Cameron Crowe said he and cinematographer László Kovács tricked John Cusack into filming the now-iconic boom box scene for the 1989 romantic comedy Say Anything after the actor resisted performing the romantic gesture.
In an interview with The New York Times, Crowe recounted that Cusack balked at the idea of his character Lloyd Dobler standing outside Diane Court’s window with a boom box playing Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes,” calling the act too corny and “subservient.” Crowe said the production ultimately captured the scene by convincing Cusack he was filming an alternative take.
Crowe said the crew had already shot a version with the boom box on the hood of a car that matched Cusack’s instincts. As the shoot neared its end and daylight was fading, Kovács — who later whispered to Crowe that there was no film in the camera during that earlier attempt — suggested they try one more setup across the street. Crowe said the filmmakers ran over, told Cusack they found a good location and asked him to do the moment again. Cusack agreed and, Crowe recalled, "held up the boom box and was kind of pissed that he’s having to do it one more time." The director added, "And you knew it watching in the monitor: That was the perfect emotion for the scene."
Crowe’s account confirms comments Cusack made at a 2023 screening in Dallas, where the actor said he thought the scene was “too corny” and that he had pushed to downplay Lloyd’s sentimental side. "I was like, ‘C’mon, he can’t be such a sap,'" Cusack said then. According to Crowe, Cusack suggested putting the boom box on the car, but ultimately agreed to hold it up for a single take that became the film’s most enduring image. Cusack has said the shot in the finished film is the only time he ever held the boom box himself.
Say Anything, released in 1989, follows an average high school graduate, Lloyd, who woos his class valedictorian, Diane Court, in the months after graduation. The boom box scene — Lloyd playing Peter Gabriel from the street to reach Diane — has become a touchstone of 1980s film romance and a recurring reference in popular culture.
Crowe told The New York Times that Cusack, who was in his 20s at the time of filming, wanted to rein in what he called his own natural screen persona and avoid another teen-movie stereotype. "He wanted to dial down his Cusackness when I met him," Crowe said. "He was like, ‘I can’t do another teen movie.’ I’m like, ‘It’s really not a teen movie, I swear.'"
The director’s revelation offers a behind-the-scenes look at how a combination of on-set improvisation and a cinematographer’s quick thinking produced a single-shot moment that has outlived the film’s initial release. The scene’s mixture of awkwardness and earnestness, captured as the sun was setting on the film’s final day of shooting, remains one of the most frequently cited images from late-20th-century American cinema.
Crowe’s remarks have renewed attention to Say Anything as audiences and critics continue to revisit and reassess popular moments from the era. Both the director and actor have reflected publicly on the film in recent years, acknowledging the tension on set and the creative choices that shaped a scene now widely regarded as emblematic of romantic film moments of its time.