Hop in the Cusack

Two weeks ago, I returned to the magical land of New York City to interview John Cusack and Amanda Peet for their new film Martian Child.

I arrived at the Regency Hotel a little early, so I sat down in the comfy couch in the lobby for a while. While sitting there, I saw Mr. Cusack walk into the hotel. I thought that was cool. I walked over to him, tipped my hat, and said, "I'll see you in a little while." No I didn't - but I thought about it. I wasn't wearing a hat, either.

John was pretty cool. I had heard some unfavorable things about him prior to this meeting, so I was glad to find them untrue (for this time, at least). He was eager to answer questions, but his answers were just naturally short. That made it rather difficult while writing my interview piece. But I made it through, thanks to quotes from the lovely Amanda Peet and Bobby Coleman, the 10-year-old boy who co-stars with John in the film.

Amanda gave incredibly candid answers, speaking of her poorly reviewed Broadway revival of Barefoot in the Park (which I took my mom to see on Mothers Day) as well as her level of stardom (talking about how she is offered scripts after "many other girls turn them down").

Interviewing Bobby was a blast, as I've never interviewed a 10 year old before. It was definitely a new (good) experience.

Note the page design that I've included at the beginning of this post. TN features designer Brianna Barry did a knock-out job this week. I think it looks hott (yes, with two "t"s).

Read my interview piece at the Temple News site HERE or find it below.
Read my review of the film HERE or find it below.

Cusack and Peet discover new life on Mars

The Temple News sits down with John Cusack and the other stars of Martian Child, a galaxy's leap away from Say Anything but still just as much of a tribute to Cusack's on-screen charm.

By: Jesse North

Posted: 10/30/07

NEW YORK - John Cusack walked into the room, listening to his iPhone. He's deeply involved in the new Bruce Springsteen album, Magic, and sat down looking reluctant to pull away from either the Boss or his shiny gadget. Fumbling with the device for a moment, figuring out how to turn it off, he removed his ear buds and flashed a big grin. Cusack is definitely as cool as everyone who fell in love with his role in Say Anything wants him to be.

At 41, Cusack isn't Lloyd Dobler anymore, and it's showing in the roles he chooses. In his two upcoming films, Martian Child and Grace Is Gone, he plays widowers trying to connect with their children. In the case of Martian Child, Cusack plays David, who decides to adopt an 8-year-old. But the boy he chooses comes with a bit of baggage: he spends most of his days in a cardboard box and insists that he's from Mars. Dennis, the box-bound boy (played by Bobby Coleman), makes David believe he's in over his head, despite his growing affection for the child.

"[In high school,] I never belonged anywhere. I was never in the popular clique," Cusack said. "And then I started doing movies when I was in high school, so then I got popular. Then the girls paid attention to you who didn't before. 'Oh, so that's how this works!'"

Cusack is unmarried and doesn't have any children, yet seems to effortlessly connect with them onscreen. When approached with the topic of whether or not he wants to have kids, he remained tight-lipped. "Yeah, theoretically," is all he said.

Still, Cusack's on-screen chemistry with Coleman is the successful foundation of the film. Cusack said he and Coleman improvised a lot of their one-on-one scenes together. "[It worked because] it's not so much a plot-driven movie as it is about the behavior and the characters," Cusack said.

Coleman's most memorable day of shooting involved Cusack and him letting out some pent-up aggression by smashing plates and squirting ketchup at each other. "As you can imagine, I can't break plates every day," Coleman said. "I was like, 'Aim, fire!'"

The 10-year-old actor was enthralled with Cusack on set and looked up to him as a teacher. "With John Cusack, every scene is totally different," Coleman said. "Every take in every scene is different. He plays with things, he changes them around. He tries to find the most real thing you would say in that scene. He taught me to loosen up."

Amanda Peet, who plays the best friend of David's late wife, was thrilled to reunite with her Identity co-star, even if it came with some physical injuries. "It was so fun, even though he cracked my back and I had to get a chiropractor," Peet said. "When he hugs me, he always cracks my back. We had to have a chiropractor come because I couldn't move."

