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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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Who says acting isn't hard work? In order to play a convincing New York City bicycle messenger in writer-director David Koepp's (Ghost Town) new thriller, Premium Rush, Joseph Gordon-Levitt (The Dark Knight Rises) "rode every day, all day" — logging as many as 60 miles in one day! — and did many of his own bicycle stunts. Even so, Gordon-Levitt gives credit where credit is due, admitting to our own Jeremy Parsons that he had four stunt doubles to fall back on for some of the tougher scenes. He also gave major props to actress Dania Ramirez (Quarantine), saying that his co-star would most likely beat him in a race. Ramirez was equally as generous, touting Gordon-Levitt's "tricks" and his ability to brake without using brakes.
more about Premium Rush >> Posted 08.21.12 by BrentJS -
The third and final installment of Christopher Nolan's Batman series, The Dark Knight Rises, opens this week and fans could not be more excited. It turns out that cast members couldn't be more excited either.
In the ReelzChannel special, The Dark Knight Rises: The Battle for Gotham, we got the first-hand accounts of making the movie directly from the A-list cast. Our Patrick Stinson sat down to talk with both Gary Oldman and Joseph Gordon-Levitt about the conclusion to this epic story, and it turns out it is definitely an ending and not just an episodic Part 3. When asked if it was the end of the story, the pair did not mince words. Oldman said simply, "I know for sure," and Gordon-Levitt followed up with "This is clearly, I think, the end of a story."
It was also clear that both actors found inspiration from their amazingly talented cast mates. Gary Oldman, who is himself one of the most respected actors working today, compared the experience of working with co-star Michael Caine to attending a "master class" in acting. Gordon-Levitt made it clear he is a huge fan of Oldman's, and compared their characters relationship as law enforcement officers to their own relationship.
In the film, Commissioner Gordon is someone that John Blake has always looked up to, which is perfect because Gary is someone I always looked up to as an actor.
Watch the extended interview >> Posted 07.18.12 by Mandy -
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 -
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 -
It appears as if, despite the best efforts of filmmakers Andy and Lana Wachowski (The Matrix trilogy) to keep their sci-fi follow-up to Cloud Atlas under wraps, the inside source that fed juicy details about Jupiter Ascending to New York Magazine's Vulture blog was on the money. At least regarding the casting of Channing Tatum in a major role.
In a recent "MTV Sneak Peek Week" interview, Tatum confirmed that he is "absolutely" signed on to star in Jupiter Ascending.
It's going to be a crazy action movie from the [directors] who did The Matrix. They will reinvent the wheel, as far as action goes, all over again.
more about Jupiter Ascending >> Posted 06.06.12 by BrentJS -
After Columbia Pictures pushed back the release of writer-director David Koepp's (Ghost Town) new bicycle messenger thriller, Premium Rush, from January to August — presumably, in an attempt to garnish a boost from headliner Joseph Gordon-Levitt's appearance in The Dark Knight Rises, which opens in July — the studio pretty much put the kibosh on the marketing campaign for the movie. Now that we're into the summer movie season, it looks like it's time to catch up with Wilee (Gordon-Levitt) once again, starting with a new trailer that ups the tempo, putting the focus more on the excitement and danger of being a bicycle messenger than on the mystery of what's in the envelope that causes him so much trouble.
watch the new trailer >> Posted 06.01.12 by BrentJS