IGN interview:

http://www.ign.com/videos/2012/08/22/joseph-gordon-levitt-talks-premium-rush

TDKR: Joseph Gordon-Levitt Says There Were No Discussions About What 'Suit 'He Puts On

Read more at http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/GraphicCity/news/?a=66189#aPwYgyCWMe1U3x1g.99

Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Scar-Turn in "Premium Rush"

In the frenetic thriller "Premium Rush," actors Joseph Gordon-Levitt ("Dark Knight Rises," "Inception") and Dania Ramirez ("Entourage," "American Reunion") play a pair of New York City bicycle couriers who inadvertently wind up having to pedal for their lives in a deadly game of chase.

Written and directed by David Koepp ("Snow White and the Huntsman," "Angels & Demons"), the story unfolds on city streets as Wilee (Gordon-Levitt) and Vanessa (Ramirez) hustle to deliver a mysterious package that's come to the attention of a crooked NYC cop (Michael Shannon) who'll stop at nothing to get his hands on it.

Ramirez, 32, and Gordon-Levitt, 31, sat down to chat about the intense preparation involved, the quirks of shooting in America's busiest city and how Gordon-Levitt will always have a physical reminder of his role.

The riding sequences are pretty intense. How much training did they give you?

Gordon-Levitt: We had about six weeks.

Ramirez: They were pretty good about the training. Especially because we had time after we were cast in the roles to train, before shooting began. We had six weeks of training then we had training in New York throughout the filming. We were in pretty good shape.

How long did you have to film in NYC?

Gordon-Levitt: Two months, thereabouts.

Was anything shot in the studio?

Gordon-Levitt: None at all. We shot everything in New York City.

Ramirez: That was a charming part of the film is that we were going to get to go to New York and ride bikes all throughout the summer.

How hectic was it shooting on location like that?

Ramirez: It was challenging.

Gordon-Levitt: It’s intense and people don’t want to be told that they are not allowed to cross the street.

Ramirez: We would do a take and there was no way to really shut down major New York streets. They would shut down one lane but always keep a lane open. So we were often weaving in and out of real traffic.

Did you have to go back and do a lot of re-recording because of the street noise?

Gordon-Levitt: There was some. But that’s part of the reality of these characters. They’d be speaking loudly, yelling even, in real life so we did that. And that made it a lot easier for the sound department.

Any run-ins with New York locals?

Ramirez: This guy headbutted one of our production assistants! I think the New York Post even wrote about it at the time.

Did it feel dangerous to be on the bike and filming on the street?

Gordon-Levitt: Well, every precaution was taken as much as they could. Everyone was very safety conscious. I wouldn’t claim it was dangerous the way that some people really do have dangerous jobs – like police officers and soldiers.

But you did have four stunt doubles.

Gordon-Levitt: Four stunt doubles, yes.

Ramirez: I had three I think. There was always one other Vanessa on set, but my stunts were not as dangerous as some of yours. But we definitely had people there to step in for the really dangerous parts of the movie. You have to pay attention. I think that’s the bottom line. To become these characters you really had to take it on and not just be an actor on a bike saying your lines.

Gordon-Levitt: I think for what I was doing, the danger was certainly minimized. I was riding fast and riding hard all day long, but what my doubles were doing was so dangerous. Absolutely 100 percent dangerous. That’s part of the appeal of this movie. When you watch action sequences that are fake or computer generated - basically what amounts to cartoons - there’s a big difference between that and watching a human being really risk their life. It’s just exhilarating. Take it back to vaudeville or Evil Knievel or whatever – it’s exhilarating. And that’s the foundation of the action in this movie.

The more self-assured you both became on the bikes were you tempted to do more of your own stunts?

Ramirez: I certainly fought to try to do as much as I could on the bike. There were certain things, obviously, that I couldn’t do. There’s a huge fall that I take where my bike goes up in the air and I go up the air. There was no way that I could do that. I’m an actress. That was my stunt double Asia. I bow down to her.

Gordon-Levitt: There’s always a temptation. And you see it all the time, especially with actors. The testosterone kicks in and they think, “I can do that!” Especially in actors who maybe haven’t been in as many movies, but I am guilty of it, too. It’s not the right move. I did a movie with Bruce Willis, “Looper,” and you’ve never seen someone so safety conscious doing an action sequence. And ["Dark Knight Rises" director] Christopher Nolan is like that, as well. Both extremely safety conscious.

