UCSB Arts & Lectures Presents An Evening With The Raven’s John Cusack With Film Critic Leonard Maltin At UCSB Campbell Hall
UCSB Arts & Lectures has announced an epic night in Santa Barbara with renowned actor/producer John Cusack, in conversation with film critic Leonard Maltin. The event will take place at UCSB Campbell Hall on Wednesday May 16 at 8 p.m . Cusack’s new film, The Raven, is released today in theatres. He recieved a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame, this week.
Like most of the characters he’s played over the last two decades, John Cusack is an unconventional hero. As the offbeat and grippingly watchable star of films from Say Anything and High Fidelity to Being John Malkovich, The Grifters and Con Air, he is one of the most respected and versatile Hollywood actors of his generation, garnering critical acclaim for dramatic and comedic roles alike. For his latest role in The Raven, a gothic thriller (due out April 2012), he brings to life Edgar Allan Poe, the legendary American author of the macabre.
“The closest thing we have to the Shakespearian clown: odd, edgy, inexpressibly funny, wry, charming… Actors with his kind of charisma, whom the camera loves, really who can’t do much wrong, are rare.” The Guardian (U.K.)
“Cusack has more than earned his chops as Hollywood’s go-to intelligent outsider.” Slate.com
“The most relaxed and natural of actors since Robert Mitchum.” – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Cusack’s other upcoming projects include The Paperboy, a highly anticipated drama in which he plays a death-row inmate, co-starring Nicole Kidman, Zac Efron and Matthew McConaughey, scheduled for release this fall. He also reunited withCon Air co-star Nicolas Cage to play real-life serial killer Robert Hansen in the taut psychological thriller, Frozen Ground, pending a December premiere.
The Chicago-born actor first gained notice by starring in 1980s film classics such as The Sure Thing and Sixteen Candles. His portrayal of boombox-toting, underachieving high school senior Lloyd Dobler in Say Anything turned him into a teen heartthrob. Later he expanded his film repertoire with eclectic roles in dramas, thrillers and comedies, including The Grifters,Eight Men Out, Adaptation and Being John Malkovich. Starting with 1997’s hit comedy Grosse Pointe Blank, Cusack has produced many of his own films through his company New Crime Productions.
Cusack won Sundance Film Festival’s Audience Award in 2007 for Grace Is Gone, a film about a man who takes his two daughters on a road trip after his wife has been killed in service in Iraq. He produced and acted in the drama. In 2001, he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for his role in High Fidelity, an adaptation of Nick Hornby’s novel, which he co-wrote and co-produced. In 1999, his performance in the dark comedy Being John Malkovich earned him an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Actor.
Some of Cusack’s other feature film credits include Hot Tub Time Machine, War Inc., The Jack Bull and Max (all of which he produced), 2012, The Ice Harvest, Runaway Jury, The Thin Red Line, Clint Eastwood’s Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Tim Robbins’ Cradle Will Rock, Serendipity, Pushing Tin, America’s Sweethearts, Identity, 1408, City Hall, Woody Allen’s Shadows and Fog and Bullets Over Broadway, animated films Igor and Anastasia, The Road to Wellville, True Colors, Broadcast News, Stand By Me and Better Off Dead. He splits his time between Los Angeles and Chicago.
One of America’s most recognized and respected film critics and historians, Leonard Maltin has appeared on TV’sEntertainment Tonight for three decades. Long before he was a familiar face on television, his annual paperback Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide established his reputation. A perennial best-seller, “The Guide” has become an indispensable tool for movie lovers. It spawned a companion volume, Leonard Maltin’s Classic Movie Guide.
His other books include The Great American Broadcast: A Celebration of Radio’s Golden Age, Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons, The Great Movie Comedians, The Disney Films, The Art of the Cinematographer, Selected Short Subjects, and (as co-author) The Little Rascals: The Life and Times of Our Gang. Maltin teaches at the USC School of Cinematic Arts and hosts the weekly program Maltin on Movies on ReelzChannel. He is also seen on Comcast previewing movies on demand.
An Evening with John Cusack is presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures. The media sponsor is the Santa Barbara Independent.
Tickets are $40 for the general public, $150 for Gold Circle seating and $20 for UCSB students with a current student ID.A Gold Circle ticket includes VIP seating and a meet-and-greet reception with John Cusack and champagne following the presentation. For tickets or more information, call UCSB Arts & Lectures at 805-893-3535 or purchase online atwww.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu.
Arts & Lectures thanks lynda.com for its major support of the 2011-2012 Season.
