Highlights
- John Cusack interview went wrong when the interviewer mistook him for Kevin Spacey.
- Cusack remained friendly during the awkward exchange.
- Unfortunately, the interviewer faced negative reactions.
Typically when celebrities show up to film an interview, they expect to take part in an easygoing and friendly conversation. However, every so often a celebrity interview will go completely awry for one reason or another.
In the past, Artie Lange took part in one of the most awkward interviews of all time. Then there were the times Conan O’Brien embarrassed Jennifer Garner and when Jim Carrey revealed too much about his first wife. On top of all those times, it was amazing to see how quickly one John Cusack interview went off the rails.
How A John Cusack Interview Instantly Goes Wrong
In 2007, a mostly forgotten John Cusack movie titled Grace is Gone was released. Like most movie stars, Cusack went through the grueling process of having one interviewer after another walk into a room and ask him questions about that movie.
Long after Grace is Gone came and went, behind-the-scenes footage from one of those interviews was uploaded on YouTube. In the short clip, footage of a young interviewer from the University of Southern California entering the room where Cusack was sitting can be seen.
Unfortunately for that interviewer, her attempt to make small talk with the actor instantly made things incredibly awkward. The reason for that is the interviewer brings up a movie obviously thinking Cusack starred in when she was confusing him for Kevin Spacey.
As the interviewer enters the room in the clip, Cusack can be heard greeting her in a friendly manner. “Nice to see you.” After the interviewer tells Cusack it is nice to meet him, she proceeds to tell him something that instantly confuses the famous actor.
“It’s funny, I actually just texted with a friend because I’m missing class right now. My film class and it’s funny because they’re watching American Beauty today and analyzing it.” Seemingly legitimately confused, an earnest-sounding Cusack asked in return, “American Beauty. What’s funny about that?”
In an ideal world, the interviewer would pick up on Cusack’s confusion and realize that she may be mixing him up and try to backpedal. In reality, the interviewer goes forward seemingly completely convinced that Cusack starred in American Beauty.
“You were in that.” In a moment like this, a lot of celebrities would have been angry or refused to talk to the interviewer. To Cusack’s credit, he simply tried to inform her that she’d made a mistake. “No, I wasn’t.”
Even after Cusack has said he didn’t star in American Beauty, the interviewer still doesn’t take that at face value. Instead, she responds to Cusack simply by repeating the film’s name in a questioning tone which results in him saying, “Nope.”
At that moment, the interviewer takes an unexpected path as she still doesn’t let go of her original mistake. Instead, the interviewer seemingly believing that she got the title of the film wrong asks Cusack, “What’s the one with the rose petals?”
Since Cusack didn’t star in American Beauty, which is also known as the movie with the rose petals, he went on to remark, “I’m not in that.” Comically enough, even after all that, the interviewer keeps going. “That’s not you?”
After Cusack again says that he didn’t star in American Beauty, the interviewer’s only response is to ask, “Really?” In the following seconds, the interviewer asks, “Really?” a second time and Cusack puts up his left hand in the air as he says, “Swear to god.”
In total, Cusack told the interviewer he didn’t star in American Beauty six times before she stopped asking him if he did. Even then, it seemingly takes her a moment to let the idea go since she asks Cusack, “Am I just very confused?”
What Was The Reaction To The Disastrous John Cusack Interview?
Throughout John Cusack’s interaction with the interviewer that confused him with Kevin Spacey, he continued to be friendly. While the footage of the interaction cuts off immediately after the interviewer admits she is confused, it seems likely that Cusack remained friendly.
Assuming that is the case, some people may think that means the interview didn’t go awry. Sadly, however, there are at least two major ways that interview went wrong even if the rest of it seemed great to anyone who saw it.
First off, there is a very good chance that Cusack felt uncomfortable with what happened. After all, it must be deflating to realize someone who is supposed to be there for you doesn’t even know who you are. That could be especially disappointing if that person is supposed to be educated about your profession.
On top of that, the sad truth is that the clip of the interview has led to some really negative stuff being written about the interviewer.
In fairness to the interviewer, even the biggest film fans sometimes get actors and movie facts mixed up. On top of that, there are a lot of people who would be very uncomfortable to have anyone correct them to their face, let alone a star.
While it is undeniably fun to break down how cringy that moment was, lots of people could find themselves in the situation the interviewer did. It is just a fortunate thing for her that Cusack handled the situation with grace.
Unfortunately for the interviewer, however, there have been some people who’ve reacted to her painful interview moment with anything but grace. A perfect example of that is a WhatCulture article that gets unnecessarily mean about the interviewer.
“A young girl, apparently a USC student, enters to interview Cusack about his film Grace Is Gone, and if her ditzy surfer accent doesn’t make it clear that this isn’t going to be the pinnacle of intellectual nourishment, then what comes out of her mouth next surely will.”
To be clear, virtually everyone has written unnecessarily mean things about other people on the internet, so there is no value in judging a sentence like that. Still, it is too bad for the interviewer that there is coverage like that about her honest mistake.
Source: NewsFinale