I was also a bit more bull-headed until I got hurt.

What happened?

Gordon-Levitt: I got in an accident and needed 31 stitches during shooting. On my arm.

So you’re going to carry a scar from this movie forever?

Gordon-Levitt: Yep. There it is. [Points to scar on right forearm].

Ramirez: That definitely opened up everybody’s eyes. After that it was, “Oh, time for my double. I’m getting off the bike now.”

Did that accident prompt the bandage you sport in the movie?

Gordon-Levitt: Yes. That scene at the end of the movie was shot the morning after I had this stitched up. That bandage is actually there to cover a huge gash on my arm. So we stuck with it and incorporated it into the movie.

You got away scar free, Dania?

Ramirez: Compared to 31 stitches, sure! I fell off my bike on a regular basis. I kind of got used to it. I’d come home everyday and be, “Okay, so I fell off my bike again today.” And there is no learning how to fall properly because your feet are in cages and you’re one with the bike. So if you are going over the bike is going to fall on you.

Premium Rush is Speed on a bike. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Wilee, a rogue bike messenger who rides New York streets with one gear and no breaks. Dania Ramirez plays Vanessa, another messenger who uses a hand brake and needs a more reliable guy. But when a package needs to be there by 7 and there’s bad guys on your tail, Wilee’s the guy to deliver, literally. We got a quick chat with the stars of Premium Rush together. (Possible spoiler for The Dark Knight Rises if you haven’t seen it yet, but I was as vague as possible with the question you want me to ask.)

CraveOnline: We have 10 minutes so this interview will be a premium rush.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: Okay.

Is the message of the movie: We should really tip our delivery men and women?

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: Sure.

Dania Ramirez: [Laughs]

You’ve each experienced people acclaiming your work. How does it feel to have people saying, “Awesome?”

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: [Laughs] Great.

Dania Ramirez: Great.

Is that a new form of feedback for you?

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: Every movie’s unique.

Dania Ramirez: I think every movie’s unique but it’s always great to be celebrated.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: I hope that people rather than just watching and saying, “That’s awesome,” I hope that people want to ride bikes. I remember specifically going to see White Men Can’t Jump in a movie theater, coming out and just really wanting to play basketball. Movies really do have the power to do that, even just a fun movie like this that’s not really trying to forward any message or moral per se. But if it inspires people to ride, man, bikes are just about the healthiest thing you can do, both for yourself and for the planet. So I’m all about it.

If White Men Can’t Jump made you want to play basketball, did you ever see Quicksilverback in the day?

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: I still haven’t seen this movie. A lot of people brought it up.

Dania Ramirez: We were just talking about that. Everybody comes up to both of us.

I didn’t want to bring it up because obviously Premium Rush isn’t copying it, but thinking about how you might see it in the same context as White Men Can’t Jump.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: Yeah, no, but I found especially a lot of people who are really into bikes had seen the movie and brought it up, but I meant to see it. I just didn’t get around to it.

Had you ever thought about bike messengers before this movie?

Dania Ramirez: I mean, I’m originally from the east coast so I grew up being around them all the time. I didn’t really think specifically about that culture. I think it was very cool that we got a chance to explore the culture by finding out about them in preparation for the film. That was really interesting.

Besides the physical aspect of learning to ride, what about the technical side? How long did it take before you could stay where the camera was and not drift out of frame?

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: Yeah, that was pretty fascinating. They would mount a camera on the back of a motorcycle and then control the camera from the remote control, either in the van they were driving in or they would have the camera mounted on a crane on the top of a big SUV or they would take little digital cameras and stick them to the bottom of the bike. They did a lot of really cool creative stuff.

Dania Ramirez: That’s one of the things that makes it authentic and realistic really. Even if you went off camera, you could always sort of catch up to the camera again and continue the scene. It was more about us knowing that we had a certain amount of blocks in which we had to deliver our lines. Sometimes you caught a certain line on camera and sometimes you went off but you always sort of found your way back. That’s what makes it feel so authentic and real.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: Yeah, but once you get used to doing dialogue while riding, it actually is a huge boost and help to making the scenes feel real and grounded when you have a really engaged physical activity like that.

What was your learning curve as far as hitting marks on a moving vehicle, and saying lines when you might be out of breath?

