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Rian Johnson's (Brick) new movie, Looper, opened the currently ongoing Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) last week, making it the first sci-fi movie to kick off the festival. The time-tripping action thriller stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a hitman who disposes of victims sent to him from the future who finds himself tasked with terminating his own future self, played by action legend Bruce Willis. The stars hit the red carpet at TIFF for the movie's world premiere and ReelzChannel was on hand to chat with Gordon-Levitt, Willis and Emily Blunt about what attracted them to the movie and why time travel is really just a "springboard" for the more complex and "emotional" themes of movie.
more time-tripping sci-fi movie news Weekdays 5:30p ET / 2:30p PT
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When so many child actors fall victim to their own celebrity, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is truly a success story. Landing his first roles in TV movies at the tender age of six, Gordon-Levitt became a household name thanks to the five-and-a-half seasons he spent playing Tommy Solomon on 3rd Rock from the Sun. It would took him several years to find the kind of roles that would allow him to prove that he has what it takes to be a leading man, but impressive turns in the neo-noir crime movie Brick and the bittersweet dramedy (500) Days of Summer paved the way for higher-profile roles in Christopher Nolan's mind-bending blockbuster, Inception and his follow-up, The Dark Knight Rises. This week, Gordon-Levitt will take to the streets as Wilee, a New York City bicycle messenger who receives a dangerous package in writer-director David Koepp's (Ghost Town) new thriller, Premium Rush.
The latest entertainment news weekdays 5:30p ET / 2:30p PT
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During the Sony press conference for Looper held this past weekend during the San Diego Comic-Con, actress Emily Blunt said that when she was first introduced to Joseph Gordon-Levitt (JGL) on the set of the movie, the makeup and prosthetics he was wearing to look more like Bruce Willis were so convincing that she thought she was talking to a body double and not the actor himself. That has to be comforting news for Rian Johnson (Brick), the writer and director of the time-tripping thriller about hitmen ("loopers") who kill victims sent to the them from the future, but for JGL looking like Willis wasn't enough — he wanted to talk like him, as well.
The thing I focused on most was his voice. Why? The voice is what I look for first and foremost with just about every character I play. I don’t have an answer why. And Bruce was really accommodating and open and collaborative in helping me do that. He recorded himself reading some of my voice-over lines so that I could hear how he would sound saying them, which I thought was really cool. But mostly it was just hanging out with him, getting to know him, having dinner, talking about music or anything else was probably what was the most useful in trying to get a sense in what I was then going to portray.
more from JGL & new images >> Posted 07.18.12 by BrentJS -
Sony continued its sci-fi movie panel Friday with Looper, an original sci-fi thriller from writer-director Rian Johnson (Brick) that stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a hitman named Joe (the actor said he was named that because Johnson wrote the role specifically for him) who works for a mafia in the future, who sends him his targets via time travel. When Joe is met with his future self (Bruce Willis), he hesitates and has to try to eliminate himself before his bosses do. Johnson revealed that he conceived of the story during a time when he was reading a lot of sci-fi author Phillip K. Dick's books (one of the writer's stories was used as the basis for Sony's other sci-fi panel, Total Recall).
I came up with the idea about ten years ago and there was a point where I was reading a lot of Phillip K. Dick and so I was kind of steeped in his books. And I just had this idea for the basic plot of a mob in the future that employs hitmen in the past and they way they get rid of the bodies that they need gotten rid of is just kidnap the person, zap them back in time and the looper kills the person and disposes. And that was really just a away to set up the situation where an assassin is faced with his future self and so that's where the movie kind of takes off.
more of our panel coverage >> Posted 07.14.12 by Ryan -
On Wednesday more than 120,000 fan(atics) will be in San Diego for this year's Comic-Con and ReelzChannel will be amongst them. We're sending several correspondents to cover everything movie-related. Reelz will have coverage daily online at Reelz.com/comiccon2012 and on TV on Hollywood Dailies. Also, don't forget to check out our Comic-Con special, airing Saturday, July 21 at 7:30p ET and 4:30p PT.
