John Cusack opened up about leaving Hollywood behind as he made a rare public appearance at San Diego Comic-Con on Friday.
The 60-year-old actor, who has appeared in over 80 films throughout his four-decade career, has slowed down his onscreen appearances in recent years.
He has since pivoted to writing and is releasing his debut graphic novel Momo on September 29.
‘Well, I always thought they were the closest things to film, really,’ Cusack told Variety at the convention, where he introduced his upcoming project.
The Grifters star, who hails from a family of cinephiles and moviemakers, has become more for known his outspoken political views, notably rallying against President Donald Trump and defending Palestine, in recent years than his acting projects.
He made his most recent movie appearances in the 2025 thriller Fog of War and Detective Chinatown 1900.
John Cusack opened up about why he has largely stepped away from acting as he made a rare public appearance at San Diego Comic-Con on Friday
He filmed the action movie Pursuit in 2022 and appeared in the Amazon Prime television series Utopia in 2020.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Cusack’s representatives for further comment but has yet to hear back.
Since his last movie appearance, he has been focusing on writing and made a career pivot towards the literary industry.
‘You know, you’re picking out shots and they’re so cinematic,’ he said about why he wanted to create his own graphic novel.
‘I wanted to tell a story, but I didn’t want to negotiate telling a story,’ he continued. ‘This was just like I wrote it, and I said, “I like this story.”‘
Cusack independently wrote Momo and collaborated with artist Ignacio Noé.
Momo, which will be distributed by Mad Cave Studios, tells of a sci-fi buddy heist and road trip story set in 1972.
He introduced his debut graphic novel at the convention and explained why he pivoted to writing; pictured in July 2019
The actor, who has appeared in over 80 films throughout his four-decade career including starring opposite Elizabeth Banks in the 2015 biopic Love & Mercy, said he ‘always thought [graphic novels] were the closest things to film’
In recent years, he had slowed down on his onscreen appearances and has now revealed he was independently writing a graphic novel; Cusack famously starred in the 1986 coming-of-age drama film directed by the late Rob Reiner
‘I got this beautiful, wonderful artist, Ignacio, to do the illustrations,’ he recalled of the process of creating the 192-page book.
‘Nobody edited anything I wrote or that he drew, so it’s really a piece of work that was just done by two people,’ Cusack continued.
‘It was just me and Ignacio’s story, and that doesn’t happen today.’
The High Fidelity star also said he appreciates that there was ‘no committee’ overseeing his work.
‘It’s an anti-algorithm thing, like, there’s no committee and there’s no computer up in Seattle that’s poll-testing it.’
He highlighted how he has the freedom he was seeking in creating graphic novels.
The High Fidelity star said he appreciates that there was ‘no committee’ overseeing his work during the graphic novel creating process; pictured in September 2019
He highlighted how has the freedom he was seeking in creating graphic novels. ‘I wanted to do something like movies from a different era,’ he explained
‘When you ask somebody to put like $20 or $30 million into a bank account [for a movie-making budget], they want to have an opinion, and they’re afraid and all that stuff,’ he explained.
Cusack also hinted that he has already begun working on a second graphic novel with Noé as he continued explaining why he wanted to make a career shift.
‘Back when I was starting to make movies, you would find people who had aspirations to do something totally unique, not just installments in a franchise or something that fit their business strategy,’ he told Forbes prior to taking the stage for his panel at the convention.
‘I wanted to do something like movies from a different era, and no matter what happens, if someone reads it and likes it, I could that as a success.’
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