Dania Ramirez: This was different than hitting a mark. I think a lot of it changed all the time because you’re always riding. You’re delivering your lines while you’re riding the bike. You just always have to be conscious of where the camera was and try to choose where you were at for those particular lines.

Joseph, it’s been exciting to interview you over the years from indie movies to bigger and bigger movies. When did you gain confidence as an actor?

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: Well, I don't think there’s any one moment. It’s a gradual thing and that fluctuates. Sometimes I feel real confident and sometimes not so. I’ve been doing it since I was a kid, always really loved it.

Certainly when I see you do HitRecordJoe shows live, you can really work a crowd.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: Oh yeah? Cool, man, thanks.

Both of you came from television, but Joseph you did a “Quantum Leap” and a “Family Ties” episode. What were those experiences as a young actor?

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: I had a great time, man. I learned a lot. The episode of “Quantum Leap” that I was in was the first time that Scott Bakula got to direct one, so that was really cool, getting to work with him directing me. I don't know, maybe that even eventually led to now I’ve directed something and acted in it at the same time. I hadn’t put that together yet but it’s been a while since I thought of “Quantum Leap” but I had a great time doing it. I’ve always just loved working. That’s always been what motivated me to do this is I just really enjoy the process of doing it.

One Dark Knight Rises question for you, in any other sequel we would assume it’s set up for another one. If this is supposed to be the last one, was there any talk of having you available for something else?

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: It’s not really for me to say.

Dania Ramirez: I certainly am looking forward to it, maybe, hopefully.

Would it be a tough call if Christopher Nolan doesn’t direct another one?

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: You know, I choose my projects based on if there’s a great script and if there’s a filmmaker that I’m inspired to work with. That’s how I choose all my projects.

At Comic-Con I actually broke that you weren’t doing Little Shop of Horrors. It was widely reported before. Was Warner Brothers solid on you or something?

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: No, that’s just the internet repeating rumors.

And there was no G.I. Joe 2 for you?

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: Nope.

What about shooting Lincoln?

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: That was a very cool thing. I’m very grateful to have done that. I haven’t seen any of it yet but I’m quite positive it’s going to be an outstanding movie.

Would you be up for the further adventures of Wilee and Vanessa?

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: [Laughs]

Dania Ramirez: [Laughs] I don't think they’re going to be bike messengers much longer.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Dania Ramirez on Premium Rush

I thought Wilee’s going to do it forever.

Dania Ramirez: You never know. I’m up for working with Joe again any other time.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: Absolutely.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt and David Koepp Talk 'Premium Rush' and the Star's 32 New Stitches

David Koepp is no stranger to a solid action movie — he was the screenwriter for Jurassic Park, Mission: Impossible, andSpider-Man before he turned his eye towards directing — and actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Inception, 500 Days of Summer, and 2012's The Dark Knight Rises) is slowly becoming a familiar name paired with Hollywood's best movies, big and small. The duo of creatives have joined forces for this week's Premium Rush, a chase thriller that leaves behind the usual over-the-top tropes in favor of crazy stunts and a unique world: New York City bike messengering. If anyone could pull it off, it was these two, and the off-beat premise works. Koepp's intimate action flick wows with on-location stunts and zippy dialogue to match, with Gordon-Levitt and an army of stuntmen making it all look easy as pie.

Turns out, Premium Rush wasn't so easy to actually get in the can. Unless you think flying through the window of a taxi cab is "easy." I sat down with Koepp and Gordon-Levitt to discuss how the two brought the innovative stunts to life without spending too many days in the hospital:

Hollywood.com: Premium Rush is about the thrills of zipping through New York City traffic on a bike, but it's also about being absolutely in love with that feeling. It made wonder: do the two of you remember when you learned to ride a bike?

David Koepp: I remember vividly my kids learning to ride, because it happened recently. I remember my son Nick was learning to ride the bike and it was just killing him. He just kept falling. He could hold the bike, but he couldn't stay up. It was one wipeout after another. I remember he brought it back to the house at one point and threw it on the porch and said, 'Don't ever make me go on this horror machine again!' I love 'horror machine.' He got it one day.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: I was probably six or seven, something like that. Growing up with an older brother… they can do everything, you can't do anything! There was that. I remember it as a truly magic moment. And I mean magic as in unexplainable. You don't know why now it's working and ten minutes ago it wasn't. It's not like you figured it out in your conscious head or anything. Now it works, now you can do it. So quickly this thing that was impossible… you don't remember why you would fall over. It's just natural.