Peet spoke about her career with rare candor, opening up about some of her failures and being realistic about her level of stardom.

On returning to Broadway: "Yeah, I hope so. If they'll have me after, um, what happened." Peet is referring to her 2006 run in the revival of Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park, which only had 109 performances due to unfavorable reviews. "I didn't read them, but I heard. Broadway's hard - it's really tough."

Peet admitted she doesn't have the luxury of being finicky when it comes to choosing projects. "I think when you're a bigger star, you get many good scripts sent to you and you have to choose which one you're going to gravitate towards," Peet said. "I just try to gravitate toward the best-written one that's been thrown my way after a lot of girls have passed on it. That's really the truth. I'm just being really honest. I just try to get something that's respectable."

Coleman, however, is enjoying the glory of his first major film role in what he hopes will be a long-lasting career. After getting the role and wondering whether or not he was being tricked, he and his family sat down and examined the script and his character. "We played around with things. We talked about how would Dennis feel if he got left by all these foster parents," Coleman said. "We just came to the decision that he'd totally just close up, hide and be afraid that he'd get hurt by someone. So he just hid in a box."

"I have a friend that says if you want to see the Buddha, go to a 12-year-old because their bulls--t detectors are the best," Cusack said.

Coleman might still be floating from the experience with his super famous costar, but he's not going to pretend that he's getting any envy from his friends. "First of all, I don't really think my friends know who John Cusack is."

Jesse North can be reached at

jesse.north@temple.edu.

Subtleties, humor make 'Martian Child'

By: Jesse North

Posted: 10/30/07

REVIEW - In the first act of John Cusack's one-two patriarchal-tearjerker punch this season, Martian Child (soon to be followed by the Oscar-buzzed Grace Is Gone) shows Cusack in his first major role as a father, and it's just enough to make you fall in love.

In a movie that explores the difficult guidance decisions a parent makes while raising a child, Martian Child feels completely at ease, filling most of its running time with intimate, behavior-driven scenes between Bobby Coleman and Cusack. Coleman plays Cusack's adopted son Dennis, a young boy who believes he's a Martian. And 8-year-old Coleman has no problem sharing the screen with the beloved Cusack - he tap dances around him in most scenes.

Some chunks of the movie might be slow, but thoughtful scene-pacing in exchange for plot overload leaves you walking away knowing exactly who these characters are and understanding their journey.

Cusack does a fine job of portraying a realistic parent. He comes off as a natural when he's trying to crack Dennis' defensive shell with billiards sessions and plate-breaking parties. But he also conveys shear defeat and frustration when Dennis regresses due to his severe emotional blockades.

Seth Bass and Jonathan Tolins' script and Cusack's acting mesh brilliantly in depicting the difficulty of teaching a child how to act in the world. Dennis asks David, "Is it good to be like everyone else?" Cusack sits there in hidden horror and you know what's going through his mind: do I break this kid's spirit by turning him into a "go-with-the-flow, happy little GAP kid" or allow him to be himself? The film takes a realistic course by having Cusack break the idealism of "just be yourself" - sometimes, yes; other times, no.

Cusack benefits greatly from the one-liners that Bass and Tolins wrote for him.

His sister, played by real-life sibling Joan Cusack, tells David he's hysterical. Cusack responds, "Hysteria is a way of life. It's a clothing line, at least." Dennis wears a "weight belt" with what looks like miniature Coke cans attached to it so that he won't float back to Mars. In one awkward scene where Dennis won't let go of Cusack's hand to go to school, Cusack calmly states to the teacher, "We're having gravity issues." These well-written quips make Cusack irresistible.

Director Menno Meyjes creates terrific subtleties in Martian Child that add an incredible level of heart to the film. When David and Dennis are grocery shopping, stacked cases of Mars candy bars are situated behind where Dennis stands. In the many car scenes between the new father and son, the moving reflections on the windshield and the blurred lights in the background make it look like they are flying through space.

