Poe Poezine Dec. 2013 | Page 17

3

Here's our interview with John Cusack on The Raven

You play Edgar Allan Poe in the new film The Raven. Were you a fan of his growing up?

Yes. It was fun to be able to rediscover all his stuff again, because after you leave school you don't read him much anymore. And I found out how strange and funny, tragic and eerie he was as a person.

Follow us: @redbookmag on Twitter | REDBOOK on Facebook

Visit us at Redbook.com

How so?

He was at war with the world, always feeling under siege. He would pick fights--he felt threatened by all males and he idealized women. He was a vicious alcoholic and a modern-day rock star, in a way.

How do you think people will react to The Raven?

The problem is, at least in the States, is that sometimes people don’t want to think about it so much. So, they just market it as a thriller. So, they want under 25 people in here, or they say, ‘This is for the women,’ so they cut a romantic trailer or a trailer with action. But it’s really for adults and there are plenty of ways to look at it. But I think it would be great to talk about a movie in that way, to put it out there with all these different things.

A lot of people just read the press notes and that’s what they write about the movie and the public doesn’t talk about it or think about it. I don’t know how people are going to see it. But I think we were true to the source material. I think we made a movie that was much like Poe’s writing, which was high-brow and pop. That’s sort of what he was. And I think it’s dark. I tried my hardest. I came back exhausted and 187 pounds. I touched down in Chicago at Christmas and I didn’t know where the hell I was. I was stumbling around. I felt like I went on a bit of a journey.