John Cusack on ‘2012’ & Being an Everyman

For two decades, John Cusack has been everything to everyone. A lovestruck teen in Say Anything, a hopelessly romantic hitman in Grosse Pointe Blank, and strung-out puppeteer in Being John Malkovich. His latest role has him as another relatable man caught in extraordinary circumstances, as a part-time limo driver outrunning the end of the world in Roland Emmerich's disaster opus 2012, out Friday. We sat down with the star to talk about Roland Emmerich's mad genius, and what it's like being the Everyman.

How do you feel when people call you an Everyman?
I’ve been called worse, but I’m not the best person to ask about that. I think it’s a compliment if it’s sort of a leading-man type compliment. You get the audience to sympathize with you ... it’s kind of a cool thing to be an “everyman” I guess.

Did you ever see yourself as a lead in an action movie?
No, I didn’t see that one coming at all.

What was it about the script that surprised you?
I hadn’t seen the last movie that Roland made. I’d seen The Patriot and some of the earlier ones so I didn’t know what he was up to, but it was written with a lot of care and the script was surprising because it was almost like the climax and the action was at the beginning of the movie, and it kept topping itself, and you kept learning more and more about the characters, so it actually got more intimate as it got bigger in a strange way. It was surprising, and it navigated through all the clichés.

What is it about Roland Emmerich that allows him to keep making these movies?
He’s a director that’s getting better and learning, so it’s not like he’s peaked out and is just doing the same thing. He’s always trying to press the envelope, in terms of the digital effects of what he can do, but then he’s always very honest about learning. He always says that the special effects are only going to be as a good as the story and the acting. So we spent as much time on the script as we did with every stunt, whether it was the kids and their close-ups or any of the humor moments or painful moments. There’s not many directors right now who work on that high of a level with complete control. Most directors would just read the script and they would have a heart attack or go mad just trying to master the technical aspects.