The film's most subtle and heartbreaking scene occurs outside after an unsuccessful dinner at David's sister's house. Dennis tries to hold David's hand, but he isn't looking and puts it in his pocket. David walks to the car and Dennis follows without saying a word. David is unaware of Dennis' first attempt at affection.

Martian Child does, however, fall victim to many painful Hollywood conventions. A two-dimensional child services worker wants to take Dennis away for no convincing reason. An unnecessary romance takes place between Cusack and a grossly underused Amanda Peet, whose role as the surrogate voice of David's departed wife would have been a much smarter road to take. And then there's the melodramatic, illogical climactic scene that involves heights.

Despite Hollywood pitfalls, Martian Child stands firmly as an incredibly sweet and thoughtful film that outweighs the clichés it employs. If you don't walk out of the theater with a smile on your face, you might not be from this planet.

Jesse North can be reached at
jesse.north@temple.edu.

A return to 'Spring'

Through The Temple News, I was invited by the Spring Awakening publicist to attend the show a couple weeks ago as a part of their college press publicity. I brought Kym as my guest and we were given third row seats! As my third time seeing the show, I had never sat so close before. The show is even more intense when you're sitting that close. It was just incredible, and really great to share it with Kym. It's amazing to share Spring Awakening with friends your age.

The PR guy told me that he could get me an interview with one of the cast members. Just a few days later, I was interviewing Lilli Cooper, the 17-year-old actress who plays Martha, the girl that sings the chilling "The Dark I Know Well." It was a fantastic interview. In only 25 minutes, she gave me five typed pages of information. I also was more nervous for this interview than most that I've done. That's what happens when you're a huge fan. Lilli was well spoken, interesting, and professional. It was also great to hear how happy and passionate she is about the show. I think she knows how lucky she is.

My interview piece was published in The Temple News today, as well as my review of the show. You'll find the articles posted below, but if you'd like to read the articles on the TN site, you can read the interview piece HERE and the review HERE.

And appropriately, it just so happens that today I bought all my friends from PL and myself tickets for Spring Awakening for January 2. Fourth time and counting.

Dealing with the dark in 'Spring Awakening'

17-year-old actor Lilli Cooper chats exclusively with The Temple News about rocking out in a Tony-winning Broadway musical.

By: Jesse North

Posted: 10/23/07

Spring Awakening isn't just a show that dares to set new precedents in musical theater. It also proves that teenagers can win Tonys, too.

This year's winner for Best Musical, along with seven other Tony awards, features a critically acclaimed cast of young actors - only two of the actors are over 24. Eleven teenagers grapple with their sexual awakening in a society that not only believes sexual urges should be suppressed, but that children should be seen and not heard.

The Temple News spoke with 17-year-old Lilli Cooper, who plays Martha in the show. Aside from providing most of the beautiful harmonies in the show's numbers, Cooper's character provides a shocking moment in "The Dark I Know Well." In this rolling, ominous song, Martha reveals that she is sexually abused by her father.

"Sometimes if I've had a bad day, I get pretty emotional during the song," Cooper said. "There are a lot of times when I have tears in my eyes."

She noted that even though the story takes place in the 1890s, sexual abuse is still a modern-day issue.

"The show has really helped a lot of young girls that I've met to tell their own story and talk about what they've been going through," Cooper said. "It's almost like a therapy."

Although Cooper and the cast perform the show eight times a week, which she describes as exhausting, she is also a senior at the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts. Being a Broadway star and a high school senior is a task not too many Broadway actors have to contend with. But Cooper manages to pull it all off and garner standing ovations every night.

Though she doesn't have much time for friends outside of the show, being 17 and in one of the hottest and most acclaimed shows on Broadway is worth the effort to Cooper.

"Sometimes I just have to step back and look at my life right now because I'm experiencing such amazing things," she said.

