‘The Raven’ star on portraying Poe

Although his prolific movie career includes a few period pieces (“Eight Men Out,” “Bullets Over Broadway”), John Cusack, 45, is primarily known for his contemporary roles in such films as “Say Anything … ,” “High Fidelity” and “Hot Tub Time Machine.” In the new thriller “The Raven,” Cusack undertakes a historical literary pop culture icon in author Edgar Allan Poe.

The film is set in 1849 Baltimore during the last days of Poe’s life. A series of grisly murders grips the city — inspired by such Poe stories as “The Pit and the Pendulum,” “The Masque of the Red Death,” “The Tell-tale Heart” and, of course, “The Raven” — so police enlist Poe’s aid in tracking down the killer.

Directed by James Mcteigue (“V for Vendetta”), the cast includes Luke Evans as the detective on the case, Alice Eve as Poe’s imperiled love interest and Brendan Gleeson as her disapproving father. Q: What generally draws you to a project, and what specifically appealed to you about this one? A: It’s usually a variety of things. Sometimes, it’s just wanting to work. Sometimes, it’s a certain director or the other actors involved, the story or the character. It can be a combination of any or all of those things. In this case, it was a very easy decision. It was about Edgar Allan Poe and James Mcteigue, both of whom are fascinating storytellers. Q: How much did you already know about Poe prior to working on this film, and did you discover anything new or surprising about him in the process? A: I grew up regarding him mainly as a godfather of goth, based on the stories I’d read, but you always learn things when you go back and re- read someone as an adult. Researching his letters and some of his biographies, that put him in a different context for me. I came to appreciate his gallows humor and how his writing dealt in a lot of different styles and genres, from sci-fi to first-person confessionals to literary criticism to pure horror. That struck me as pretty incredible. I never knew he went to West Point, or how combative he was in some of his intellectual battles with other writers of the era. He really was one of the first lunatic writers. Q: Is there any difference between your approach to playing a real person and playing a fictional character? A: There’s a greater sense of responsibility [playing a real person], but it’s still a matter of creation. This film is just one version of Poe. It takes parts of his real life, his writing and his letters, but it’s not a linear, naturalistic, straight biopic. What I really liked about the script was that the conceit was in keeping with his dream-within-a-dream philosophy, trying to find that place between fact and fiction, between dreams and reality, between sanity and insanity. We even tried to incorporate as much of his own dialogue as possible. Q: Are there unique challenges to acting in a period piece as opposed to a contemporary story? A: Not really. Ultimately, it’s about the same thing, telling stories. Acting is acting. Sure, you have to get a grasp of the language of the day, and there’s a complexity and sophistication about that, both verbally and linguistically. That’s part of the fun, though, getting out of the present and getting to use your imagination a little more. It definitely helped filming on location in Serbia and Hungary, far away from the modern world, with cobblestone streets and the whole bit.