CAN'TWAAAAIT!

He's so funny - that's going to be perfect!

And I hope he's going to sing

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: Craziest Biker Ever?

Bike messengers—those human Froggers and sworn enemies of cab drivers everywhere—are once again getting some action on the big screen. Twenty-six years after the trick-riding antics of Kevin Bacon in Quicksilver, new feature film Premium Rush will bring back all the traffic-dodging action and chase scenes you might expect from high-risk package delivery. The movie looks extreme enough to warrant a Jason Statham or two, but instead we get Joseph Gordon-Levitt as our hero Wilee, who introduces his thrill-seeking ethos with, “I like to ride. Fixed gear, no brakes. Can’t stop—don’t want to, either.” But the movie kicks off when some bad guys try to stop him:

I was a bike messenger for a number of years on the mean streets of Portland, OR, where—I’ll be honest—half of the “fast-paced danger” of the job involved weaving in and out of Priuses and trying not to drop my coffee while crossing wet streetcar tracks. To get a feel for how accurate Premium Rush is to the experience of being a real badass messenger in NYC, I spoke with James Whitefox, AKA “Fox.” A bike messenger for the past six years in Portland, San Francisco and New York, Fox currently rides for Clementine Couriers, a 24-hour messenger collective that services Manhattan and the outer boroughs.

Here’s what Fox says Premium Rush gets wrong about being a messenger in NYC:

1. Not enough grime: “New York is a grimy town,” Fox says. “Everything looks so clean in the clips I've seen. No way would someone as clean-cut and constantly smiling as JGL make it as a courier here—you gotta be on edge from the moment you leave the door in the a.m. to that first beer when you call it a day. Chilling out leads to drifting off, and next thing you know, you're having to pick between a dump truck and some matron from Milwaukee with a double armful of shopping bags as viable places to crash-land (hint: go with the dump truck).”

2. Too tricky: “I also don't see riders pulling tricks like JGL does in the trailer. Most guys just concentrate on going fast and avoiding ‘situations.’ Except for knowing how to hop a curb in a heartbeat if one of those situations is about to get real, most guys I know out here don't mess with tricks.”

3. What Fox calls “the personal factor”: “You see office workers and cops talking to JGL like he's a real human being,” he says. “I've worked as a courier for six years in three cities on two coasts. I've probably made 20,000 picks and drops (deliveries), and it's very rare to have interactions with the folks in those offices that are as personal and heartfelt as what the trailer shows. Especially in New York, where time IS money.

4. The slowest rush ever: “The title refers to a service level, which is the timeframe assigned to each package within which it must be delivered. ‘Standards’ at most companies are two to three hours, ‘rushes’ are one hour and ‘super rushes’ are thirty minutes. The movie makes it seem like a big deal to get the package from the Columbia University area to downtown in the 90 minutes allotted to a ‘premium rush,’ but any rookie with a decent handle on Manhattan traffic could make that run in 45 minutes—60 tops if you somehow get stuck at 42nd AND 34th.”

5. Too extreme?: “Finally, the trailer opens with a JGL voiceover, some kind of paean to riding brakeless and not being able to stop.” Fox says. “Nobody who's been obliged to book it like a human yo-yo thru the cacophonous tangle of metal and concrete and pedestrians and Other Dangerous Things that make up what we call Traffic—even for more than a couple days—is gonna have that devil-may-care attitude. Or if they are, they're not gonna talk about it. I ride a track bike in the city, but it’s not because I ‘can't stop, don't wanna stop.’ On the contrary, it forces me to be a more skillful and conscientious rider.”

With all that said, Fox says there are definitely things Premium Rush gets right, including messenger camaraderie and the general laidback ethos when off the clock. Everyone he knows who hasn’t seen the movie already is pretty amped to see it when it opens August 24. And if it’s a hit, Fox has a few ideas for the sequel:

“Tattoos. More bad tattoos. More radio chatter. More montages of JGL organizing the contents of his bag because every messenger I’ve ever met is a sucker for that kind of stuff. More close-ups of glamour status bike components after months of getting scraped on curbs and parking meters. And did I mention the grime? Definitely more grime. Really, though, the movie is gonna be awesome, no matter what. As long as they never make it in Smell-O-Vision. Anyone who's ever lived with a messenger or dated one can appreciate that.”