The privilege to take part in a show marked as having significant social relevance is what really astounds Cooper. "We like to talk about the different reactions we get from the audiences," Cooper said. "There are people who can be appalled by it and there are people who are so amazed that they're crying. We're just amazed that we can do that to people. It's not just us, but it's the story we're telling and the way it was directed and written. Every aspect of it, we think is so well toned, and we're all really proud of it as a piece."

You'd think that performing the same show eight times a week for more than a year now would make the story grow irritating. but Cooper says otherwise.

"There are definitely days where I walk to the theater and I'm exhausted, but when I get onstage, my adrenaline is really pumping," Cooper said. "Having a new audience every night really makes the show new. It often feels like we're doing it for the first time every night."

The cast has certainly come a long way since its off-Broadway days. "We all shared one dressing room - the boys and the girls were all in one room. We basically spent all hours of the day with each other," she said. As is expected from their onstage chemistry, the young cast is a tight-knit family, Cooper said.

As a family, being at the Tonys was an incredible experience to share, she said. "When we won our first Tony, it was the most amazing feeling ever. And then we just keep winning!" Cooper said.

Cooper expects to depart Spring Awakening next September, when she will be a freshman at an as-of-yet undetermined college. But the experience of originating a role in a hit show that worked its way up from indie theater to the majors will stay with her.

"It [started off as] a small, little workshop," she said. "I had no idea it would be this big."

Jesse North can be reached at jesse.north@temple.edu.

Daring, hit musical will spark Broadway evolution

Spring Awakening, set in 1890s Germany, is 'groundbreaking' in its portrayal of teenage sexuality and rebellion.

By: Jesse North

Posted: 10/23/07

REVIEW - On a Broadway of shows too timid to deviate from safe applause, Spring Awakening has defied every convention of the blockbuster formula. More importantly, it has drawn the line for the next evolutionary step in the American musical.

Spring Awakening follows a group of teenagers in 1890s Germany experiencing sexual awakening, which their parents keep them completely in the dark about. But more tragically, they are grossly mistreated and underappreciated by the adults in their lives.

The way the show depicts teenagers is revolutionary. The stereotypes and superficiality have been left out, leaving raw characters who bare a shocking amount of heart and soul.These are individuals who actually convince you that they are a force to be reckoned with.

And they do it all through their handheld microphones.

Director Michael Mayer has championed his young actors to become bona fide rock stars. When actors like John Gallagher Jr. and Jonathan Groff coolly remove the mics concealed within their schoolboy jackets, they transform into powerful leaders with importance dripping from every word.

Spring Awakening appropriately takes its songs a bit deeper than just breaking out into musical rapture in public. All the songs exist within the characters' own minds, adding heightened intellect to the onstage happenings. At times, the teenagers seem like a Greek chorus.

This is what makes the teenage characters of Spring Awakening so groundbreaking. Rather than being painted as trivial, unknowing youngsters, they display an unprecedented amount of wisdom and intellect.

Gallagher, who plays Moritz, with hair as electrified as his personality, flunks out of school. Or, rather, is cheated out by two conniving teachers. He nervously confronts his father with the news, yet is as sweet and considerate a young man as anyone could imagine. Without hearing him out, his father hits him repeatedly across the face. The moment is gut-wrenching and, without dialogue, Gallagher displays immense heartbreak.

Spring Awakening is a call to the adult world that the youth should not be discredited or underestimated.

The set may lack Mary Poppins' multi-storied house, but it has enough flashing fluorescent lights to outshine the competition. The 11 young actors execute the intricate choreography with invigorating accuracy. And there may be no special effects, but the incredible acting and vocals of the performers will evoke enough laugher and break enough hearts for you to forget all about pyrotechnics.

Jesse North can be reached at
jesse.north@temple.edu.

The rules of eating

In today's Temple News, I had an article published about dining etiquette. Temple had an etiquette dinner last week and I attended, in a three-piece suit, and furiously took down all the tips that the instructor was revealing. It was a crazy dinner. The instructor was saying things like, "Okay, I'm getting a lot of questions about lettuce." Tips ran from logical to downright tedious (break off your bread into bite-size pieces and butter each piece individually).

