WEIRDLAND: Joseph Gordon-Levitt doesn't get nervous

Friday, November 20, 2009

Joseph Gordon-Levitt doesn't get nervous

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, GQ photoshoot, December issue.

"-So help me understand Uncertainty a little better. Do you think this dual-existence thing is a regular pastime for these characters, or just a way to spend this particular Fourth of July?
-That’s a funny way to phrase it. I think the dual existence thing is a regular pastime for all human beings, and for that matter anything in this universe.-So these are two stories actually taking place at once? Or is one imagined and the other real, it’s just up to us to determine which is which?
-My personal belief is that everything is always happening all at once.
-So what intrigued you about making a movie about this concept?
-Well, look — I love a good love story, and this, to me, is one of the most in depth and honest stories about love between two people that I’ve personally had the chance to act in. Lynn is a fabulous actress, and the process of Uncertainty itself is just based on improvisation and emotional authenticity as opposed to technical precision. You know, hitting your marks and saying your lines. I think it really allowed us to push the envelope of playing with those feelings of love. So… yeah. It makes for a good date movie.
"For me, my emotional state can go from one pole to another in the span of no time at all. I think that’s kind of what Uncertainty is about."-(500) Days of Summer has had such a long tail coming out of Sundance earlier this year. It made a killing, people love it, it’s still in theaters. What do you make of the sustained popular reaction to it?-I love that movie. You never have control over how the rest of the world is gonna feel about anything you make. I love other movies of mine that didn’t get as much attention, but it doesn’t mean I love them any less. I don’t know. It’s a funny dichotomy. To be a creative person I think you have to stick your guns and, in a certain way, not care what people think. But on the other hand I’m a citizen of the world, and I care very much what people think. There’s a less solid line between “us” and “them” than we’d like to believe. We’re all sort of made up of each other. What we think is largely affected by what everybody else thinks — no matter how strong we are. [Pause] Anyway. I don’t know why, but I’ve chosen you to be my esoteric interview for the day or something.
-(500) Days of Summer took an equally radical approach to a narrative about a relationship. What specifically were you trying to say or express about love in these films?-It’s the whole of it, really. The juxtaposition. Isn’t that how love is? It’s never only one thing. For me, my emotional state can go from one pole to another in the span of no time at all. I think that’s kind of what Uncertainty is about. I mean, movies in general tend to sort of portray time, space and identity as these very solid things. Time moves forward. Space is what it is. You are you, and you’re always you. These are all useful concepts if what you’re trying to do is go down to the grocery store and get a gallon of milk. I guess I’m getting far out, but what I look for in a movie is something that will fuck with my mind and unrest some of those stable building blocks that make up my consciousness. I think Uncertainty does that — it plays with those notions of time and space, and who are you? Are you sure you’re not other things, too? Yes, this seems to be happening right now, but what else is happening?-Are you nervous?
-You know what, man? I am. And I don’t get nervous. So that’s exciting. I stopped getting nervous a long time ago, so any time I do get nervous, which is rare — about work, anyway — I always take that as a really good sign".
Source: www.movieline.com

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