Halle Berry, Joseph Gordon-Levitt among "Sesame Street" guests

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Halle Berry, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Maya Rudolph will be hanging out on "Sesame Street" this season - and they'll be far from alone.

The long-running children's show announced the guest stars for its upcoming 43rd season on Monday, unveiling a list that includes Berry, Gordon-Levitt, Rudolph, Don Cheadle, Amy Ryan, Casey Affleck, Melissa McCarthy, Steve Carell and Jon Hamm.

Other actors who will be guesting on "Sesame Street" include David Hyde Pierce, Timothy Olyphant, Dax Shepard, Zac Efron, Ed Helms, Kristen Bell and Paula Patton.

On the musical end of things, rapper Common, singer Colbie Caillat and rock band Train will make appearances. Train will duet with Elmo and the Count on "Five By," a parody of their hit "Drive By."

The Los Angeles Dodgers' Matt Kemp and NBA slam dunk champion Blake Griffin will pitch in with guest appearances, as will "Extra" personality Mario Lopez and talk-show host Wendy Williams.

Oh, and the Muppets will also be getting a visit from U.S. Supreme Court judge Sonia Sotomayor.

In addition to the guest stars, the 43rd season of "Sesame Street" - which premieres September 24 on PBS Kids - is adding a new segment, "Elmo! The Musical!" Replacing the current "Elmo's World" segment, "Elmo! The Musical" will deliver "a math-filled adventure inviting kids to sing, dance, play and imagine along with Elmo as he envisions himself in such productions as "Sea Captain the Musical" and "Guacamole the Musical," according to Sesame Workshop.

Pop-culture spoofs this season will include "The Voice," featuring three judges who are searching for "the voice," but "keep mistaking it for sounds made by other parts of the body," and "Upside Downton Abbey," a skewering of PBS's own "Downton Abbey" that turns the concept of gravity on its head.

New International Trailer for Looper:

Dania Ramirez ‏@DaniaJRamirez

Fun press day #premiumrush with @hitRECordJoe http://instagr.am/p/OVPALgw4oB/

He taped the jimmy kimmel show today. Episode airs tonight August 14.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt ‏@hitRECordJoe

Photo: About to go on @JimmyKimmel show. #PremiumRush http://tmblr.co/ZfxHVyRRjUwP

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: CNN, MSNBC Are Like 'Bullshit Entertainment,' Media Ignores Corporate Evil

Any news about Joseph Gordon-Levitt automatically qualifies as entertainment news. Unfortunately, as far as he's concerned, the major news media handles news about politics and world affairs in the same manner it handles red-carpet and tabloid headlines.

OUR EDITOR RECOMMENDS

Joseph Gordon-Levitt Discusses Potential 'Dark Knight Rises' Sequel

'Looper' Trailer Puts Joseph Gordon-Levitt in a Tough Spot: Killing Bruce Willis (Video)

The politically minded star of the upcoming NYC bike-messenger thriller Premium Rush took dead aim at cable news networks in a new interview with Playboy, likening CNN and MSNBC to "bullshit entertainment shows."

"Every time I sit down and watch television news, I think, 'This is show business,' " he told the magazine. "That’s what I do. I say, go on the Internet and find news from all over the world through the BBC, the Pacifica stations, newspapers, people’s blogs and tweets. It’s so funny when people say Fox is bad. Sure Fox is bad, but I don’t think CNN and MSNBC are really any better."

PHOTOS: The Dark Knight Rises Premieres in NYC

Gordon-Levitt, while a major star since his youth, long has been concerned with alternative means of production and communication. He runs an independent film and record label, Hit Record, which uses submissions from the Internet to create collective works and showed vast interest in the Occupy Wall Street movement when it began in fall 2011. He spent time filming the Zuccotti Park area as The Dark Knight Rises filmed there in the fall and told Playboy that the major media's portrait of the movement doesn't really match what he saw.

"What I’ve seen on TV focuses on the superficial stuff," he said. "It’s a pretty simple notion: People who have lots of money --people in corporations who have tons of money -- are malevolently manipulating the system to keep their money. And the rest of the world suffers for it. You could show a trillion examples of how Goldman Sachs, McDonald’s, Walmart and Monsanto are clearly fucking over everybody, but CNN, Fox and MSNBC are owned by Fortune 500 companies, so they never show any of it."

