To better inhabit the intricacies of who Wilson was, Wilson and his wife Melinda Ledbetter gave Cusack \u201cextraordinary access into his life and past,\u201d prior to filming. He spent time at their house, and they would visit Wilson\u2019s favorite diner together, a place the Beach Boys co-founder visited daily, and spend time in his music room. \u201cIf he\u2019s near a piano, he\u2019s usually strumming on it,\u201d Cusack remembers.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\tHe says there was a lot of synchronicity that took place during the film. He and Paul Dano, who portrayed the younger Wilson at the peak of his Beach Boys creativity, initially avoided talking to each other, and didn\u2019t compare notes, \u201cjust to have two totally different takes. And that felt right,\u201d he says. When they did meet towards the end of the shooting, he discovered that \u201cwe had the same entry point into him, which is we both went into the <\/em>Smile sessions,\u201d Cusack says. \u201cI had some version of that going around me every waking hour that I wasn\u2019t filming. That was sort of my language into him, some doorway into him. And I just thought it was interesting, after not talking at all, that Paul and I picked the same one.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\tWilson\u2019s generosity of spirit and openness extended beyond the film and to the stage with Cusack. At the wrap party, Wilson wanted to perform and asked Cusack and Dano to join him, and he handed Cusack the lyrics to \u201cDo It Again.\u201d It wasn\u2019t the last time he\u2019d sing with Wilson. He attended several of his concerts over the years, and even joined him onstage to sing \u201cSloop John B\u201d during Pitchfork Music Festival in 2016. They remained in contact through the years, sending each other holiday cards. \u201cHe\u2019s such a mythological figure,\u201d says Cusack. \u201cHis heart was as big as you think it was.\u201d He added: \u201cHe was just extraordinary, like otherworldly.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n
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\n\tHe really did give me access into his life, he and Melinda, so I could kind of learn and find out what it was like for him and how he lived. They were very generous about it. And I think they wanted the movie to get it right, number one. But I also think he approached the troubled aspect of his life \u2014 and you know, there\u2019s also he fell in love with Melinda, and that part was beautiful \u2014 but he approached that, I think, with the same kind of open, raw, big-hearted way that he approached, I think, anything, which was: lay it all out there, tell the truth, let it out. So he wanted all the darkness exposed because he thought that would help take away the stigma of mental illness away from others, that it could help other people.<\/p>\n
\n\tHe was quite an extraordinary guy. I think he was a very complex guy, obviously. There\u2019s a bit of a Cheshire cat in him \u2026 It comes from some people who have been that <\/em>famous. \u2026 The difference between someone who thinks about music all the time and somebody who literally can\u2019t get the tune out of their head, like they can\u2019t not hear music \u2014 I think he sort of played into that a little bit, that aspect of being that kind of famous, legendary, genius kind of guy. But he was actually very aware, and more aware than people think \u2014 he just came across as a very eccentric, big-hearted person. So, he\u2019s super open about it, and I think he was the kind of guy like, when he\u2019d be talking to you, you know people who are talking to you, and then they just, like a cat looks over your head? What are they seeing up there? Brian would do that. He was so sort of instinctual \u2014 you definitely felt like he was touched in a way that other people aren\u2019t. He\u2019s a little bit different, you know, in that way. He was very, very open and honest about everything that he went through.<\/p>\n\n\n
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\n\tI can give you an example of how extraordinary he was. When we were doing the scene where Brian breaks down in the same studio where he recorded all those things, and he was going to really the peak of his distress with his relationship with that mad psychiatrist, or fake, fake psychiatrist, Dr. Landy [who overtook Wilson\u2019s life as a therapist and business adviser; his license was revoked and later Wilson had a restraining order against him], and Melinda was trying to pull him back kind of out of the abyss. But he was, he was so tortured there. It was really, really his rock bottom, certainly in the film\u2019s point of view, I think maybe from his point of view and Melinda\u2019s as well.<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\tJohn Cusack and Brian Wilson in 2013<\/span><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMelinda Ledbetter\/Courtesy of John Cusack<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\tOn that day when we\u2019re going to shoot the breakdown scene, right? I\u2019m listening to the Smile<\/em> sessions. I\u2019m trying to figure out, all right, how do you do that? I don\u2019t know. What can I do? You know, Jesus Christ. This is the guy\u2019s life. And it\u2019s kind of an impossible scene to do. And so I\u2019m listening to the Smile<\/em> sessions, immersing myself in that and waiting to roll the camera and film and stuff. Someone taps me on the shoulder, and they say, \u2018Brian\u2019s here.\u2019 And I said, \u2018Brian who?\u2019 And they go, \u2018Wilson.\u2019 And I went, \u2018What?