And then (no pun intended) you feel 'the rush.' Which is why I love your character in the film. He just loves biking so damn much. David, how did you become enthralled by this love and the world of biking?

Koepp: I live [in New York City] and you see bike messengers and they almost hit you all the time. And you wonder, who are those a**holes? And I like a movie that takes place in a contained period of time or a contained place. I had this image in my head of what I called a 'map movie.' I wanted to see a map and a guy who had to get from point A to point B.

Gordon-Levitt: So that's the reason the movie takes place between Harlem and Chinatown?

Koepp: Kinda [Laughs]. It takes you all the way down and all the way across. Columbia [university] and Chinatown, and that's how those evolved among other reasons, then I wanted him to do it on a bike because I hadn't seen bikes going through the streets of New York and it seemed like an incredible cinematic opportunity that I hadn't seen since Quicksilver [dir. Thomas Michael Donnelly, 1986].

I was surprised to see the bike messengering community being so close-knit and vivid.

Koepp: They're really tight. Online there is the New York Bike Messenger Association and I just started reading that. It's a really tight community. So we then started meeting a few of them. As advisors for the movie, but they're also in the movie. What I loved about it is that they have an ethos, and a really simple one. 'I want to ride my bike.' And that's it. You look for more, but it isn't there. 'I want to ride my bike. If I can get paid to do it, all the better.'

Gordon-Levitt: I found strong sentiments in that community of environmentalism — more bikes, less cars. I found a lot of people really quite conscious of the fact that riding a bike, which comes from a basic love from when you're a kid… that if more people rode bikes and less people drove cars, that the worldwould be a better place.

It's not a hobby, it's a lifestyle.

Gordon-Levitt: And a statement.

We featured a video on the site where real life bike messenger/your stuntman Austin Horse…

Koepp: Isn't that a great name?

The perfect stuntman name, in fact. Watching him speak, Horse exudes that lifestyle. Did you learn about the biker character through him? Did he bleed into the performance?

Gordon-Levitt: Certainly. He's a very different guy than the character I play in the movie. Austin is gentle, mild-mannered and extremely considerate, whereas Wilee is more of a balls-out punk rocker on two wheels. But once Austin gets on a bike… it's kind of funny to see because he's a modest dude who gets on a bike and he's like a superhero. He turns heads. I rode around with him — we'd go for rides on the weekends — and people turn their heads and watch him.

Koepp: The first time we shot him, he said, 'How fast do you want me to go?' And we said, 'Well, go as fast as you can go.' And he says, 'Well, I can go pretty fast.' And I thought: 'We have cars.' So it's take one and he was just gone. There was no prayer of keeping up with him. So I say, 'Cut… eh, take a little off it.' [Laughs] A motorcycle would do much better weaving with him. There's a fluidity to it that's amazing.

Gordon-Levitt: It's beautiful. Anytime you see someone do something with a God-given talent, when they're that excellent at it… and that's at the core of these action scenes. It's not some grand, CG whatever. It's about really talented guys doing things for real.

Koepp: Being able to admire what real people can do. It was important that it was a stunt movie. The actors always wanted to do more than we would let them do. I think it's an incredible physical accomplishment.

Reality is a key component of this movie. What were the logistics of shooting on the actual streets of New York, trying to pull off stunts while surrounded by the hustle and bustle of the city?

Koepp: It was a nightmare. It was really, really, really f**king hard. I'm happy when people say, 'It looked like so much fun!' because that means you didn't see us sweat. The city is tough. It's uncontrollable. A New York City 'lock up' doesn't exist. You think you have it but then a diplomat drives over the cones in your lane and makes Joe crash. Or a SWAT team barrels through [laughs]. There's never total control.

How does that work for the acting side of things? There is a lot of talking and riding in this movie. Is having an element of danger helpful to the performance?

Koepp: [To Gordon-Levitt] You know, we never talked about that.

Gordon-Levitt: The time when the SWAT team barreled through was not helpful for my performance [laughs].

Yikes, no actual accidents I'd hope.

Gordon-Levitt: Oh no, there were accidents. One really bad one.