Speaking with The Huffington Post last November, he recalled his own version of events in downtown Manhattan.

"I had a lot of long conversations with all sorts of people -- kids, older people, some cops -- I talked to some people who look really rebellious, I talked to some people who were wearing a suit," Gordon-Levitt said. "I talked to all sorts of people, and everyone's just feeling really positive and optimistic. They look around and they see people who are on the same page, and they're not going to just sit around and say, 'Oh, there's nothing I can do,' and it's reassuring, it's exciting."

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: 'My character in '(500) Days Of Summer' is no romantic role model'

Joseph Gordon-Levitt has declared that his character in cult indie flick (500) Days Of Summer is "selfish" and not a romantic role model.

Gordon-Levitt's portrayal of the lovestruck Tom Hansen in the 2009 flick, which co-starred Zooey Deschanel, cemented his status as an indie heartthrob, with the actor going on to secure roles in blockbusters including Christopher Nolan's Inception and this year's The Dark Knight Rises.

Speaking to Playboy, however, he said: "The (500) Days Of Summer attitude of 'He wants you so bad' seems attractive to some women and men, especially younger ones. But I would encourage anyone who has a crush on my character to watch it again and examine how selfish he is."

Despite making it clear that he "really liked" the film, he added: "He develops a mildly delusional obsession over a girl onto whom he projects all these fantasies. He thinks she’ll give his life meaning because he doesn’t care about much else going on in his life."

"A lot of boys and girls think their lives will have meaning if they find a partner who wants nothing else in life but them," he concluded. "That’s not healthy. That’s falling in love with the idea of a person, not the actual person."

Gordon-Levitt also spoke about his time making The Dark Knight Rises and described the process as a "fucking great time". "I felt as though I’d transferred in for senior year and had a graduation celebration," he said. "You felt a huge sense of accomplishment and closure. Everyone on that movie did such good, dignified work. No one came to phone it in or just cash a cheque."

Earlier this week (August 13), it was reported that The Dark Knight Rises had passed the $800 million (£510 million) mark at the worldwide box office. However, its box office total remains behind the previous instalment in Nolan's Batman trilogy, 2008's The Dark Knight, which grossed a shade over $1 billion (£640 million) worldwide. At present, The Dark Knight Rises is grossing slower than its predecessor in the US, but compensating for the shortfall in international markets.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt Tells 'Playboy' Dating Zooey Deschanel Is an "Awkward" Idea

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who stars in the upcoming action flick, Premium Rush, opened up to Playboy about love and dating. And while we're not sure we agree that he and his 500 Days of Summer co-star Zooey Deschanel wouldn't make a good couple, we do love his stance on dating checklists.

"You just have to pay attention, keep your eyes open, listen to people and be present. I guess what I look for in a girl is someone who’s doing that too," Joseph says. "Making checklists of things you’re looking for in a person is the numero uno thing you can do to guarantee you’ll be alone forever.”

Bravo, Joseph! We agree!

On Zooey, he tells the mag that it's "awkward" when people say they should date in real life. "Zooey and I just think it’s funny. We’ve been friends for 10 years. She loves movies, music and art, and she’s incredibly knowledgeable about that stuff. She’s turned me on to so many good movies and so much good music. It’s just fun to have conversations, watch movies with her and stuff like that.”

That sounds like a pretty solid foundation to us, but whatever. Zooey is currently dating screenwriter Jamie Linden.

20Q: Joseph Gordon-Levitt

PLAYBOY: We’re about to see you play a bike messenger chased by a twisted cop in the big-screen action thriller Premium Rush. Meanwhile, audiences are still arguing about whether The Dark Knight Rises is the best-ever Batman flick, and your profile has kept rising since you did Inception and (500) Days of Summer. Having acted in commercials and TV shows such as 3rd Rock From the Sun since you were six and having made your 1992 movie debut at the age of 11 as Student #1 in Beethoven, do you look back on your childhood as a bit skewed?