\u2019 OK, so he didn\u2019t tell anyone he was coming. The director didn\u2019t even know he was there, right? He just showed up, like, five minutes before the breakdown scene. Now, that day, I chose to wear [a Hawaiian shirt] because Brian, he wore these kind of Hawaiian shirt kind of things. There\u2019s a picture of me: I\u2019m wearing, like, kind of a red one; he comes with his hair slicked back, wearing a different color Hawaiian shirt. He says, \u2018Hey, how you doing, man. I just want to talk\u2019 and so I walk up to him, and looked around, and then everyone was just staggered, you know, he just showed up. [And then it was] roll the cameras, something\u2019s about to happen. And, you know, you can\u2019t really explain that. How do you explain that he was just in-tuned and decided he would drop in at that moment. That was the only time he came [on set]. He waltzed in, just like sprinkled fucking magic dust on us and we rolled the camera.<\/p>\n\n\t[He didn\u2019t advise anyone on how to portray him.] He would just sort of look at you and look over your head and talk to you. And he would just, he would just sort of really try to absorb you, your energy. But he didn\u2019t say anything specific or tell you to do anything.<\/p>\n
\n\tWhen we finished the film, he took a music pad, wrote up lyrics to \u2018Love and Mercy\u2019 and Melinda was like, \u2018Well, he\u2019d never done that before.\u2019<\/p>\n
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<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of John Cusack<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\tIf you think about where he was in his darkest hours to where I met him, when he had kids running around, and he was with his wife, and he had a nice house and community, and he was not only talking about his past, was open about it, not only talking about Smile<\/em>, the Smile <\/em>sessions, which he couldn\u2019t even talk about for years \u2014 but then to go perform it, perform that, right, and then to be so open about his struggles, his mental health struggles with me, and because he wanted to help people by really showing it, take the stigma away from it \u2026 Yeah, was he scarred from his trips into the abyss? Sure. But, to me, it was a triumph of endurance and spirit and grace, that he had made it all the way through. It was lovely to see him find that stability and peace and happiness, in my view.<\/p>\n\n\tI think that the paradox about him is like, you know, as gentle \u2014 I\u2019ve said he was like a raw, open, beating heart with two legs and sort of an ear that heard stuff from the angels, right? You know, so the most kind of sensitive guy, right? But he was also a tough motherfucker to survive all that and his father. He was a survivor, man. There was a toughness under there, but he was, he was genuinely that gentle, warm, gentle person, too, for sure.<\/p>\n
\n\tThere\u2019s that kind of toughness. I always thought that was an incredible insight into him, you know, that no matter what was happening, his ear was still there. So, when he talked about his father beating him, he talked about what it felt like, but he said, \u2018This is what it sounded like. It sounded like this.\u2019 I can imagine what it felt like. But he also wanted me to know exactly what it sounded like.<\/p>\n
\n\tWhat was interesting was Melinda said, \u2018Hey, we\u2019re going to see the movie.\u2019 And I said, \u2018Oh, well, we just got to call me, tell me what\u2019s going on.\u2019 And then she was texting me what their reaction to it was. When he saw the Landy scene, he said it was very upsetting. And I was like, \u2018Oh no, you know, I hope in a good way.\u2019 And she goes, \u2018Oh yeah, it, brought back a lot for him. But you know him, he bounces back, he\u2019s going to recover. And don\u2019t worry, that means you did a good job.\u2019 \u2026 There\u2019s a lot to take in, but they really liked it.<\/p>\n
\n\tIt was their life and their experience and they were so generous with me. I wanted them to feel like we had done them right, you know, I\u2019d done him right. It was important to me we feel that they knew that we gave it our all.<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\tJohn Cusack and Brian Wilson in 2015<\/span><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Malika Cohen<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\tIt was an honor to try to represent a version of him onscreen. And it was something that you knew you could immerse yourself fully in. It was a world that had kind of endless depth to it. It was a very sort of a deep, intense experience, doing it with a lot of love and respect. And it was also special to do something when someone\u2019s alive, and also knowing that they can feel good about it was really special as well.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe part of his life I was playing was much more interior and private and hidden from the public. It wasn\u2019t as high profile \u2026 I really just felt like all you can do is a version of him like \u2014 you can never, one thing can\u2019t ever tell the whole story. \u2026 You\u2019re never going to get everything. But I think if you can make it a version of him that feels, I guess, in tune to him, right? I think if it\u2019s sort of, if it feels like him, if it really does feel like him, then you capture some of him. I was just so inspired by his kind of genius, he\u2019s just very inspiring. I felt there was an audience of two for me that I really cared about, and that was Brian and Melinda.<\/p>\n\n\n
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\n\tHe\u2019s a big deal. You know, and it\u2019s a big deal. He is. What he was able to give the world was seismic, he broke it all open for everybody else. It gives you chills when you think about what he did.<\/p>\n
\n\tIt\u2019s such an honor to immerse yourself in his world, I guess, somehow, and try to do him right. It felt meaningful, because I knew it was a story that we had to get right for the for the legacy of the music and the impact it had on the culture.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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