Joseph Gordon-Levitt shares the ‘highest compliment’ he got from Bruce Willis while shooting Looper
Action star announced his retirement after he began struggling from the brain condition aphasia
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Your support makes all the difference.Joseph Gordon-Levitt shared a touching anecdote about his Looper co-star Bruce Willis, following the news that the action star is retiring from film.
Last week, a representative for Willis disclosed the actor’s diagnosis with the brain condition aphasia, which his family said was “impacting his cognitive abilities”.
Following the news, countless fans, friends and former co-stars of Willis praised him for his lengthy career and sent their best wishes for his health.
In a happy coincidence, Gordon-Levitt recorded a career retrospective video with Vanity Fair– presumably before Willis shared his news – in which he spoke about their time working together.
In the Rian Johnson-directed film, Gordon-Levitt starred as a “looper” – someone who kills people who are sent back from the future (where time travel is possible but illegal) – who is confronted with an older version of himself (Willis).
“One of my kind of marks of success as an actor for myself is ‘Do I seem different on-screen from myself?’” Gordon-Levitt said in the video.
“It’s probably why Looper’s maybe my favourite performance of mine because it’s the most different. Now granted, sort of cheated with the prosthetics, gonna look different. I get that thrill the most of like, wow, it’s really like it’s somebody else, it’s not me.
“I did a lot of work to try to do my vision that wasn’t an imitation of Bruce Willis but had sort of the spirit of Bruce Willis, and if I had to pick a favourite just acting-wise, this is up there for me.”
Gordon-Levitt then revealed the “moment of validation” he received from Willis.
“There was another scene later in the movie where we were yelling at each other,” he recalled. “I don’t know if Bruce did this on purpose or if 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 just kind of said to himself, ‘Sounds like me.’
“And I just turned to myself and went, ‘F***ing 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.”
See our pick of the eight most underrated Bruce Willis films here.
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