GORDON-LEVITT: I wouldn’t say I was a normal kid. I’d say I was a lucky little kid, because unfortunately it’s not normal to have extraordinarily good parents who love and support you. I played baseball, did gymnastics, took piano lessons and started acting as just another one of the things I did. I wasn’t pressured into it. But it was acting I loved. I had a really cool acting teacher who taught us how to become a character, to be realistic and feel those feelings, so I hated being expected to behave like an idiot in TV commercials because they seem to think that’s what sells toys or whatever. I remember on Beethoven we weren’t allowed to pet the dog because it would have distracted him. For a dog lover that was disappointing and weird.

Q2

PLAYBOY: Back then, just as now, you never seemed to get caught up in any of the missteps that have turned many promising young actors into tabloid fodder. How?

GORDON-LEVITT: Being on TV when I was a teenager in high school was way harder than anything I’ve experienced since. It prepared me for what it is to work in pop culture. I’ve learned I have basically two different interactions with people. I love when someone approaches me and tells me they’ve seen me in something that made them feel something and that they connected to it. That’s part of why I do it. The other interaction is with people who really don’t care about the movies or anything like that. They just sort of buy into the fame thing, and that feels icky to me.

Q3

PLAYBOY: Have you followed the political traditions of your grandfather Michael Gordon, a director who survived the 1950s blacklists; your father, who was news director of a politically progressive radio station; and your mother, who in 1970 ran for Congress on the Peace and Freedom Party ticket?

GORDON-LEVITT: My parents are political in that they’re well read and as up on the news as anybody I know. To me that is political activism, choosing to stay informed and not just watching CNN or some bullshit entertainment show. Every time I sit down and watch television news, I think, This is show business. That’s what I do. I say, go on the internet and find news from all over the world through the BBC, the Pacifica stations, newspapers, people’s blogs and tweets. It’s so funny when people say Fox is bad. Sure Fox is bad, but I don’t think CNN and MSNBC are really any better.

Q4

PLAYBOY: You’ve shot a number of short films, including one last year documenting Occupy Wall Street protesters in Zuccotti Park in New York. How closely does the mainstream media’s coverage of that movement relate to what you filmed and experienced?

GORDON-LEVITT: Very little. What I’ve seen on TV focuses on the superficial stuff. It’s a pretty simple notion: People who have lots of money—people in corporations who have tons of money—are malevolently manipulating the system to keep their money. And the rest of the world suffers for it. You could show a trillion examples of how Goldman Sachs, McDonald’s, Walmart and Monsanto are clearly fucking over everybody, but CNN, Fox and MSNBC are owned by Fortune 500 companies, so they never show any of it.

Q5

PLAYBOY: Couldn’t a detractor accuse you, a famous, privileged actor, of being one of the elites?

GORDON-LEVITT: I grew up in the 1990s, when it was considered cool to be excessively rich. That’s what rappers rapped about, and later that’s what Paris Hilton had a TV show about and what MTV Cribs was about. The Occupy movement is a pop culture happening that’s saying money is not what’s cool. What’s cool is doing something worthwhile. If your goal is to make money in the movie industry, you make crappy movies, not good ones.

Q6

PLAYBOY: How did you make the rough transition from kid TV star to grown-up movie star?

GORDON-LEVITT: As a teenager in the 1990s I loved the spike of indie films coming through Sundance, and films like Pulp Fiction, Big Night, Sling Blade, Trees Lounge and Swingers. Had I said to my agents at the time that I wanted to do that stuff, they would have said, “You’re making a ton of money doing TV, and that’s what you’re going to do.” I went to school, quit acting for a while, and when I came back everyone wanted me to do another TV show and make more money. I didn’t want to. I made a decision that I was going to do only work that inspired me creatively, not what was supposed to be good for my career.

Q7

PLAYBOY: Yet the work that inspires can also be commercial. The sweet, upbeat indie romance (500) Days of Summer was a hit and turned you into a heartthrob.

GORDON-LEVITT: The (500) Days of Summer attitude of “He wants you so bad” seems attractive to some women and men, especially younger ones, but I would encourage anyone who has a crush on my character to watch it again and examine how selfish he is. He develops a mildly delusional obsession over a girl onto whom he projects all these fantasies. He thinks she’ll give his life meaning because he doesn’t care about much else going on in his life. A lot of boys and girls think their lives will have meaning if they find a partner who wants nothing else in life but them. That’s not healthy. That’s falling in love with the idea of a person, not the actual person.

Q8

PLAYBOY: Are you actually slagging a movie that landed you on people’s radar and made many of them fall in love with you and Zooey Deschanel as a screen couple?

