THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 104 FEBRUA RY 12, 2020
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Memorable moments
from a storied history91 Years of THR
MARY EVANS/TOUCHSTONE PICTURES/WORKING TITLE FILMS/RONALD GRANT/EVERETT COLLECTIONAbove: John Cusack (left) and Jack Black in a scene from 2000’s High Fidelity. Right: The ad touting Cusack’s Golden Globe nomination ran in THR on Jan. 8, 2001.Nick Hornby’s 1995 novel High
Fidelity has had quite the post-
publication life. In 2000, it was
adapted into a Disney film when
Joe Roth headed the studio. It
starred John Cusack and brought
him a Golden Globe nomina-
tion. In 2006, the book was then
turned into a Broadway show
that The New York Times called
one of the “all-time most forget-
table musicals.” (It closed after
10 days.) And, on Feb. 14, the High
Fidelity TV series launches on
Hulu starring Zoë Kravitz. (In a
showbiz confluence, her mother,
Lisa Bonet, co-starred in the
film.) Fidelity’s plot focuses on a
music-obsessed, 30-something
record store owner with a tal-
ent for making clever top-five
lists but none for maintaining
relationships. In the novel, the
store is in North London; in the
film, it’s in Chicago; in the Hulu
series, it’s in Brooklyn. “Nick told
me, ‘My book’s about a lot more
than an English accent,’ ” says
Cusack, who also co-wrote and
co-produced the film. “I knew
that record store completely as
an American. In mine, they were
obsessed with punk; in England,
it was R&B and Chess Records.
But you take away the accents,
they’re the same guys.” When
High Fidelity the movie launched
two decades ago, The Hollywood
Reporter said the film “should
score well with post-college
viewers who will identify with
the film’s commitment-phobic
take on issues of love and work.”
(The $30 million production
grossed $47 million worldwide,
or $70 million today.) THR was
especially enthused by the sup-
porting work from Jack Black,who “delivers a full-throttle
comic performance that should
bring him to the attention of
casting directors who have
heretofore relegated him mostly
to bland background roles.” That
prophecy proved accurate: Black
has said Fidelity was his career
breakthrough. “I knew Jack was
perfect for this,” Cusack tells
THR. “As soon as I saw him, I
knew we had an ending for the
movie.” That involved Black’s
character’s band, Sonic Death
Monkey, performing Marvin
Gaye’s “L et ’s G et It On” a s t he
main lovers reconcile. (On the
other hand, the film also starred
Iben Hjejle, a Danish actress
who was expected to become a
major star but has since been
seen primarily on Scandinavian
television.) As for the making of
Fidelity, Cusack says, “I kind ofthink we got it right and that had
a lot to do with [music supervi-
sor] Kathy Nelson and Joe Roth;
and a climate of filmmaking
when not everything had to go
through algorithms and testing.”
— BILL HIGGINSHigh Fidelity Found Romance in a Record Store
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