In the Brian-Wilson-Biopic “Love & Mercy” from 2014, John Cusack had the task of playing the older version of the puzzling musical genius, which the Beach Boys listed and shaped the Californian rock. This was after the smile sessions, at a time when Wilson-who died on Wednesday at the age of 82-withdrew more and more both musically and personally. It was the time when he “went into his darker phase, this part of his life was much less well known”, Cusack tells the Rolling Stone.
In order to better understand the subtleties of Wilson’s personality, Wilson and his wife Melinda Ledbetter Cusack granted “extraordinary access to his life and past” before the start of the shoot. He spent time in her house that they went together in Wilson’s favorite dinner-a place that the beach boy co-founder visited every day-and spent time in his music room. “When he was near a piano, he usually played around it,” recalls Cusack.
Two actors, an entry point
He says there was a lot of synchronicity during the filming. He and Paul Dano, who played the young Wilson in the creative high phase of the Beach Boys, initially deliberately avoided the exchange with each other and compared not notes “to have two completely different approaches. And that felt right,” he says. When they met towards the end of the shooting, they found that “we had the same entry point to him, namely we both got on the” smile “sessions,” said Cusack. “I had some version of it around me, every guard in which I did not turn. It was my language to him, some door to him. And I just found it interesting that Paul and I independently take the same chose. “
Wilson’s generosity and openness stretched out on the stage with Cusack beyond the film. Wilson wanted to perform at the final ceremony of the shoot and asked Cusack and Dano to join him – he handed Cusack the song lines to “Do It Again”. It wasn’t the last time he sang with Wilson. He attended several concerts over the years and even performed with him at the PitchFork Music Festival in 2016 to sing “Sloop John B”. They stayed in touch over the years and sent each other Christmas cards. “He is such a mythical figure,” says Cusack. “His heart was as big as you would imagine.” And further: “He was just exceptional, almost not from this world.”
Honesty, openness and darkness
“He really let me look into his life, he and Melinda, so that I could somehow find out how it was and how he lived. They were very generous with it. And I think they wanted the film to do it – that was the most important thing. But I also think he went to the table with the difficult aspects of his life on the same, raw, large way. He wanted darkness to become visible because he thought that would help take the stigma of mental illnesses – that it could help other people. “
He was a really extraordinary person. I think he was very complex, obvious. There is a difference between someone who keeps thinking about music and someone who literally does not get the melody out of their heads who cannot stop listening to music. But he was actually very aware and attentive than many think – he just came across very eccentric and great. So he was super open, and I think he was someone who talked to you like a cat looking over your head – what does she see up there? Brian often did that. He was very open and honest about everything he went through.
Wilson’s magical presence on the set
An example of how exceptional he was: When we turned the scene in which Brian collapsed in the studio – the same studio in which he had taken up all these things – and he was at the peak of his need because of his relationship with the crazy, false psychiatrist Dr. Landy [der Wilsons Leben als Therapeut und Berater übernahm; seine Lizenz wurde widerrufen und später erwirkte Wilson eine einstweilige Verfügung gegen ihn]and Melinda tried to pull him out of the abyss. It was his low point, at least from the film’s point of view, but I also think from his and Melinda’s view.
On the day we turned the breakdown scene, I heard the smile sessions. I tried to find out: How do you do that? What can I do? Jesus Christ. This is the life of this man. And it was somehow an impossible scene. So I dipped into the smile sessions and waited for the camera to ran. Someone taped my shoulder and said, ‘Brian is there.’ And I said, ‘Brian who?’ And they said: ‘Wilson.’ And I said, ‘What?’ He hadn’t told anyone. The director didn’t even know that he was there. He just appeared five minutes before the scene. That day I wore a Hawaii shirt – because Brian wore such shirts.
There is a photo of me: I wear a red one, he comes with a combined hair in a different colored Hawaii shirt. He says: ‘Hey, how are you, man. I just wanted to talk briefly. ‘ I looked around – everyone was stunned – he was just there. [Und dann hieß es:] Camera runs, something happens right away. And you can’t really explain that. He was just so connected and decided to show up at this moment. That was the only time he got to the set. He walked in like when you scattered wand dust and we were shooting.
Brian and Melinda’s reaction to the film
[Er gab niemandem Ratschläge, wie man ihn spielen solle.] He just looked at you, looked over your head and spoke to you. And he really tried to absorb you and your energy.
When we finished the film, he took a sheet of music, wrote down song lines about “Love and Mercy”, and Melinda said: ‘He has never done that before.’
If you look at where he was in his darkest hours and where I met him-children ran around, he was with his wife, he had a nice house, a community, and he not only spoke about his past, was open about it, not only spoke about Smile and the smile sessions that he could not talk about for years-and then he acts with it, speaks openly to me about his psychological struggles because he wanted to help others … he drawn from his travels to the abyss? Secure. But for me it was a triumph of perseverance, spirit and grace that he had made it. It was beautiful to see how he found stability, peace and happiness.
The contradiction of a genius
I think that the paradox of him is – I said he was like a raw, open, beating heart on two legs with an ear that the angels heard. But he was also a damn hard dog to survive all of this – and his father. He was a survival artist. There was a toughness in him.
No matter what happened, his ear was always there. When he talked about his father’s blows, he not only told what it felt like – he said: ‘It sounded like that. It sounded like that. ‘ I can imagine what it felt like. But he wanted me to know exactly how it sounded. I always found that an incredible insight into him.
One day Melinda wrote to me: ‘Hey, we’ll watch the film.’ And I wrote back: ‘You have to call me, tell me what you see and feel.’ Later she led her reactions to me-she said when he saw the Landy scene, it was very stirring. He had to take a break. I wrote back: ‘Oh no, hopefully in a positive sense.’ And she said: ‘Oh yes, a lot came back. He was amazed at the artistic implementation of the scene, but found it too painful to look – but you know him, he comes back, he will relax. And don’t worry, that is, you did a good job. ‘ … there was a lot to be processed, but they really liked him.
It was her life and experience and they were so generous to me. I wanted you to have the feeling that we did it right – that I presented him correctly. It was important to me that you know that we gave everything.
A seismograph of pop
It was an honor to embody a version of him on the screen. And it was something that I could completely fall into. And that was the only way – it was a world with an endless depth. It was a very deep, intensive experience, with a lot of love and respect made by everyone involved. And it was also special to do it while he was still with us – and to know that they felt good.
The part of his life I played was obviously much more internal, private and hidden from the public than his young years. I really had the feeling that you can only represent a version of him – a work of art can never tell the whole story. … But if you create a version that is really in harmony with it, if it feels like it, then you may be able to capture a part of it. I was just so inspired by his genius.
He is a big number. That is he. What he could give the world was seismic – he opened everything for everyone else. You get goose bumps when you think about what he has done.
It was an honor to immerse yourself in his world – and try to do justice to him. It felt meaningful because I knew it was a story that we had to tell – for the legacy of music and the influence she had on culture.
And yet – at the end of the day – there were two people in the audience that I really got to: Brian and Melinda.