GORDON-LEVITT: No, I really liked that movie. The coming-of-age story is subtly done, and that’s great, because nothing’s worse than an over-the-top, cheesy, hitting-you-over-the-head-with-a-hammer, moral-of-the-story sort of thing. But a part of the movie that’s less talked about is that once Zooey’s character dumps the guy, he builds himself up without the crutch of a fantasy relationship, and he meets a new girl.

Q9

PLAYBOY: Your character in (500) Days made extravagant gestures in the name of love. What kind of woman could make you do that?

GORDON-LEVITT: Making checklists of things you’re looking for in a person is the numero uno thing you can do to guarantee you’ll be alone forever. You can’t meet someone and think, Do they have everything I want in a person? You just have to pay attention, keep your eyes open, listen to people and be present. I guess what I look for in a girl is someone who’s doing that too. Beyond that there’s not much more I would specify, because you never fucking know, man.

Q10

PLAYBOY: You and Deschanel also made the music video “Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?” and a homemade one of you two singing the 1947 classic “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?” How do you react when so many people—judging from comments on the internet—want the two of you to get together romantically?

GORDON-LEVITT: It’s awkward when people say that. Whatever. Zooey and I just think it’s funny. It is funny. We’ve been friends for 10 years. She loves movies, music and art, and she’s incredibly knowledgeable about that stuff. She’s turned me on to so many good movies and so much good music. It’s fun just to have conversations, watch movies with her and stuff like that.

Q11

PLAYBOY: You’ve used YouTube and the internet a lot to express yourself. Is it as satisfying and creative an outlet as film?

GORDON-LEVITT: The internet’s a fascinating thing because you can express yourself anonymously without any of the consequences. I’ve developed a lot of meaningful, creatively collaborative relationships with all sorts of people on the internet. I use Twitter a lot, and I have an open collaborative production company, hitRECord, where I make art with people.

Q12

PLAYBOY: Are there any film genres you haven’t done that you’d like to tackle? You’re reportedly attached to a remake of Little Shop of Horrors.

GORDON-LEVITT: I would like to do a musical, if I could find a cool one. When Zooey and I danced in that video it was just us having a great time, just being ourselves. A song-and-dance role is closer to me personally than other characters I play.

Q13

PLAYBOY: Your grandfather Michael Gordon directed some of the most popular romantic comedies and tearjerkers of the 1960s, with Doris Day, Rock Hudson and James Garner. Do you ever wish you were working in old-time Hollywood?

GORDON-LEVITT: No. Right now is without a doubt the most exciting time in human history. The ability to connect with one another, the technology of the internet and all that it’s spawning, is doubtlessly the most fascinating thing that’s ever happened. It’s an incredibly exciting time to be alive, as a human being and especially as an artist. In the 20th century making movies, music or anything was a one-way thing, but creativity is always more of an interactive, back-and-forth, organic and progressive thing. We’re going to get away from “Oh, I just get to listen to stories; I don’t tell them” and “I just listen to music; I don’t play or sing it.” No, man! That’s a terrible way to think about yourself. I think art is going to become more conversational, more of a dialogue, and a better, healthier thing for everybody.

Q14

PLAYBOY: Why do you think your Dark Knight Rises co-star Christian Bale called you an “intriguing guy”?

GORDON-LEVITT: We had a fucking great time every day working on that movie. I felt as though I’d transferred in for senior year and had a graduation celebration. You felt a huge sense of accomplishment and closure. Everyone on that movie did such good, dignified work. No one came to phone it in or just cash a check.

Q15

PLAYBOY: Are you enough of a daredevil to tear through Manhattan traffic on a fixed-gear brakeless bicycle the way your terrorized bike messenger character does in Premium Rush?

GORDON-LEVITT: I’m really into bikes, actually, because I was paying attention to them doing Premium Rush. So when someone rides by with a cool setup that really fits them, I think, Oh wow, that looks nice. I live in a part of L.A. with quite a bike culture, and I bought a great bike, but I don’t ride it as much as I’d like.

Q16

PLAYBOY: Does being an internet-savvy guy who has acted in a few high-tech, futuristic movies translate into being a cutting-edge, gadget-buying guy offscreen?

