John Cusack Slams Studio Greed, Calls AI a ‘Criminal Enterprise’

“The greed is almost a legendary comic trope,” Cusack wrote.

By Zach Sharf, Variety

As the SAG-AFTRA strike begins, John Cusack took to his Twitter account to slam studio greed. The actor shared a story about starring in “Say Anything,” Cameron Crowe’s classic 1989 teen romance about a mediocre high school student who falls for the class valedictorian after their graduation. According to Cusack, he received no percentage of the film’s box office gross and was then told by the studio that the movie lost $44 million. The actor remains dubious about the claim.

“The greed is almost a legendary comic trope,” Cusack wrote. “One fun fact – when I was a youngin- I did a film (with a boom box) and somehow I got points – net not gross. Never expected to see any money – but the film became quite famous – so about 10 years ago – I looked again at the financial statements they were obligated to report – and to my shock – they claimed they had LOST 44 million dollars on the film.”

“I thought wow, I almost bankrupted Fox! (not really),” Cusack added. “The film cost about 13 million to make – and money spent to release was minimal at the time – 30 years in – that film lost millions every year ! A neat accounting trick don’t ya think?”

SAG-AFTRA members are joining the Writers Guild of America in striking for fair compensation, making it a “double strike,” which hasn’t happened in Hollywood since 1960. The WGA has been on strike since May 2. SAG-AFTRA picketing officially begins July 14. Fair compensation and streaming residuals are some of the big topics in the strike, as is the rise of artificial intelligence.