Closing the loophole
Actor tries to play it cool while portraying a young Bruce Willis
Joseph Gordon-Levitt has made the rounds in the world of TV and film. His first major role was a long-haired, wise-cracking teen (well, an extraterrestrial in the body of a teen) in the TV comedy 3rd Rock from the Sun.
From there he moved on to bigger roles in blockbusters such as Inception and The Dark Knight Rises. But now he's barely recognisable as a young Bruce Willis in the sci-fi thriller Looper.
The film is mostly set in the year 2044. Time travel is a reality and outlawed by the government. The mob, however, have access to the necessary technology and employ it to get rid of people.
"They zap their victim back to the past where a hitman called a Looper, employed by the future gangsters, assassinates them and disposes of the body," says Gordon-Levitt, who plays Joe, one of the Loopers.
His next target seems awfully familiar. It turns out to be his future self (Bruce Willis), after the mob decide to "close his loop" by eliminating him. Joe's hesitation allows his future self to escape. He needs to track him down to save himself in the future. Meanwhile his future self is looking for a boy who holds the key to his survival …
One of the biggest challenges for Looper director and writer Rian Johnson was casting two actors that could essentially play the same person at different periods in time. But rather than finding two with similar looks, Johnson sought the best actors for the roles.