Is John Cusack Losing His War?

Mark Caro - Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO - Last fall, John Cusack hoped to be on the verge of a career breakthrough. His portrayal of an Iraq war widower in "Grace Is Gone" was being touted for an Oscar - particularly by Harvey Weinstein, who bought the film for about $4 million at the Sundance Film Festival - and he was applying a final polish to another project particularly close to his heart, "War, Inc."

Well ..."Grace Is Gone" bombed, grossing about $50,000 domestically while never playing in more than seven theaters, and "War, Inc." isn't exactly riding the blockbuster train either. Co-written by Cusack (and, as he told me last year, largely directed by him despite a full credit for Joshua Seftel), this "Grosse Pointe Blank"-meets-Naomi Klein political satire opens Friday in New York and Los Angeles but has no further release dates.

A representative from First Look, the small distributor that picked up "War, Inc.," said further play dates will be dependent upon how the film performs on the coasts. I can't say I'm optimistic given the critical thumping that "War, Inc." received when it debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival a few weeks ago.

One sure sign that the distributor doesn't foresee a long theatrical life for "War, Inc." is that it'll be out July 1 on DVD. (You can preorder it on Amazon.)

Cusack has more on the line than his perceived star power. "Grace Is Gone" and "War, Inc." were the first two movies he produced with partner Grace Loh in the latest incarnation of New Crime Productions, and the company has yet to begin filming another one. A more profitable track record would help.

In a video he posted last week on his MySpace page, Cusack deadpans about going to a party "to pimp myself" so Cartier will give him a $25,000 watch that he can sell to a pawnshop for $6,000-$7,000. "I'm hoping I can give that to First Look Studios and buy some ads for `War, Inc.' to help the opening," he says with a straight face.

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