Koepp: Do you still have that? [Gordon-Levitt lifts up his right arm to reveal a scar.] Oh. Sorry about that.

Good Lord.

Gordon-Levitt: This is 11 of the stitches. The other 21 of them are scattered around. What's cool though is that you actually put it at the end of the movie after the credits.

Koepp: It was a scary moment. So we had three lanes of 6th Avenue closed. Joe's riding uptown and all there is is our stunt cars and our stunt drivers. And the rule is the stunt cars can't change lanes — only the guy on the bike can change lanes. He's got weavability and no one is going to cut him off. So a diplomat in an SUV in the free lanes decides he doesn't like the traffic. So he drives over the cones and into our lane, right as we call action. So here comes Joe at 30 mph and the guy cuts him off. Then the diplomat, who I'm sure is an a**hole from some awful country (although we never found out which), is also angry and decides he's going to get out of his car and yell at people. Now Joe has to use his Bike-O-Vision [Wilee's stylistic Spidey Sense in Premium Rush]: he can either go straight and hit the guy (doesn't seem like a good idea), swerve to the right into live traffic where they aren't expecting you, or go this way where you can't tell what's up there but, fingers crossed, there's nothing and you'll be OK. So you go with that. Except there's a cab. He crashes through the back windshield of the cab and cut himself to ribbons. It was awful, because there was about 30 seconds between his crash and the moment I hear it, so I have to go check if he's dead or not. That was the worst part for me.

Gordon-Levitt: You get so flooded with adrenaline that I didn't feel any pain at all. Not until later that night. I flew off the handlebars and went through the windshield and I was immediately like, 'Oh s**t, sorry! I'm fine.' And then you look at it and you're like, 'Oh Jesus Christ, look at that!' Dave comes running up really scared, really nervous. I told him, 'You have to record this!' I cajoled him, after lots of convincing, to take out his phone and shoot some video of me bleeding and the broken glass. To my delight, when I saw the movie he actually put the footage in after the credits.

Koepp: When you got it….

How Gordon-Levitt Transitioned from Child Acting

At the age of 31, Joseph Gordon-Levitt has appeared in over 30 films, fromAngels in the Outfield to Inception. With his new film Premium Rush about to hit theaters, ET asked him about his smooth transition from being a child actor to one of Hollywood's biggest actors.

"There's certainly some degree of luck. I've been really fortunate," Gordon-Levitt said of maintaining his acting career over the years. "I just love work. I love doing it. So, I keep trying and focus on the movies themselves. I guess there's a lot of other stuff that can come along with show business, and frankly, that stuff never interested me very much, but movies are something I just very dearly love."

Gordon-Levitt's co-star Dania Ramirez, who plays one of his character's fellow bicycle messengers in the film, analyzed his continued acting success as a validation of his true talent.

"It's a testament to your talent also," Ramirez complimented. "I think it's hard to maintain a career from a young age and continue to work. The only thing that takes you far and gives you longevity in anything is how good you are at it."

Gordon-Levitt's narrowed-in focus on his career took on an analogous form for his approach to shooting Premium Rush, in which he rides a bike through the busy city streets of New York.

"It's nice because you only have one thing on your mind and that's: just looking ahead," the 31-year-old actor said. "In this day and age...there's always so much on your mind, so many...places your mind can go, but when you're on a bike, all of that has to go away."

That dialed-in focus unfortunately couldn't prevent an on-set accident for Gordon-Levitt that required stitches after he crashed into a taxi that wasn't part of the set. Notwithstanding the accident, he said that the film dedicated itself to performing real stunts despite readily available computer graphics.

"I had four stunt doubles...and that's the cool thing. There's not a lot of fake, digital, CGI (computer-generated imagery) stuff in this movie. It's real people doing these crazy things on bikes."

Video inside:

http://www.etonline.com/movies/124391_Joseph_Gordon_Levitt_on_His_Smooth_Transition_from_Child_Acting/

Joseph Gordon-Levitt Hates All You Actors Who Pretend You Do Your Own Stunts

At the premiere of Premium Rush, Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s starring vehicle, everyone looked for comparisons to his other big movie of the summer, The Dark Knight Rises. So Gordon-Levitt set us straight. “This movie is really different from The Dark Knight Rises,” he said. “The Dark Knight Rises is a beautiful movie; it’s a superhero movie that’s also a dignified, substantial drama.Premium Rush is not a heavy drama in the slightest. It’s just a fun time at a summer popcorn chase flick,” the actor explained at the New York premiere on Wednesday.

