Sgt. Angle Reporting for Duty!

At ease, film soldiers. This week, we’re going to talk about one current great young American actor and his quest to further the artistry of filmmaking: Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

This young whipper-snapper had a few co-starring and starring roles on television before taking a hiatus to “go to college,” thereupon returning to the land of Hollywood Dreams as an indie-darling and eventual star of one of the surprise hits of 2009, (500) Days of Summer.

Ahh, the young man who will soon be king of “classic” Hollywood, in his younger days under the towering John Goodman. And before that, he was already a star for young kids who dig chocolate cereal:

By the end of the 90s, Levitt had made his feature film debut in Robert Redford’s A River Runs Through It, had fought alongside Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween: H20, and earned a SAG nomination along with the rest of the cast of TV show “3rd Rock From the Sun”.

After a hiatus from acting to attend Columbia University, Levitt returned in some indie favorites: Manic, where he plays an angry young man sent to a juvenile mental institution. Brick, a high-school-noir in which Levitt is the new generation of Sam Spade; and then as a gay hustler haunted by his sexually abused past in  Mysterious Skin.

Darker, brooding characters seem to attract to Levitt’s sensibilities, as one of his stronger roles is the lead in The Lookout, screenwriter Scott Frank’s directorial debut about a high school athlete’s life as a janitor after a horrific accident causes memory loss and damages his senses and perception. He gets involved in a heist, and his battle with his own personal demons, as well as the thieves who’ve coerced him into the crime, are heightened to extraordinary levels of suspense.

Recently, audiences the world over grew to love JGL in the best film ever made, GI Joe: Rise of Cobra, in which he starred as Cobra.

Of course, no one loves this film more than your Sergeant. Everyone else in the world was enamored and still might be, but Levitt’s hopeless romantic lead in (500) Days of Summer. He starred opposite Zooey Deschanel, who was easy to love and hate through and through. He would listen to Zooey’s debut as a singer/songwriter, She & Him, in the mornings to prep for their scenes together. How can you not fall in love with Zooey after hearing her tunes?! They even made this video with director Marc Webb ((500) director and also taking over Spider-Man’s reboot):

Since 2004, Joseph Gordon-Levitt has run a website called hitrecord.org. This is a great place for folks in the filmmaking and multi-media creatives to get together and collaborate using each others’ materials, videos, songs, and creative talents to create and create and create. As JGL says in the website’s New Deal Video: “The media that used to be a monologue is becoming a dialogue.”

This concept of collaboration is nothing new in the land of cinema, and could even be a lesson learned for some of the heavyweights of Hollywood — just read up on the sudden war of words between Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige and Incredible Hulk star Ed Norton over Marvel’s search for a new actor to play the Mean Green Avenger. Their reason was “rooted in the need for an actor who embodies the creativity and collaborative spirit of our other talented cast members. The Avengers demands players who thrive working as part of an ensemble.”

Joseph Gordon-Levitt worked well in the ensemble for 3rd Rock, and even better as a lead in Brick, and finally was pitch-perfect in (500) Days. In just four days, he’ll be returning opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Christopher Nolan’s apparent masterpiece Inception. Will JGL top himself once again? Will he hold his own opposite Leo DiCaps? Or will he steal the show again and show Hollywood and the world over just how “collaborative” and “creative” he can be?

Sound back on your Inception experience below!

You are dismissed!

Sgt. Angle