Read the article below or check it out on the TN site.

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A plate full of dining etiquette in one meal

How to hold your fork, unfold your napkin, butter your bread. Lessons worth learning that would put Stephen Starr to shame.

By: Jesse North

Posted: 10/16/07

"Are you client-ready?" The words were spoken eloquently and slowly, like the narrator's voice on a motivational cassette tape, with particular emphasis on the 'c' and 'l.' Lisa Taylor Richey of the American Academy of Etiquette, who led Career Development Services' Etiquette Dinner last Tuesday in the Diamond Club, repeated herself. "Are you client-ready?"

A shiver of intimidation ran up my spine on the repeated question. Prior to that evening, I thought I was. But by the tone in Richey's voice, I got the feeling I wasn't. As she unleashed her arsenal of meticulous etiquette tips on the 116 in attendance, I realized I was only partly ready - I would not be ready to take a client out for lunch.

The first rules of being professional is to arrive in a timely fashion.

"If you're not five minutes early, you're late," Richey said.

How ironic that the Etiquette Dinner began 10 minutes past its designated start time. Richey said fewer family meals contribute to poor etiquette.

"People eat in the van and on the run," Richey said. "It's a lost art."

She said the two most common mistakes in dining are the handshake and holding the fork. The handshake must not embrace the fingers.

"There must be web-to-web contact," said Richey, referring to the area of skin between the thumb and index finger. The fork must be held like a pen, balanced with the index finger and thumb resting on top.

Now that I had the Spider-Man handshake and proper fork grip under my belt, I was ready to chow down. I mean, masticate.

I can never remember which bread plate or water glass is mine. Richey unveiled a formula to clear up the confusion. Just remember BMW. The company's moniker designates the order of the bread, meal and water glass placed in front of you from left to right.

My confidence of napkin placement was stripped from me. When you undo the fancy napkin swan the restaurant staff has fastidiously folded for you, unfold under the table and place it on your lap with the fold toward you. When using it, blot your mouth; do not wipe it. Bring the napkin up to your face; don't bend down to it. And if you must excuse yourself from the table, place the napkin on your seat.

"Nothing touches the tablecloth," Richey said. "It needs to be clean."

This last instruction was said with such sterile importance that I feared the pristinely white tablecloth for the remainder of the dinner. During the salad course, I got a few little driblets of dressing on it, which I slyly blotted up while Richey's back was turned. I think she saw me anyway.

There are many ways to cut your food, but only one way will make you look like royalty. Hold the knife in your "power hand," the dominant one. When cutting, cut behind the fork. Wrists must always be above the table, not only when cutting. The only time your wrists are permitted to be sub-table is when you are folding your napkin.

Shortly into the dinner, after receiving the cutting lesson, I felt bewildered. The casual dining world I once knew was long gone. I heard Richey, who was making her way to each table, say over her microphone, "OK, I'm getting a lot of questions about lettuce." Where was I?

A note on salads: cherry tomatoes are a one-bite food. Chomp them in half and you might find tomato juice on your shirt.

In addition to those malicious cherry tomatoes, bread lies on the table like a predator, waiting to cut you down into the slovenly pig that you really are. I've always been a fan of smothering butter on bread and taking chunk-sized bites. Richey proved me uncouth. Tear off bite-size pieces of the bread and butter each individual morsel. You think this is too tedious? No one said dining properly was easy.

Another dining gem passed on was whether or not to begin eating if people are still waiting on meals. Richey said if four or more have received their orders - bon appetit. When someone asks you to pass the salt, you must pass the pepper as well. Oh, you only wanted salt? Too bad, you're getting the pepper whether you like it or not!

Richey's journey through fine dining was a first-class experience. Heed her instructions at your own free will, but if you choose to walk away, have the courtesy to leave your napkin on your seat.

Jesse North can be reached at
jesse.north@temple.edu.