John Cusack will truly say anything.
The actor, 48, opened up to The Guardian in a recent interview, candidly discussing his relationship with Hollywood, and criticizing the film industry for its faults.
"I got another 15, 20 years before they say I'm old," the veteran star told the publication. Cusack is currently acting in Maps to the Stars with Julianne Moore, Robert Pattinson, and Mia Wasikowska, among others, in a story that looks at the obsession with celebrity and stars' falls from grace.
In the upcoming film, screenwriter Bruce Wagner comments on the value of youth, teasing that a 26-year-old actress is called "menopausal" by her younger costars.
"For women it's brutal," Cusack continued on aging in Hollywood. "Bruce's thing about if you're 26, you're menopausal? It's only absurd because it's a little bit further than the truth."
"I have actress friends who are being put out to pasture at 29," The Butler star added. "They just want to open up another can of hot 22. It's becoming almost like kiddie porn. It's f–king weird."
Cusack, who started appearing in '80s classics such as Sixteen Candles and Better Off Dead as a teenager, said it's not just the older actors who are having a tougher time in the movie business — the younger stars are struggling, as well.
"People would look after you when I was a kid. There were good people in the business. When I came to L.A. Rob Reiner said: 'Come stay at my house.' He taught me. I worked with Pacino," he said of his legendary City Hall costar. "Pacino would talk to you and mentor you. Now it's different. The culture just eats young actors up and spits them out. It's a hard thing to survive without finding safe harbor."
Cusack also criticized the current economics of movies, with corporations investing in projects and big-budget franchises trumping all. "You can't make it up," Cusack said of Hollywood. "It's a whorehouse and people go mad."