We’ve heard about the injuries Gordon-Levitt suffered while playing the bicycle messenger—30 stitches, in one case—but by the time they were shooting, he was already in shape. The initial training for the role was more painful, overall. “I would get up in the morning and go ride for a couple hours, and every day I would wake up really sore, especially in the lower body,” he told VF Daily.

“But, you know, that’s part of the job, and it’s fun. And then slowly but surely you get into shape, and then you can do it all day.” And that was the goal. “I had to be able to do it all day, every day. I didn’t want the film crew waiting for me to catch my breath.”

And Gordon-Levitt is adamant about giving credit to the stunt men. “Let’s be clear: I didn’t do my own stunts in this movie. I don’t like it when actors say that they did their own stunts. I rode the bike all day, every day, but there’s me and four other guys who all had different specialties on the bike,” he said. “One of them is a real bike messenger, one of them is a Hollywood stunt man, one’s good at tricks on a trials bike, and one’s good at tricks on a fixed-gear track bike. And they’re all in the movie, and they’re all brilliant,” he said. “And you know, the thrills in Premium Rush don’t come from big C.G. sequences. They come from watching these really talented, skilled athletes do crazy things on two wheels.”

The shoot, two years ago, took place on the sweltering streets of New York City. “I just want to take this opportunity to apologize to the citizens of New York, and thank them for their cooperation, even though it was unwilling,” director David Koepp told us. And yes, he says this was the smelliest group of actors he’s worked with.

Gordon-Levitt was philosophical. “Well, it’s set in the summertime, so I was supposed to be sweating,” he said, laughing.

CBS interview:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7419070n

Does he have a girlfriend?

Thanks for all the updates wijn!

Does he have a girlfriend?

No, or he's keeping it a real secret..

He's had some but I never saw him around many girls/a girl for a long time.

I don't understand, I'd be all over him

Joseph Gordon-Levitt Smashed Through Car Window As Stunt Went Wrong

Joseph Gordon-levitt was flung through the rear window of a taxicab when a cycling stunt he was involved in went awry whilst he was speeding through real traffic. Levitt was filming a scene from his new movie Premium Rush, in which he plays a New York bike messenger.

The actor was speaking to BlogTalkRadio.com about the incident, that he describe as the worst on-set injury he has sustained to date, when he insisted the crash could "have been a lot worse." The Dark Knight Rises star also said that thanks to his quick reflexes he managed to avoid any real damage, saying he " got [his] elbows up; all the boxing training came in handy. Otherwise who knows what would've happened to my face."

The crash resulted in Levitt requiring 31 stitches on an impressively sized gash down his arm, but thankfully he did not attain any other injuries in the crash. The film's writer/director David Koepp was filming the stunt on his iPhone at the time and managed to catch the whole accident on film. The filmmaker has since decided that he will include the footage from his phone over the end credits of Premium Rush so that fans can see for themselves just how lucky Joseph was.

Individual Looper poster:

Joseph Gordon-Levitt Makes Premium Rush Bosses Pay for Broken Car Mirror

Producers behind Joseph Gordon-Levitt's new movie Premium Rush had to cover the cost of a New Yorker's broken car mirror after the actor accidentally crashed into the vehicle as he practised cycling at high speeds for the film.

The Dark Knight Rises star plays a Big Apple bike messenger in the fast-paced action movie, but he ran into a little trouble with a motorist after losing control of his bike on a busy road.

He tells BlogTalkRadio.com, "Early on in the shoot, probably day two or three, I was just warming up before we got our first shot and I was riding around without a brake which was silly.

"If you do that you should be a better cyclist. I got to be good but if you ride around without a brake you need to be very good, so that was foolhardy of me to be riding around without a brake. And I took off someone's side mirror!"

Gordon-Levitt admits the driver was initially furious, until the actor assured him production bosses would pay for the damage.

He says, "The guy was relatively cool about it; he was p**sed at first which was a little intimidating. I was apologetic and told him I was in the middle of shooting a movie and they (producers) will totally pay for your mirror. (I told him), 'Just tell them about it but I gotta go!' He came to the set and they paid for his mirror".

