WORCESTER — John Cusack is familiar with attending movie screenings.

"I've done screenings of films forever," the actor said. "If you're making these big movies you're going on these long tours."  

Cusack was talking about preview showings, premieres and other advance work such as interviews with reporters to promote a new film pending its release. Among Cusack's big movies are "Grosse Point Blank" (1997), "Being John Malkovich" (1999) and "High Fidelity" (2000). He's been in nearly 80 films altogether.

However, he'll be at a different type of screening when he comes to The Hanover Theatre and Conservatory for the Performing Arts on May 17. Thirty years after it was made, Cusack, 52, will be on hand for a showing of the 1989 comedy/drama "Say Anything ..." After the screening, he'll take part in a live conversation with the audience and a Q&A.

"The big difference is you're looking back at previous work," he said.

And Cusack seems to have been enjoying the experience of taking  "Say Anything ..." on tour recently and taking in the audience reaction.

"It's pretty fun ... You go, 'Oh wow, we did something people like,'" he said. "It's a nice look back because usually I don't look back that much."

Maybe that reflects his memory of making the movie as a particularly happy time.

"It was just a great experience," he said during a short telephone interview last week.

"I got to work with a great bunch of filmmakers."

"Say Anything ..." may be Cusack's biggest film of all.

It has been ranked by Entertainment Weekly as one of the greatest modern movie romances and No. 11 on the list of 50 best high-school movies.

Written and directed by Cameron Crowe, the film follows the unlikely romance between Lloyd Dobler (Cusack), seemingly destined to go nowhere, and Diane Court (Ione Skye), the valedictorian bound for study in England, immediately after their graduation from high school. What Lloyd has going for him is that he is likeable and amusing. He makes Diane laugh, something she feels she hasn't done enough of. Diane’s possessive father (the late John Mahoney) disapproves. The course of true love will find impediment.

The film's iconic image is of Lloyd holding up a boom box playing "In Your Eyes" by Peter Gabriel while standing outdoors under Diane's open bedroom window.

Cusack had already made a name for himself in movies (including the lead role "The Sure Thing" in 1985) but "Say Anything ... " has been called the movie that made him the star.

It was also pretty much the last high school or college coming-of-age part before he moved on to more decidedly adult roles such as Roy in "The Grifters" (1990).

Cusack's influences as an actor go back to his hometown of Evanston, Illinois, just north of Chicago. The fourth of five children (all of whom, including Joan Cusack, have also acted), his late father, Richard, was a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester and an actor, writer, documentary filmmaker and activist. His mother, Ann Paula, is a mathematician and activist. Cusack went to the Piven Theatre Workshop in Evanston. Looking back to that, he has previously credited the progressive atmosphere there with helping to mold him as an actor.

He made his first movie, "Class," which starred Jacqueline Bisset, in 1983. Then John Hughes cast him in "Sixteen Candles" in 1984 and he was off and running.

Cusack continues to make movies, including winning acclaim for his portrayal of Brian Wilson in "Love and Mercy" (2014).

His perception of "Say Anything ..." 30 years on hasn't really changed, Cusack said.

"Not really. The qualities that the film had that were interesting are still what makes it interesting today."

The film has romance, but also "this very interesting story with the father and daughter," Cusack said.

When her parents got divorced, Diane chose to live with her father because of the honesty, trust and openness that he encouraged. They can say anything to one another.

However, it turns out (spoiler alert) that the father has been engaging in some dishonest activity.

"The character I play was a very optimistic person," Cusack said. "He knew the score (in life, if not about Diane's father) ... he decided to be optimistic anyway. It (juxtaposed with the opposition of the father) was a nice mixture."

A sort of John Lennon and Paul McCartney mixture, as Cusack cited the Beatles song "Getting Better" where McCartney sings "A little better all the time" and Lennon's backing vocal reply/refrain is "It can't get no worse."

When "Say Anything ..." was released the general response started out as quite good and then kept getting better, and better and better. "It didn't tear up the box office. It did OK when it came out," Cusack said. "It grew in stature for sure."

There have been suggestions of doing a remake of, but Crowe has expressed his disapproval and Cusack didn't sound too encouraging, either. "I'd say take your best shot, but I wouldn't recommend it," he said.  

Asked what type of questions the audience asks at this type of event, Cusack said it can "run the gamut to super technical things  ... to very inside filmmaking, or they want to talk about your whole career, to the ridiculous." 

So don't be afraid to say something if you're in the audience on Friday. "I like it when it gets a little wild," Cusack said.

Contact Richard Duckett@richard.duckett@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @TGRDuckett.