During Comic-Con, the first red-band trailer for Hot Tub Time Machine 2 hit the web to hilarious results. But one figure from the first movie was lacking from the trailer. Did John Cusack not like the first movie or was he just too busy?

First Red-Band Trailer For 'Hot Tub Time Machine' Shows Similar Plot, Decent Laughs

In an open letter to Cusack on Time posted on Monday, Eric Dodds asked the actor why he decided not to do the sequel to the cult hit from 2010, citing that while it wasn't his best film, it was Dodds' personal favorite of the large filmography that Cusack has.

"As much as I enjoyed the trailer, the fact that you weren't in it never stopped being at the front of my mind," Dodds said.

"It's not that your character was one of the great all-time film characters, but he was the glue of that group - a very enjoyable group, but one that could veer towards excessively zany without a grounding force (that's you!) to keep them centered. And yes, I do appreciate the irony of worrying about people being too bizarre in a movie about a time-traveling hot tub."

Cusack played the straight man lead in the first film and his character was searching for some answers in life after his life left him and he was stuck at home with his loser nephew (played by Clark Duke). Dodds marked that his arc was something that made the film special compared to the usual comedy that doesn't contain such arcs for their lead characters, or at least successfully.

It is probably true that Cusack is too busy to do the sequel. According to his IMDB page, the actor has eight projects in 2014 and two in 2015 on his slate. But was there any backlash from the first film that made him want to quit?

Cusack has never gone on the record and said he didn't like the film, but it is always possible that he viewed it as a quick money grab and one that ended up not panning out (the film only grossed $50 million).

Either way, Adam Scott replaces the actor and Hot Tub Time Machine 2 hits theaters on Christmas Day this year.

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