A few days after the Academy Awards John Cusack is busy making the rounds, trying to get the word out about his newest film, “High Fidelity.” He’s preparing for appearances on “The Late Show With David Letterman” and anticipating the movie’s March 31 release.

Now, he’s chatting with a handful of college journalists, reflecting on the loose career he’s carved out for himself.

He offers some of his opinions about the film industry he’s grown to be a major part of.

“I love film, and I love film history, but I also just don’t like the congratulatory nature of [the Oscars],” he says. “I think the process of selecting them is so political that it doesn’t always have to do with the real merits.”

Cusack speaks over the phone in a barely audible voice. He is reserved and keeps a sarcastic air about himself, not unlike the character he played in 1997’s dark comedy, “Grosse Pointe Blank.”

“So much of the movie-going public seems to want very recognizable kinds of personalities that they can like, and they seem to accept that and really go and see these movies that cost $120 million and don’t really have stories,” he says. “I like popcorn movies, don’t get me wrong. I like to go see them; I just don’t really want to act in them.”

In today’s film industry, which places the utmost importance on box office ticket sales and maintaining the typical celebrity image, Cusack is unique. He couldn’t care less about winning prestigious awards. He would rather concentrate on what he knows best — acting.

John Cusack got his start in the 1980s at the age of 17, acting in such classic films of the period as “Sixteen Candles,” “Better Off Dead” and “Say Anything …” But that was just the ’80s.

In 2000, at age 34, Cusack has appeared in over 40 films and even launched his own avant-garde theater company, Chicago’s New Crime Theater Company.

“I think as you get older and learn stuff about life, you have stuff to draw from, and hopefully your life gets a little bit, I don’t know, more focused in some ways,” he reflects. “You’re not so worried about being a well liked movie star.”

If Cusack is concerned about being a well-liked movie star, he shouldn’t to be. His recent films have been some of the most critically-acclaimed in recent years. “Being John Malkovich,” “The Thin Red Line” and “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil” are films that have stood out because of their uniqueness.

Cusack is now trying to make some waves with “High Fidelity,” a story based on the novel by Nick Hornby. The film explores the relationship struggles of Rob Gordon (Cusack), the owner of an independent record store in Chicago.

“Rob is kind of an every man, and Nick Hornby wrote the character that most straight men, anyway, can relate to,” says Cusack, who also was a co-producer of the film.

The characters are all music junkies, who live and die by their record collections. Naturally music is one of the film’s essential elements.

Cusack played a major role in picking the music for the soundtrack.

He picked a variety of new and old artists, but primarily suggested some of the music he enjoyed listening to while growing up, like the Velvet Underground and Bob Dylan.

“I’m always a little bit behind the curve as far as what is modern and stuff, but the last great, great band that I was really sort of loyal to is Nirvana,” Cusack says. “I have certain songs for certain women and certain times in life. I think a lot of people use music sort of autobiographically in that way.”

When writing the book, which was originally set in London, author Nick Hornby’s intention was to emphasize the importance of music in the characters’ lives.

“We were going to adapt it and we asked [Hornby] whether this would really bother him if we set it in the States, and he said ‘No, not at all,'” Cusack says. “He thought this book was about a lot more than [London]. He thought it was about peoples’ obsessive love affair with music.”

Taking the film to Chicago was quite easy for Cusack, who grew up in the nearby suburb of Evanston, Ill.

“I knew where I could transplant it in Chicago. I knew where we used to [shop for] records,” Cusack explains, adding that his Chicago upbringing contributed extensively to his success.

“I think living in Chicago, when you are growing up there is probably 300 different local theater companies, so you can always see some really cool theater going on,” he says. “It was really great because you could always get a great training ground, and you could always see people really doing stuff because they loved it. I would never trade growing up in Chicago for anything.”

After things slow down, Cusack hopes to dabble some more in theatrical acting.

While it’s been a long time since Cusack played one of his first memorable roles as a geek in 1984’s brat-pack flick, “Sixteen Candles,” since then, Cusack has gained a fair share of insight.

“When you’re making movies, it’s a pretty high pressure gig, and a lot of it is the money and a lot of people around, a lot of egos,” he says. “It can get kind of crazy, but we seem to be doing all right. I just try to do good films and hopefully people will like them.”