GORDON-LEVITT: I’d say no. I will admit I like cameras. I have some that are really nice. I like a beautiful guitar or piano, because I love music and musical instruments. I guess I do as much fetishizing as the average guy. Cars do not impress me. Whenever I see somebody with an extremely nice car, I’m like, What an idiot. It just looks so stupid.

Q17

PLAYBOY: You play Abraham Lincoln’s son in Steven Spielberg’s upcoming historical epic Lincoln, starring Daniel Day-Lewis.

GORDON-LEVITT: It’s a ridiculously exciting movie to be part of. Daniel Day-Lewis has a unique, enormously inspiring process that’s very immersive. I never heard his real voice or saw him out of costume. I met the president, I met my dad, but I never met Day-Lewis until we wrapped. As excited as I am about Lincoln, though, I’m honestly most excited about Looper.

Q18

PLAYBOY: That’s the time-travel movie in which you’re an assassin assigned to kill your future self, played by Bruce Willis. What personal or professional transgressions would you travel through time to fix?

GORDON-LEVITT: I wouldn’t do that, but I’m a sucker for Rian Johnson’s thing. He’s the writer-director of Looper, and I also made Brick with him. He’s a dear friend and a brilliant filmmaker—a great writer, a great mind. Looper brings all the exhilaration and chemical feelings you hope to get from an action sci-fi movie. But Rian has also come up with a concept that will tickle your intellect while he tells a sincere story about the cyclical nature of violence and how violence begets violence. I love going to a good movie more than anything, and this movie just hits it.

Q19

PLAYBOY: What’s the best night out you’ve had recently?

GORDON-LEVITT: Questlove is a great drummer, but I saw him deejay recently. He could put on any record at all, but the art is in the sequence, reading the crowd and thinking, I know exactly the song to put on right now. To me that’s the art form of the 21st century and creativity in general—being able to pick and choose from anything and make the right choice.

Q20

PLAYBOY: You replaced James Franco in Inception and James McAvoy in 50/50. Which other famous Jameses are you out to replace?

GORDON-LEVITT: [Laughs] That’s funny. LeBron better look out.

Read more at ONTD: http://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/71172069.html#ixzz24I8YuwS5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9zG-HggIo4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKi_ke9_dlc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQWLfcQtzPs

New Looper Poster:

'Premium Rush's' Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dania Ramirez on Stunts, Stitches and Shooting in New York (Q&A)

The stars of the bike messenger action film talk to THR about filming in record-breaking temperatures, and reveal the accident that hurt Gordon-Levitt more than his bloody, 30-stitches incident.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Dania Ramirez star as a pair of bike messengers in New York City who become involved in a deadly game when a dirty cop finds interest in one of their deliveries.

The fast-paced thriller winds through the dangerous streets of New York, with its stars spending the majority of time in the film riding bikes and handling intense stunts.

Both Gordon Levitt and Ramirez spent many hours training on bikes for David Koepp’s film, and spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about working on the film, and why it was so important that they shot on location in New York. Also, Gordon-Levitt -- who needed to get 30 stitches after an accident on set -- reveals that he suffered an even worse accident just a few days later.

The Hollywood Reporter: Were the real-life bike messengers open to speaking with you about their work?

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: Yes, Some more than others, of course. I have four different stunt doubles in this movie and one of them is a working bike messenger and arguably the fastest one in town -- he happens to look a lot like me. His name’s Austin Horse. Super sweet guy, incredibly talented. Sometimes, you look at someone do what they’re good and it’s like, "That’s another level. You’re not just good at that. You’re a bit of a phenomenon." And I rode around town with him a lot and he turns heads. Literally.

THR: Did you find that there were many women in this line of work?

Dania Ramirez: From what I saw, there were as many women bike messengers as there are guys. And there’s some really bad ass chicks. The one thing that I did like to see is that the misconception of the bike messenger bad ass woman has to be sort of tattooed. I met a few of them, and some of them even ride in skirts. I met one, and her uniform was actually a pink skirt. I rode with her a few times. Women are just as into it as the guys are.

THR: How would you describe your biking skills before the film compared to now?

Ramirez: I think my bike skills were at zero, and now I’m training for the bike section of a triathlon in September. So, I got pretty good on a bike.

THR: I can’t even imagine riding a bike without brakes.

