John Cusack was ready to reminisce about his movies, his iconic roles, and his decades-long career.
Despite all the things he had to say during the interview, some fans were more interested in asking what happened to the 80s icon’s face.
Some claimed he had a “new face,” with one saying: “I would have just loved to see him age normally. He’d be so cute still. This face is creepy.”
Critics claimed John Cusack showed up with a “new face” for his rare podcast appearance on Happy Sad Confused
Aaron Rapoport/Corbis via Getty Images
In a rare podcast appearance, John Cusack sat opposite host Josh Horowitz for a chat on the Happy Sad Confused podcast.
The 60-year-old sat in a black zip-up top, touching upon topics like whether he was offered a role in Quentin Tarantino’s hit movie Pulp Fiction or the fan-favorite role of Walter White in Breaking Bad.
As clips of the interview went viral online, fans began almost immediately spinning plastic surgery rumors.
Netizens claimed the actor looked unrecognizable and got himself a “new face.”
“Who is that?” one asked, while another said, “Oh honey, his face.”
“John Cusack was/is one of my favorite actors. He got a facelift,” said another. “Getting old in Hollywood is not easy, but let’s hope this is a fresh one and it will settle.”
“These guys and their facelifts!” a viewer lamented online after clips from the interview went viral
Cliff,The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
“Oy vey the facial fillers must stop…” another said.
On the other hand, fans defended the actor saying, “John is 60 years old! People still think he is in his 20s?”
“These comments are horrid,” another said. “Leave John alone. He’s a fantastic actor and a wonderful person. My fave.”
“Let the man age. Let him look however the f*** he looks,” wrote another.
During his chat with Horowitz, Cusack addressed longstanding rumors about him turning down big roles in hit projects like Pulp Fiction, Breaking Bad and The Breakfast Club.
Cusack clarified that he was never offered the part of “the criminal” John Bender in The Breakfast Club, ultimately played by Judd Nelson.
He thought director John Hughes “wanted [him] to do it” and believes he would have done it because the script was “cool.”
But things didn’t work out, he said.
“There was this whole riff that I had turned down Walter White,” Cusack said while addressing several rumors about him
Regarding Pulp Fiction, he said he had met with director Quentin Tarantino but admitted he was never offered a role in the cult classic.
Cusack also addressed rumors about being offered the role of Breaking Bad’s leading man Walter White, played by Bryan Cranston.
“There was this whole riff that I had turned down Walter White. And I never ever remembered that, and I was like, did that happen and I blacked it out? Did I lose time?” the actor recalled.
Later, he met the show’s creator Vince Gilligan in New York and decided to clear things out.
“I was like, ‘Hey, man, I love your show, it’s awesome. I gotta know, everyone is saying you offered me that — did you offer me that?’ He was like, ‘No.’ I was like, ‘Thank you, Vince!’” Cusack said.
During the 80s and 90s, Cusack enjoyed the love and admiration of being a Hollywood heartthrob.
His status as a teen icon was cemented with back-to-back coming of age movies like Sixteen Candles (1984), The Sure Thing (1985), Better Off Dead (1985), Stand by Me (1986), and “Say Anything…” (1989).
But in recent years, he hasn’t been appearing onscreen as much.
The 90s Heartthrob has previously acknowledged how Hollywood seems to have moved on from him
Paul Drinkwater/NBCU Photo Bank
His last credit in an American film was in the 2025 film Fog of War.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, Cusack starred in a Chinese box office spy-thriller called Decoded, released in 2024.
Cusack has hosted at least three Ask Me Anythings (AMAs) on Reddit and briefly addressed his relationship with fame.
“I can’t say I enjoy [fame] because it’s hard to be in public sometimes and be accommodating to people,” he wrote in a 2016 Q&A.
Katie Jones/Variety via Getty Images
He also said during a 2020 interview with The Guardian that Hollywood seems to have moved on from him.
“In the last few years, I haven’t been able to get projects financed,” he said. “That could be a function of getting older. Or it could be a function of being cold.”
Elsewhere in the interview, he said: “I haven’t really been hot for a long time.”
“He looks good, y’all are just miserable AS USUAL. Cheer up!” one commented online
