Joseph Gordon-Levitt has become one of my favorite actors in Hollywood, ever since I saw his work in Rian Johnson’s 2005 indie noir, Brick. Now, Heat Vision brings word that the 29-year-old actor is in talks to star in two back-to-back action films.
The first project is David Koepp’s Premium Rush, in which Gordon-Levitt would play “a New York bike messenger who picks up an envelope at Columbia University, only to be chased throughout the city by a dirty cop desperate to get his hands on it.“
Koepp, a writer/director fondly remembered for writing Jurassic Park and Spider-Man and not-so-fondly remembered for writing Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, co-wrote Premium Rush with John Kamps and is set to direct the project as well. Shooting should begin at the end of the summer.
But for me, the more exciting news comes in the possibility of Gordon-Levitt reuniting with Brick writer/director Rian Johnson for Looper, a time travel film that features assassins going back in time to take out their targets. Heat Vision says Gordon-Levitt “will play a man sent back to kill himself,” but Johnson took issue with that description over on Twitter. He says that the real logline is “basically the exact opposite of what [Heat Vision] wrote” and provides us with one himself: “hit men are sent their victims from crime orgs in the future.“
Gordon-Levitt briefly appeared in Johnson’s last picture, The Brothers Bloom (my favorite film of last year), and I’m stoked to see more from this pairing. It’s clear the two work well together, and I’m hoping they form a sort of “Scorsese/DiCaprio” director/actor relationship and work together for many years to come. As far as Premium Rush goes, I’m cautiously optimistic – the premise sounds intriguing, but David Koepp’s abilities behind the camera don’t inspire as much confidence in me as Johnson’s.
Although he’s recently appeared in some independent films like Uncertainty and Hesher (the latter premiered at this year’s Sundance), Gordon-Levitt’s last high profile roles were in (500) Days of Summer and G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra. We’ll next see him on the big screen in Christopher Nolan’s highly anticipated Inception alongside Leonardo DiCaprio.
Which of these projects are you more excited for – Premium Rush or Looper? Do you like the idea of Joseph Gordon-Levitt as an action star?