Gordon-Levitt: Well, Austin does ride without brakes -- I don’t ride without brakes. But to the kids reading at home, you shouldn’t really ride without brakes. The people who do are so exceptionally skilled. I never felt like Austin was unsafe without brakes because he can skid his wheels just as easily as you can push a brake pedal on the handlebars. I got to the point where I could skid a bit, but it’s not something I could just do anytime and anyplace.

THR: Joseph, you got in an accident on set that made some headlines. You needed 30 stitches. Was that the worst accident on set?

Gordon-Levitt: It’s funny -- that was a very spectacular accident because it involved loads of blood. Actually not that long thereafter, I fell off in a very unspectacular way. I fell off the bike and landed on my wrist, and I actually ended up having to tape my wrist the whole rest of the shoot. Whereas with the stitches, I was shooting the next day, just covered it up. So funnily enough, I was injured worse in a much less exciting situation.

THR: Was this some of the most physically challenging work you’ve done in a film?

Ramirez: Absolutely. This was the most challenging film I’ve ever done. You’re on a bike the entire movie. You’re having conversations on a phone the entire movie -- while you’re riding a bike through New York City.

Gordon-Levitt: In the hottest part of the year, a record-breaking summer.

THR: Were you glad it was shot in New York City?

Gordon-Levitt: I think that’s a huge part of the charm. You really get to spend a summer day in New York. And Dave, as well as the cinematographer, did a great job capturing that -- that New York feel, which is truly inimitable. There’s no other places that feels like New York. There are movies that get away with being set in New York, but they shoot in Toronto or in downtown L.A., because maybe the setting is not as fundamental an aspect. But this movie, it’s a big part of the charm.

Ramirez: It’s the huge silent character and unless we would have been there, I don’t think it would have worked out as well.

THR: Were the regular New Yorkers on the streets cooperative with the film?

Ramirez: I’m actually from the East Coast. I think we get a bad rap that we’re rude. I really think you have to command your space in New York City. So, the New Yorkers -- yeah, you’re going into their city and you’re shooting a movie and they don’t care. I actually kinda like that.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt attends the premiere of his film Premium Rush on Wednesday (August 22) at the Regal Union Square Theater in New York City

Interview: Joseph Gordon-Levitt And Dania Ramirez Talk 'Premium Rush'

After years of honing their craft, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Dania Ramirez have come into their own in the film industry. Audiences are keeping their eyes on the actors, especially in David Koepp’s latest cinematic adventure Premium Rush. The film stars Gordon-Levitt as bike messenger and thrill-seeker Wilee. He’s constantly in danger weaving in and out of traffic across the hustle and bustle of New York City. But when Wilee gets his hands on a mysterious envelope, he embarks on an assignment that may cost him his life.

ScreenCrave recently spoke with Gordon-Levitt and Ramirez about embarking on such a stimulating film. The actors revealed how difficult it was to avoid scrapes and bruises, and told us what’s next on their busy schedules.

When you first signed on, in the back of your mind did you think, “I’m going to get the best workout of my life?”

Dania Ramirez

: I was scared! I had bike phobia before I did this movie and I had told my agents that I could ride a bike. [

laughs

] So I was scared but I also know I’m incredibly focused and when I get into something I just try to forget about everything and do it. For me I was excited. I was excited to go and face my fears.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

: The answer is a resounding yes. I was in the middle of shooting

50/50

when I first read the script for

Premium Rush

. That was a movie about a guy fighting cancer whose body is giving out on him. The idea of playing someone who’s extremely healthy and confident in his body sounded great. It was exactly the kind of contrast I needed.

Great job on that film too! With something like Premium Rush, there have to be some injuries on set.

Dania Ramirez

: Your story is way better than mine! I had a few cuts on my leg.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

: I got in an accident and I ended up with 31 stitches on my arm.

How did that happen?

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

: Well it was sort of a perfect storm of a lot of things. It was partially my fault because I was going too fast but a diplomat got in the way. You know in New York City there’s the United Nations so there’s diplomats riding around with these diplomat license plates which basically means they don’t have to obey the laws. So they broke through our cones and double-parked right in the middle of where we were going. I went through the rear windshield of a taxi cab and bled all over the place. And it’s in the movie actually, which is a cool thing. Right when it happened, you get so much adrenaline that it doesn’t hurt right away. So the director rushed up and was worried sick. I was like ‘Holy s–t dude, we have to record this! Look at this f–king thing, I’m bleeding everywhere!’ and he did. He recorded a bit on his phone and put it after the credits in the movie.

