John Cusack dishes on 'High Fidelity' at Minneapolis screening

Record shops have enjoyed a resurgence in the 25 years since John Cusack starred as a store owner in "High Fidelity." And to the thousand or so fans who bought tickets to see the actor speak after a screening of the movie on Friday night in Minneapolis, Cusack himself seemingly has never dwindled in popularity.

For about an hour, the Chicago area native answered questions and heard a lot of fawning over what that film and several others he starred in still mean to the attendees of Friday's "High Fidelity" screening at the Uptown Theater.

"Grosse Point Blank" and "Better Off Dead," in particular, were singled out as favorites among his other films — but not by Cusack, who, it turns out, has a hard time ranking his movies or anything else. That's a sharp contrast to his "High Fidelity" character Rob Gordon, who offers a nonstop barrage of top 5 lists throughout the film.

"I suck at it," he confessed to the crowd. "I could never choose a top-5 anything. It depends on my moods."

With local club DJ and the Current's "Transmission" radio host Jake Rudh serving as moderator, Cusack, 58, did single out his favorite Minneapolis music act: The Replacements, whose 1983 song "Within Your Reach" was prominently featured in another of his best-known movies, "Say Anything." He also sang Stevie Wonder's praises but did not exactly apologize for singling out "I Just Called to Say I Love You" in an unflattering light in "High Fidelity."

"It was a terrible song," he said. "I've made some terrible movies, too. It happens. There's just no way around it."

Also the co-screenwriter and co-producer of the big-screen adaptation of Nick Hornby's novel of the same name, Cusack said the British author was surprisingly cool about "High Fidelity" being set in Chicago on screen instead of the book's London location.

"My book is about more than British accents," he recounted Hornby telling him.

He couldn't get approval from another big British creative entity, though. While talking about all the great music in the movie — and the legendary musician he even got to make a cameo in it — Cusack revealed that he tried to get the rights to use John Lennon's "White Album" classic "I'm So Tired" in the pivotal scene near movie's end, where Rob halfheartedly asks his on/off girlfriend Laura about marriage.

"It was perfect for it, but I could never get the rights," he said. "I thought I had ruined the movie. And I was good at getting [song rights], too. I got Bruce Springsteen to be in the movie! But I just couldn't get this. It was just too expensive."

Based on his comments at the Uptown — one of many such screenings he has attended around the country — Cusack hasn't grown tired of talking about "High Fidelity."

"I'm just really happy 25 years later people still get some enjoyment out of it," he said. "I think that's all you can really ask for if you want to make a film."