John Cusack talks about his busy year

- Ellen Futterman

'It's like 'Gone With the Wind' on mescaline," says actor John Cusack, describing the city of Savannah, Ga., where one of his latest movies, "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," was filmed. That movie opens today in St. Louis.

Cusack is yukking it up in Paris, where he has come to talk about Dimitri, the character to whom he lends his voice in the animated "Anastasia," which also opens today. Only there's not much for Cusack to say about "Anastasia" other than "it was much more fun than work. I came in and read with (Meg Ryan, the voice of Anastasia). It was about 10 hours of my time."

So the conversation quickly turns to the actor's last year - a banner one in Cusackland. First, there was the enormously successful "Grosse Pointe Blank," which Cusack co-wrote, co-produced and starred in. Now he's back with "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," directed by Clint Eastwood, as well as "Anastasia." And he recently completed the filming in Australia of Terrence Malick's "The Thin Red Line," which is scheduled to open the first part of next year.

Dressed in all black, sitting in the majestic ballroom of a Paris hotel, Cusack is affable and accommodating as he answers a broad range of questions, including "Have you bought anything interesting this year since you made gobs of money?" (Answer: an apartment in Chicago) to "Any truth to the rumor about a sequel to 'Grosse Pointe Blank'?"

"Yeah, we're talking about it," he says, laughing a bit under his breath. "Something along the lines of Martin on a quest to find God. (Martin is Cusack's character, mob hit man Martin Q. Blank.)

"We would bring back the Grocer (a rival hired gun, played by Dan Akyroyd) and Marcella (played by Cusack's sister, Joan); maybe the two of them would have a romance. Alan Arkin (Martin's analyst) would be back. Of course, there would be no point in doing it without Joan."

But that project is still in the thinking stages. More immediate is getting the word out about "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," in which Cusack plays John Kelso, a young writer sent to Savannah to cover a lavish Christmas party given by one of the town's most prominent and colorful citizens (Kevin Spacey). But the assignment isn't as straight-forward as Kelso thinks - his article soon evolves into a book about a startling murder trial, and Kelso himself becomes more than just an impartial observer.

Cusack says Eastwood is the main reason he wanted a piece of this particular action. "When you work with really great directors, you don't th ink about how you would do something but rather what you can learn from them," he says.

"Clint is very similar to Woody Allen in many ways. They're both effortless filmmakers. They just do it. They want first impressions of scenes, they don't want to do 25 takes. It's not because they're not thinkers, it's because it's their aesthetic. They're very competent in their talents. If you want to try something, they allow you to go ahead."

Born in Evanston, Ill., Cusack comes from an Irish-Catholic show biz family. His father, Richard, is an actor (he appeared in the 1993 movie "The Fugitive") and documentary filmmaker. In addition to Joan, sisters Susan and Anne are actresses; brother Bill is an actor. Only Cusack's mother, Nancy, found work elsewhere - she was a math teacher.

Cusack wasn't even done with the second grade when he joined the Piven Theatre Workshop in Evanston. By the age of 12, he had a bunch of industry films, radio spots and voice-overs on his resume. At 17, he landed his first semi-major part, in the teen sex romp, "Class." That was followed by a string of other teen romance comedies, including "Sixteen Candles," "The Sure Thing" and "Say Anything," before he was cast as a small-time hustler opposite Anjelica Huston and Annette Bening in "The Grifters."

Today, at 31, Cusack is at a point in his career where he not only can be selective about the roles he chooses, he also can create them. The success of "Grosse Pointe Blank" has helped see to that. Studios are much more willing to take a chance on his projects. He's currently batting about three ideas for movies, each of which involve him as writer, producer and / or star.

One is inspired by the true story of a Brazilian psychic surgeon in the 1950s who was put on trial for witchcraft. While convicted, he was never incarcerated because he was such a beloved figure and healer in his country. Cusack says he is very close to getting the money together for that film.

The second is a film written by the same team as "Grosse Pointe Blank," along with Conrad Goode, who grew up in St. Louis (son of Irv Goode, the Cardinals' Pro Bowl guard), became an All-America offensive tackle at Missouri in 1983 and played for the New York Giants and Tampa Bay in the National Football League. The movie, called "Hail, Mary," is about the NFL since the advent of domed stadiums and AstroTurf.

"The only other thing we have going on is a Western," says Cusack. "This is tough because the worst three things you can present to a studio is a Western, a football movie and a movie about a Brazilian psychic surgeon."

Nevertheless, Cusack remains undaunted and optimistic. He's an actor who has never let the Hollywood system control him, opting instead for roles that let him stretch in new directions or ones that are more offbeat. When he looks back on a career that so far includes 20 or so films, many more stand out as winners than dogs.

"I really liked 'Say Anything," and I think 'The Grifters' was a pretty good film that holds up well. And I liked 'Grosse Pointe Blank.' It reminded me not to take myself too seriously."