As amoral as Diane Court's dad wound up being, it's impossible to watch the film now and not view James Court through the lens of another role: the beloved patriarch on Frasier, Martin Crane. Say Anything was released in 1989, while Frasier didn't start its 11-year run until 1993. So you may not have recognized actor John Mahoney then, but you surely would if you later became a fan of the Crane family sitcom.
That's not to say the characters are without similarities — they're both charming and brash. But they also have some ironic differences, namely the fact that Martin Crane was a retired police officer. That definitely doesn't jive with James Court's side hustles of fraud and embezzlement.
Adding to the Frasier fun is the fact that this film is set in Seattle, the city in which the Crane family famously lived. And Bebe Neuwirth, who also went on to star in Frasier, makes a cameo as Lloyd's school adviser.
Of course, this is all tinged with sadness in light of Mahoney's passing. When news broke of his death in February 2018, Say Anything director Cameron Crowe tweeted a photo from the set, saying, "Here's to you, John Mahoney! You make the unforgettable look easy." Cusack also gave his co-star a nod, tweeting that "he made everyone around him better and happier each day."
