I’ve rarely had as strong a personal connection to a
movie or a character as I had to John Cusack’s Rob Gordon in High Fidelity. At the time it was as if
Rob was speaking directly to me. In fact, he regularly breaks the fourth wall
and talks directly to camera, a wonderful little touch by the screenwriting
team (J.V. DeVincentis, Cusack, Steve Pink, and Scott Rosenberg) in adapting
the Nick Hornby novel and deftly handled by Stephen Frears so that it never
feels forced or gimmicky. However, it wasn’t only the direct connection to Rob
that Cusack and Frears made me feel as an audience member, but a story that
was, quite frankly, what I imagined I would write at the time if I were to
write a screenplay.
