When Craig Robinson, Rob Corddry and Clark Duke jump back into Hot Tub Time Machine 2 their time travelling partner from the first film, John Cusack, won’t be along for the ride. The actor has declined to participate in the sequel, leaving MGM and director Steve Pink to scramble for an alternate fourth cast member. The Wrap is reporting that they might have found that person in Parks And Recreation cast member Adam Scott.
Scott is not being cast into Cusack’s old role, but will be playing a new character. There are no details yet as to how his character will relate to the other three or how the absence of Cusack’s character will be explained.
Although Cusack has never been one for sequels or franchise films, I have to say that I am a bit disappointed in seeing that he is not returning. The original film was such a love letter to the teen comedies of the 1980s (see our Cinematic Swipe for one particular instance) and with Cusack having starred in several iconic films in that genre, his presence in the first film lent some cache to the proceedings. While I am sure that the cast will do as good a job as they did before, I still think that there will be missing a certain vibe that marked the first film.
