How cool is Cusack?

How did an American actor, albeit a fine one with a reputation for making discerning career choices, snatch one of Britain's best-loved recent novels and whip it off to Chicago? 'Oh, Disney just gave it to me,' says John Cusack, as if his co-producing, writing and starring roles in High Fidelity were the most natural thing in the world.

It wasn't quite so simple, of course. Disney had indeed bought the rights to Nick Hornby's seminal Nineties take on the relationship thang, but didn't think of Cusack until his 1997 film for the studio, Grosse Pointe Blank, had finally made money. 'That film was considered a success on several different fronts. We had a great time making it, everyone got along and I think they had this book sitting there that they couldn't figure out what to do with.' He read it, loved it, and the deal was done.

Naturally, Cusack will have a tough time winning over British audiences loathe to see 'their' Rob metamorphose into a dude with an accent living in America's Midwest, though his performance is an excellent one. Americans didn't particularly go for it (the film made $26 million there), but in all fairness it's a comparatively small film that cost just $20 million to make and doesn't have the rabid, ready-made audience Stateside that it does in the UK. Cusack, an actor whose films are known for quality rather than quantity of bums of seats, in fact enticed more bums to this one than sat down for the surreally hilarious Being John Malkovich, which made less than $23 million in the US. If only British cinema-goers can swallow the bitter pill of there not being a London accent in sight. Even Catherine Zeta-Jones, hilarious in a cameo, has gone Yank.

'Oh, you Brits are so full of shit,' says Cusack, essentially echoing the words of director Stephen Frears who, a tad sacrilegiously some might think, was all for the film flitting across the Atlantic. 'I mean, you're all upset,' he grins, 'because Ren?e Zellweger is playing a Brit [the upcoming Bridget Jones]. How many British girls come to America and put on an American accent? I mean, Nick Hornby loved the idea of going to Chicago and he was the only one I was worried about really. Nick's point of view, and I hate to speak for him but I guess I will, is that people say to him all the time, "It's about this street, and this neighbourhood, and this part of London." But he says the book isn't really about that. He says it's about men and their relationships with women and themselves and other people and their emotional investment in music, which could take place in any Western city or country. Well, maybe not Iraq.'

Did the book honestly, truly resonate with Cusack then? 'I loved it. It is all totally applicable to me growing up in Chicago so he must have tapped into something universal. I knew those guys from the record shop, I knew all the themes and situations in the book from about primary school up. I think every guy identifies with Rob. I don't think I'm unique that way. I think Stephen is really embarrassed that at 58 he identifies with Rob. But I don't know anyone who has read the book or seen the film and not said, "Yup, been there, done that."'

High Fidelity is Cusack's second collaboration with Frears, who directed him in 1990's The Grifters. Pre-production ran especially smoothly since Cusack says that re-teaming with a director is like 'getting the joke first time. The second time, you've kind of decoded them. The first time you work with a director they say things and you don't quite know what they mean.' The only stumbling block was the pivotal casting of Laura. Frears and Cusack went on an exhaustive search but couldn't find anyone. 'There were some fine actresses who could have done it. But it seems there are lots of American and maybe British actresses who have this real need to be loved. They're sort of melodramatic and there's some kind of desperate competitive horror that seeps through.'

One night Cusack received a phone call from Frears who was at the Venice Film Festival. 'He said, "I'm in Europe and I've found Laura." I thought he was drunk but he just carried on. "She's from Denmark." I said, "OK, Stephen, why don't you go and get some sleep and call me in the morning." And he went, "No, you fool, go see Mifune." So I did and sure enough there was this brilliant Danish actress in it, Iben Hjejle.' Cusack later pointed out to Frears one slight hindrance: 'But our girl lives in Chicago.' Frears pointed out that he'd seen Hjejle on an awards show and that she spoke perfect English. 'I was like, "That girl speaks perfect English?" I couldn't believe it.'

So excited was Cusack that he phoned the actress at one in the morning. 'Was it really? Well, I was trying to prime her for the Hollywood experience.' He flew to Copenhagen, met her and was sold. 'She's fantastic. She has this great dignity and her aesthetic is so graceful. Maybe that's a European quality. But as soon as she started reading, you could see that Laura was a woman not a girl. And it's a hard role to play because even though Rob is a screw-up, he's the protagonist and your sympathies are with him even though he does horrible things. Then Laura comes on and is upset with him but you don't want to lose sympathy for her. It's very hard to have that kind of strength but she just has it. She could have a huge career in America if she wants it.'

Besides the appearance of Zeta-Jones, High Fidelity boasts other high-calibre cameos: Bruce Springsteen, Tim Robbins and the inexplicably under-used by Hollywood Joan Cusack. 'Well, I just had to call my sister and she said yes. I didn't call Catherine, who I think is fantastic in this. I didn't have to beg Tim, I did call Bruce. Whenever I'm writing, I forget about what's possible and just write what's right and think I'll deal with it later. So I wrote that Rob has this conversation with Bruce Springsteen.' Though Cusack has known Springsteen for 'a few years', he thought he'd better call Bruce, 'then he'll say no and we can get on with making the film. But he said yes.'

Cusack has two more sisters back home so I ask what role women have played in his life. 'I don't know how to answer that. They've affected me half as much as any other sex. My mother is a strong woman so I'm used to tough women. She wasn't tough on me, but she is uncompromising. My sisters are great too, but I don't know what I've learned from them. I possibly know less about women now than when I was a teenager.'