Decision to do 'Utopia' was a no-brainer: Hollywood star John Cusack

Hollywood star John Cusack has largely stayed away from small screen during his career of over three deces but when opportunity to play Dr Kevin Christie in Amazon series "Utopia" came his away, actor said he just couldn't say to it.

54-year-old actor has helined and been part of international hits like "Serendipity", "High Fidelity", "Con Air" and "2012" but "Utopia" marks his first full-fledged outing on a streaming platform.

reason for saying yes to show was Gillian Flynn, who has apted series from Dennis Kelly's 2013 British show of same name, Cusack said.

"I hn't really been offered anything that I thought was really good or that I wanted to do. And this was first thing that came along and h a great writer and it was a terrific part.

"So it was kind of easy, brainer for me because she sent me all eight episodes and I started reing m and it was a real p-turner. I re entire eight episodes in one day because I wanted to see what happened next. It was very surprising and terrific writing. So, it was nice to be asked by her to do it," Cusack told PTI during a group interview on Zoom.

"Utopia" is centered around a posse of conspiracy orists who finds out that a graphic vel has clues about pandemic that is raging through US. Along way, y meet Jessica Hyde, le protagonist of vel.

Cusack's Christie is an Elon Musk-esque philanthropist and CEO of a biotech giant that has created a syntic meat that could be making people sick.

"He's somebody who wakes up every day, believing that he can make world a better place through science. series opens up and he's trying to create a plant-based food that can be me in a lab where you don't have to use land or water. So he thinks that he has a world-changing revolutionary science.

"It happens that food that he's created, re's some suspicion that it could be part of a virus. And so that's how he gets entered into story." One of most striking features of Cusack's character is question he constantly poses as a challenge to ors, which is: "What have you done today to earn your place in this crowded world?" actor said aim behind question is to remind people close to Christie about ir purpose in world and what y must do to make it better.

"I think question that he asks and poses, a lot of people think about every day when y think about social justice and where world is moving towards and how world ideologies of last century of capitalism and communism ended up doing exact same things in end, which is kind of ripping out bowels of earth and making planet unsustainable.

"So I think those larger questions are asked by a lot of people who try to figure out how to be moral in a very complicated world. Yeah, it was a provocative question that I think most people think about a lot." Cusack has been one of most vocal actors from Hollywood who has never minced his words when it comes to vocating for important causes.

He has a special relationship with India vis-a-vis author and activist Arundhati Roy. two, along with US whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, h famously met Edward Swden in Russia back in 2015.

So, over years, Cusack has been supporting major movements in India through his social media handles.

"I've been re (India) a few times and I have a great friendship with Arundhati Roy...We worked toger on some activist things and wrote some essays toger about our meeting with Edward Swden in Russia with Daniel Ellsberg and her.

"So I've gotten to kw about India by going re and through her eyes, which is quite extraordinary. So that's where my interest in India and Kashmir and all those issues came from. I'm just trying to understand world," actor said.

"Utopia", which also features Rainn Wilson, Sasha Lane, Desmin Borges, Dan Byrd, Jessica Ro, Ashleigh LaThrop and Christopher Denham, will start streaming on Amazon Prime Video from September 25. 

Im credit: AP