John Cusack drained by playing Poe

Actor John Cusack suffered for his art while portraying troubled Edgar Allen Poe in new period thriller The Raven - his director insisted he go home to rest when the film wrapped.

The High Fidelity star admits he became so engrossed in the writer's madness and alcoholism that the project sucked the life out of him on the set in wintery Hungary and Serbia.

He tells WENN, "It sort of felt like we were as far away from the world as we could be in on these cobblestone streets. We were shooting a lot of nights and it felt like I was playing a vampire... I don't know if I was disagreeable but I might have been. It felt like I was on a bender, but in a good way; kind of like a cool bender.

"When I finished we were at the airport in London and (director) James (McTiegue) looked at me and he goes, 'You need to go home man!'

"I went back home and I did scare my family. They were like, 'What the f**k happened to you!' I was really thin and I was pretty strung out."