Joseph Gordon-Levitt recalls Bruce Willis' sweet compliment given to the younger actor while filming Rian Johnson's sci-fi thriller Looper. Gordon-Levitt stars in the film as Joe, a contract killer in the year 2044 working for the Kansas City crime syndicate who takes out victims sent back in time from the future, where they won't currently exist. Joe finds his life complicated when the older version of himself is sent back and escapes, putting him in a race against time to find his future self before the mob can catch up to him and kill them both.
Alongside Gordon-Levitt and Willis, the cast for Looper included Emily Blunt, Jeff Daniels, Paul Dano, Piper Perabo, Noah Segan, Pierce Gagnon, Summer Qing, Tracie Thomas and Garret Dillahunt. Written and directed by Johnson, the film received rave reviews from critics and audiences alike for its mind-bending premise and fast-paced action and was a box office success, grossing over $176 million against its $30 million budget. As Looper celebrates its tenth anniversary, one star is looking back on the sci-fi thriller and the positive time he had making it.
While appearing on Vanity Fair's "Scenes Selection" series, Joseph Gordon-Levitt reflected on his time working with Bruce Willis for Looper. The Golden Globe nominee recalled one sequence from later in the film in which he worked alongside the Globe winner and the sweet compliment Willis gave to Gordon-Levitt while shooting it, which was delivered in Willis' unique way. See what Gordon-Levitt shared below:
“I had a moment of validation, there was a scene later in the movie where we were yelling at each other. I don’t know if Bruce did this on purpose or he did it unintentionally, but it was kind of the highest compliment he could pay me. It was right after they said cut, he was turning away and walking back to his mark, he didn’t even say it to me, he kind of said it to himself, ‘Sounds like me.’ I just turned to myself and was like, ‘F—ng yes!’ I think, knowing him, that was really his ultra generous way of paying me a compliment, but it was very kind to do it in that way.”
Gordon-Levitt's story of his co-star's sweet compliment while filming Looper comes on the heels of Bruce Willis having to step away from acting following his aphasia diagnosis. Many of Willis' co-stars have come out since the announcement of his retirement with moving stories of their time working with the actor, including The Sixth Sense's Haley Joel Osment and M. Night Shyamalan and Look Who's Talking and Pulp Fiction's John Travolta. Even Cop Out's Kevin Smith has come out with an apology for their disagreements while making the buddy cop movie while the Razzies have rescinded their category made specifically for Willis' 2021 performances.
Looper marked Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Rian Johnson's second major collaboration following the latter's acclaimed feature directorial debut Brick. Though the actor has been too busy with other projects to properly reunite with the filmmaker, Gordon-Levitt has provided cameos to Johnson's other movies, including The Brothers Bloom, Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Knives Out. Audiences can revisit Gordon-Levitt and Willis' time-bending interaction with Looper available to stream on Netflix and Hulu.
Source: Vanity Fair