From the mysterious project Elysium, to Quentin Taratino's Django Unchained, to Peter Jackson's The Hobbit, Reelz will be reporting all the details. Here's a tentative list of what we'll be covering at Comic-Con:
Reelz's Comic-Con Coverage >> Posted 07.11.12 by Chris -
Only one day after being treated to new footage from writer-director Rian Johnson's (Brick) upcoming time-tripping sci-fi gangster thriller, Looper, with the online debut of the international trailer for the movie, Sony Pictures has released a new domestic theatrical trailer containing even more new footage.
Looper is set in a near future world in which highly-specialized hitmen called "loopers" earn vast amounts of money by disposing of victims sent to them from gangsters living thirty years in the future. One such looper is Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who has the shock of his life when his latest victim turns out to be his own future self (Bruce Willis). Despite the urgings of his future self, young Joe aims to carry out the contract, which puts the two Joes at odds with one another. Will youth triumph over experience? We won't know the answer to that until Looper hits theaters, but from the looks of the new trailer it appears that elder Joe's knowledge of his younger self gives him the edge. That, and the geezer fights dirty.
watch the new trailer >> Posted 06.29.12 by BrentJS -
Sci-fi movies can be complicated. Ask anyone who saw Prometheus, for example. Director Rian Johnson's upcoming sci-fi thriller Looper is no different, involving a world where hit-men called "loopers" eliminate their targets after they are sent via time travel into the past by the gangsters of the future. The only complication for Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Joe is when he realizes his latest target is his future self (Bruce Willis).
The first trailer for Looper did a good job of explaining the movie's story when it was released in April, but the latest international trailer offers new looks at the movie. It also reveals that Willis has more on his mind than surviving his past self: taking out a mafioso boss from the future called the Rainmaker. Gordon-Levitt has called his Looper role "the best work I've done in years." From the looks of the new trailer, it could be Willis' best, as well.
watch the trailer >> Posted 06.28.12 by Ryan -
2012 is, without argument, going to be a great year for actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who will appear in four movies before the year is up. In July, Gordon-Levitt will play Gotham police officer John Blake (or whoever the latest rumor suspects his character actually is) in The Dark Knight Rises, followed in August by the bike messenger thriller Premium Rush. After that he will appear in Steven Spielberg's biopic Lincoln, which will open at some point at the end of 2012. But in September, it's possible that Gordon-Levitt's "best work" will have already been revealed in the sci-fi thriller Looper. At least, that's what the actor said in an interview with MTV.
gordon-levitt discusses his "transformation" >> Posted 04.18.12 by Ryan -
After teasing us with trailer previews all week, TriStar Pictures has finally released the first official trailer for writer-director Rian Johnson's (Brick) new sci-fi thriller, Looper.
When gangsters from the future want to get rid of someone without leaving a trace of evidence, they send their intended victim thirty years into the past, where a "looper" — a highly-specialized hitman, like Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) — does the dirty work for them. Loopers are well paid for their services and they only have to abide by one rule: "Never let your target escape. Even if your target is you." Therein lies the crux of the dramatic tension in Johnson's sci-fi/film noir mash-up, as Joe's latest victim turns out to be his own future self (Bruce Willis). Does young Joe have what it takes to kill his more experienced future self? Will future Joe pull his punches for fear of what might happen to himself should he injure or kill young Joe? These are just a couple of the mind-bending questions waiting to be answered in Looper.
watch the time-tripping trailer >> Posted 04.13.12 by BrentJS -
The first trailer for writer-director Rian Johnson's (Brick, The Brothers Bloom) new sci-fi thriller, Looper, will debut later today and we've got one more teaser video to help clue you in on the premise of the movie and get your excited for the trailer's release.
Like the previous two teaser videos, this third teaser is introduced by Johnson and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (JGL) and includes small snippets of footage from the upcoming trailer. The pair also talk about how JGL had to spend three hours a day in the makeup chair to undergo the transformation into a younger version of co-star Bruce Willis' character, Joe, a contract killer for the mob who has outlived his usefulness. Despite having acted in such movies as Christopher Nolan's Inception and the upcoming final chapter in Nolan's Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises, JGL said that nothing compares to playing a young Willis in Looper: "It's my favorite thing I've ever done."
watch the teaser video >> Posted 04.12.12 by BrentJS