John Cusack opened up about why he\u2019s largely taken a step back from Hollywood.<\/p>\n
The star, 60, said he wanted to tell stories without studio executives weighing in, prompting him to write his upcoming graphic novel Momo, reports Page Six<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI always thought [graphic novels] were the closest things to film, really,\u201d he told Variety at San Diego Comic-Con on Friday. \u201cYou\u2019re picking out shots, they\u2019re so cinematic.\u201d<\/p>\n Cusack explained he turned to writing because he \u201cdidn\u2019t [want to] negotiate telling a story.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen 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\u2019re afraid and all that stuff,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Instead, he teamed up with illustrator Ignacio No\u00e9 to create \u201cMomo\u201d on their own terms.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was just like, I wrote it, and I said, \u2018I like the story,\u2019 and then I got this beautiful, wonderful artist, Ignacio No\u00e9, to do the illustrations and so nobody edited anything I wrote or that he drew,\u201d Cusack said.<\/p>\n \u201cSo it\u2019s really a piece of work that was just done by two people. It was just me and Ignacio\u2019s story, and that doesn\u2019t happen today.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no bull, and there\u2019s no committee. There\u2019s no computer up in Seattle that\u2019s poll testing it,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Momo \u2014 Cusack\u2019s first graphic novel \u2014 is set to be released on September 29.<\/p>\n The story follows two fugitives in 1972 who set out to recover an ancient artifact for TV icon Jackie Gleason.<\/p>\n The actor spent decades as one of Hollywood\u2019s most recognisable leading men, starring in Grosse Pointe Blank, High Fidelity and Con Air, but his acting career has become increasingly selective in recent years.<\/p>\n He appeared in the 2025 films Fog of War and the Mandarin-language film Detective Chinatown 1900 after starring in the Chinese espionage thriller Decoded in 2024.<\/p>\n Before that, his only screen credits since 2020 were the action thriller Pursuit and Amazon\u2019s dystopian series Utopia.<\/p>\n Cusack has been outspoken about the state of Hollywood for years.<\/p>\n \u201cMy friend Joe Roth ran Disney [until 2000],\u201d he told the Guardian<\/a> in 2014. \u201cHe made things like The Rock and Con Air to make shareholders happy, but then he also gave six or seven slots to people he liked.<\/p>\n \u201cI 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\u2019s gone.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNow it\u2019s six for them \u2014 with a committee cutting the film who weren\u2019t part of making it \u2013 and maybe one for you,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Cusack isn\u2019t the only member of his family to step away from the spotlight.<\/p>\n His older sister, actress Joan Cusack, 63, made her first red-carpet appearance since 2015 in May when she attended the London premiere of Toy Story 5, ending an 11-year absence from public events<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel so honoured to have worked in this industry for a long time,\u201d the actress told Variety in June. \u201cBut it\u2019s also great to live your life and raise your kids and be in Chicago and be a normal person.\u201d<\/p>\n