Think hard. When was the last time you
weren’t having a conversation about Joseph Gordon-Levitt? Summer of
2008, maybe? The moon-faced actor has stuck rigidly to the public consciousness ever since his starring turn in
(500)
Days of Summer, an insuperably Sundancey career revival that would beget a
slow climb through the independent and blockbuster realms to the megastar
stature he enjoys today. Of course, before his onscreen romance
with Zoe Deschanel, Gordon-Levitt was little more than a memory of late ’90s
teen pop.
He was known for supplying the secondary love story in
10 Things I Hate About You, and for
playing fake human John Lithgow’s fake human offspring on
Third Rock from the Sun. For the decade to follow projects like
these, Gordon-Levitt would remain that impishly cute, squinty-eyed kid from the
Shakespeare movie and the alien show — a “Whatever happened to him?” sort whose
whereabouts could only be pinpointed by those in the know of a then-blossoming
Rian Johnson.
But after
(500) Days,
Gordon-Levitt was everywhere. Over the next few years, he played backup roles
in major event films like
G.I. Joe: Rise
of the Cobra,
Inception, and
The Dark Knight Rises. He headlined
smaller character pictures like
Hesher,
50/50, and
Premium Rush. Somewhere in between was
Looper, which all at once proved central star JGL capable of
handling action-adventure fare and innovative material alike. From there,
Gordon-Levitt only set his sights higher: A supporting part in
Lincoln. His own directorial effort
Don Jon. And now, the big guns.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars in
The Walk, which claims everything an ambitious actor might need to
align his name with the Hollywood stardom. The picture sends Gordon-Levitt off
on the journey of Philippe Petit, who braved a notorious 1974 high-wire walk
between New York City’s Twin Towers (famously chronicled in the 2001
documentary
Man on Wire).
Gordon-Levitt’s
death-defying venture releases in IMAX alongside general theaters, riding high
on thrill ride aesthetic alongside its inborn patriotism and New York pride,
not to mention the flairs of the uniquely audience- and Academy-friendly Robert
Zemeckis behind the camera. It’s real showbiz stuff — the kind an unknown,
has-been, or reinvented child actor might only ever dream about.
Gordon-Levitt has come light
years from post-
Third Rock obscurity,
today enjoying such luxuries as a regular seat in the Seth Rogen/Evan Goldberg
camp (they’ll be starring together in the Christmas comedy
The Night Before) and employ as proverbial muse of filmmaker Rian
Johnson, whose next endeavor will be
Star
Wars VIII — allow that connection to provoke wishful thinking.
Next,
Gordon-Levitt will play the eponymous role in Oliver Stone’s biopic
Snowden; in other words, just about
the most buzzworthy character in contemporary
international culture. And the role is going to he who we not
too long ago would refer to as "the longhaired kid from Newman’s other sitcom."
There are few stars doing work quite as "big" as Gordon-Levitt
today. Of those who are comparable, almost none can claim a six-year gap
smack dab in the middle of their careers. Could Gordon-Levitt have made
it to superstardom without this time off? Without his initial glimmers
of notability? Without lending his voice to the Disney film
Treasure Planet?
All this ultimately led Gordon-Levitt to his current status: One
equally in reach of Academy-friendly roles, mainstream comic mayhem, and
interesting genre projects. In other words, he's one of the few figures
in Hollywood who can do just about whatever he wants. Not bad as far as
comeback stories go.