally different. He improvs and plays around with things. So, he just taught me to loosen up a little bit and play with what the character would really do. So, I have kept that with me, and that is a big thing.”

Cusack isn't a parent in real life, but he has plenty of experience as an uncle with the sons of sister Joan Cusack, who plays David's sis in the film. Her presence in the cast was another reason he signed on for "Martian Child,” marking the ninth film they've appeared in together.

"She just makes me laugh,” he said. "We're both pretty stubborn people, so it's pretty funny sometimes. She's definitely got her way of seeing things, and I have mine, so it's pretty funny the way they clash.”

But the themes of the film formed the main attraction for the nonconformist star.

"I liked it that (David) was somebody who was kind of an artist, somewhat accomplished but a little bit isolated,” Cusack said. "I can relate to that, and the idea of wanting a little bit more in your life, deeper purpose, I can relate to; everybody can relate to. I thought the relationship with the kid, of trying to reach out and touch, to find another soul, was sweet and true, and the idea that he can relate to a kid who didn't feel like it was easy to fit in.”

Cusack admitted, not surprisingly, that he knows that feeling.

"I wasn't that eccentric,” he says of his youth, "but I definitely wasn't in the popular crowd.”

Travel and accommodations were paid for by New Line Cinema.

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