John Cusack: He plays a grieving husband who adopts a son in ‘Martian Child.’ ‘The idea of human beings trying to find each other is always kind of lovely,’ he says.

John CUSACK is best known for his wiseacre underdogs and oddball neurotics -- the lovelorn puppeteer of “Being John Malkovich” topping them all. But this year he’s been steeped in drama as the terrorized hotel guest in “1408” and the widowed father in “Grace Is Gone.”

In “Martian Child,” opening Friday, Cusack is once again grieving -- this time as sci-fi novelist David Gordon. Struggling to cope with the death of his wife, Gordon adopts Dennis (Bobby Coleman), an orphaned boy convinced he’s an explorer from the Red Planet. It’s a poignant and sensitive story that examines our notions of conformity, childhood and parental love. But for all its seriousness, the film’s tone is somehow lightened by Cusack’s presence and the subtle irreverence he projects with that pout, that raised eyebrow and that exasperated way he combs his fingers through his hair.

Cusack was intrigued by the fact that the role was dramatic but very interior. Gordon, like Dennis, is an outsider, though a successful one who has found a way to mask his eccentricities. Gordon is drawn to Dennis because he recognizes himself in the boy and, Cusack said, believes if he can save the child, he can somehow save himself. And then there’s the nagging suspicion that maybe this kid is really from Mars.

“The idea of human beings trying to find each other is always kind of lovely,” said Cusack, fighting congestion and jet lag the day after returning home to L.A. from London, where he was promoting both “Martian Child” and “Grace Is Gone.” “I also like the idea [that] it had a little bit of magic realism in it, which is fun.”

New Line approached Cusack with the part and then he helped corral director Menno Meyjes, with whom he worked on “Max,” and Amanda Peet and sister Joan Cusack to costar.

To preserve the authenticity of Cusack and Bobby’s budding friendship, Meyjes tried to film their scenes in chronological order. Early on, Cusack kept his distance from Bobby so they could discover their relationship on camera. As the film progressed, Cusack engaged Bobby more and more.

The characters “sort of met as strangers and through the course of the film develop a relationship,” said Cusack. “So we let that happen during the process. You could just let the relationship develop, and we could use the newness of knowing each other to our advantage.”

“Martian Child” marked Cusack’s first portrayal as a parent, though he’s an involved uncle to Joan Cusack’s two boys. (“Grace Is Gone,” in which he plays father to two young daughters, was shot later but released first. John Cusack said both films fell together randomly and didn’t represent a deliberate attempt to play grieving fathers.) Working with kids, he said, isn’t so different from working with adult performers -- though the crew is generally more sensitive.

“When the kids are around, everybody gets the joke to be quiet on the set,” he said. “It’s almost as if everybody gets the rules of what it takes to get the performance. You actually have a better work environment.”

Cusack, 41, has about 50 films to his credit as an actor and a few more he’s co-written and produced. He still aspires to land a role in a Cormac McCarthy adaptation, and next year, Cusack said he hopes to get his long-gestating Edgar Cayce project off the ground.

“I’ve always felt like I was pretty lucky; I’ve never gotten pigeonholed in one type of movie,” said Cusack. “That’s kind of how I like to do it.”

gina.piccalo@latimes.com

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Where you’ve seen him

Cusack, 41, was born in Evanston, Ill., one of five kids of a filmmaker dad and math teacher-political activist mom. He was a child stage actor in Chicago, then earned fame for his early comic roles, winning cult hero status after Cameron Crowe’s “Say Anything” and proving to be a real box-office draw in “Grosse Pointe Blank.” Now, Cusack’s got about 50 films to his credit and writes and produces through his company New Crime Productions.