Dania Ramirez

: There were a lot of falls and I just fell all the time. I fell when we were just training. I was in Santa Monica by the beach and I was trying to learn how to jump curves. I was going really fast and I thought I had it by then. So I just went like full all speed-out and I try to go, went sideways and skidded all the way for like maybe half a block. Our trainer was just looking back and saying ‘Are you okay?’ [

laughs

] I was like fine, fine! Because it’s true, the adrenaline’s pumping so you don’t really feel anything. So the next day I was in a lot of pain.

What was it like working with David Koepp, who’s so experienced in this genre?

Dania Ramirez

: He’s a great director. He really knows what he wants. He makes it really easy for you as an actor to go in and ask him questions about what he likes or what you see and sort of meets you in the right frame of mind for your performance. I just really liked working with him.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

: And David [Koepp] is just a master craftsman. He wrote the script for the first

Spider-Man

movie, the first

Mission: Impossible

movie and he wrote the script for

Jurassic Park

. He knows how to craft an action-adventure movie and it’s great to just sit and learn from a guy like that. He also just really enjoys it. You can tell he’s just having a great f–king time.

You can definitely tell that everyone’s having a great time, especially Michael Shannon. He’s got such intensity on screen. He’s wonderfully over-the-top in this movie. You can’t help but love it!

Dania Ramirez

: It’s so interesting because actually working with him was a lot different to me than watching his performance. It’s a completely different vibe because when you’re in it, he’s so committed to being that villain that you are sort of scared of him. Watching his performance afterwards he’s so brilliant. You want to hate him but you just can’t because he’s making you laugh throughout the whole thing.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

: It’s really fun when you’re watching from the comfort of your seat. When he’s actually standing over you like that it’s pretty intimidating.

Then there’s your two characters with their intriguing relationship…

Dania Ramirez

: He’s so hard [to work with]!

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

: It’s so hard pretending to be attracted to this woman [laughs].

Dania Ramirez

: Well I’m glad you thought we had good chemistry! [laughs] We were supposed to be selling a bit of a love story.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt you’ve had such an outstanding career, especially within the past decade. You’ve become a favorite among directors like Christopher Nolan and Rian Johnson. How does it feel achieving such a milestone?

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

: Well thank you, that’s very very flattering. I’m lucky. I love doing it and I’ve been doing it for a long time. It’s been a gradual process of being able to do stuff that I like more and more. The last couple of years I’ve been extremely lucky being able to work with Chris and Rian and David. I’m having a ball. This movie was a ton of fun to do and I’m just grateful.

Dania, what do you have going on next?

Dania Ramirez

: I’m filming a show called

Devious Maids

. It’s Marc Cherry who created the show. He created

Desperate Housewives

, so we are starting… I think we’re going to go film in November. I’m also producing a film that we’re planning to film right after, during my hiatus. It’s called

Runaway Love

and it’s sort of an unexpected love story and it’s myself,

Michael Rapaport, Hayden Panettiere

and

Freddie Rodriguez

. So we’ve got a pretty well-rounded cast.

Cool! What’s the unexpected love story about if you don’t mind me asking?

Dania Ramirez

: Well it’s really about this Mexican woman trying to get back home to see her dying mother. She meets this other person along the way who’s like an orphan and has another bundle of issues. You go into this incredible adventure throughout Mexico and end up falling in love.

Lastly, is there a specific genre or role you guys want to tackle but haven’t yet?

Dania Ramirez

: For me, I think it’s the movie I’m actually producing is definitely a role… it’s a leading role but it’s beautifully written. It’s a great character piece in which it’s a love story but it’s also an emotional journey of the soul. That’s a role that I haven’t gotten to play but I like to switch it up. I like to go from action to comedy to try to do everything. As an actor, that’s sort of what you want to do. You want to dive into all of these different places.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

: I recently got to do a movie that I wrote and directed. That’s something that I’ve always wanted to do and it’s been a goal of mine for a long time. I’m delighted I got to do it.

Premium Rush opens in theaters everywhere August 24th.

Premium Rush video interview:

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=93922