Is Hollywood Becoming Levitt-Town?

Looper opens in theaters
this Friday.

Over the last half dozen of years, Joseph Gordon-Levitt (known as JGL here for short) has been carving out quite a career. After appearing in this summer's number one film at the box office The Dark Knight Rises, starring in the bicycle delivery action film Premium Rush and the upcoming sci-fi action film Looper, JGL is everywhere. That's really not a shock, as JGL is one of the hardest working actors on screen.  However, JGL has been trying to keep his profile as "Ordinary Joe"(as he called himself in an Inception DVD extra), but audiences are having trouble not seeing his work. While JGL has been in smaller films that gain notoriety for his great character work in The Lookout and Hesher, but he was nominated for a Golden Globe in 2009 for (500) Days of Summer and last year for 50/50. As it stands now, Joseph Gordon-Levitt still has two more films coming out this year (Looper and Lincoln -no vampires) and another currently in production for 2013. In Looper, JGL is reunited with Rian Johnson, who directed JGL in Brick- a private-eye-style film set in a high school.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt Hollywood next big star?

Opening this Friday, JGL plays a hitman known as a Looper, who disposes of targets the mafia wants dead from 30 years in the future. The rules of the Looper are simple: a) never let your target get away and b) you have to kill them...even if it's you. That's exactly what happens when JGL's character sees himself 30 years older (Bruce Willis) and manages to escape. As a result, JGL's employers come after him while he chases down his older version. Emily Blunt and Jeff Daniels co-star in Rian Johnson's return to the big screen in four years. The real star of this film is the talented young actor as JGL duplicates the mannerisms of his older co-star. Just watching the trailers, you can see the work make-up artist used to make JGL look like Willis, but it's his acting that sells the audience that we're staring a young Bruce Willis.

JGL's work is making him hard
to NOT notice him.

Again, it's becoming hard NOT to notice the budding star. While other actors out there play it safe or churn out crappy formulaic movies, JGL keeps picking good movies and is willing to take risks on original or independent films like Hesher (where he plays the title role). As he appears to becoming a favorite of Christopher Nolan, it's a safe bet the Batman director will use him again at some point, but let's face it, who doesn't want to work with JGL? The down-to-Earth regular person nature JGL will make him popular, but his work speaks for itself. This guy is the real deal and everyone is starting to take notice.