The smashed mirror wasn't Gordon-Levitt's only accident during the shoot - he needed 31 stitches to his arm after smashing through the rear windscreen of a taxi cab when a cycling stunt went awry.

Premium Rush actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt arrived at the LAX Airport in Los Angeles, California on August 23, 2012

Does he have a girlfriend?

No, or he's keeping it a real secret..

He's had some but I never saw him around many girls/a girl for a long time.

I don't understand, I'd be all over him

Agreed.

Premium Rush

Premium Rush Video interview:

'It was tougher training than Batman'

http://www.ontheredc...e-video/8787251

Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Dania Ramirez talk 'Premium Rush'

What's scarier than being chased by a dirty cop with money on his mind? Try riding a bike through the streets of New York. Luckily the stars of "Premium Rush" had enough guts, Hollywood magic and stunt doubles to pull it off. Stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Dania Ramireztook a moment to speak about the film, their thoughts on the bike messengers they portray and how it's changed them as artists.

Billy Tatum: The work you did in this film looked pretty dangerous. Did you get hurt at all?

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: There was a bit of an accident. I should start by saying that everyone was very safety conscious. It was a perfect storm of a lot of things going wrong all at once. To make a long story short, a diplomat broke through our lockup. In New York City, you have the United Nations, so you have a lot of diplomats driving around.

Dania Ramirez: There's no rules for diplomats.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: Yeah, so they can break the law. Basically, I ended up going through the rear window of a taxi cab and getting thirty-one stitches. Everyone was worried that it happened. I'm flooded with adrenaline right when it happened. You dont feel any pain right when your arm breaks open so I'm like "Whoa, geez, I'm sorry. I'm ok." Dave's ran up saying "Are you ok?" He was terrified. I was like "You gotta record this, man. Look at this. This is crazy." I convinced him to, so he pulled out his phone and recorded some video. I was stoked that he actually put it into the movie."

Billy Tatum: Did it force you to miss any days of shooting?

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: Well, it was towards the end of the day.

Dania Ramirez: He was at work the next day with a smile on his face. It was a good reminder that we're not really these people riding these bikes. We were like "Oh, we have stunt people that can do these things."

Billy Tatum: Did you do your own stunts?

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: Certainly not. (laughs). The character of Wilee was played by five of us. Me and four other guys. Everyone had their own specialties. One was an actual bike messenger. One was a Hollywood stunt man that gets hit by cars. One's really good at trials bike riding, which is the chase towards the end of the movie where he's on a different bike. That's the kind of bike that's particularly conducive to jumping and stuff. Then, there was a guy that was really good at doing tricks on a track bike. If you look on youtube for Danny Macaskill. He does insane things on his bike.

Dania Ramirez: That's the cool thing about the movie. There is no CGI. The stunts are actually real, so we were lucky enough to have great stunt people come in and do stunts.

Billy Tatum: How would you compare this to some of the other action films you've done like "Inception" or the upcoming "Looper"?

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: As far as the physical challenge, I'd have to say this is the hardest one. "Inception" would come in with a close second. I was on a bike every day, all day. The whole movie is on a bike. "Inception" has some cool action sequences, but this is the entire movie.

Billy Tatum: Tell me about the research you did and interacting with the real bike messengers in New York?

Dania Ramirez: It's a really tight community. One thing we found out about the bike messaging community is that they are really caring and thoughtful people. It's almost like they're playing a character when they get on their bikes and they have to ride around. It's like they have to put on this badass persona, but when they get back behind closed doors, they're really a tight-knit group.

Billy Tatum: Did you pick up any tricks on not getting killed riding a bike in NYC?

Dania Ramirez: Pay attention (laughs). Listen. You're riding a bike through New York City. I'm from the east coast, originally. Pedestrians kind of rule New York and they're way more dangerous than riding alongside the taxicab drivers. At least you're going in the same direction. Pedestrians are in their own world. We had to become really aware of what was around us.

Plus, you don't tell a New Yorker "Hey, you can't cross the street right now. We're shooting". They don't care.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: I thought a cool kernel of wisdom that I learned from multiple people was "If you want to avoid hitting something, don't look at it." Look at where you're going. If you're trying to thread a needle and get between two cars, as soon as you start looking at where you don't want to go, you'll hit them. You have to have the confidence to stay straight and go forward. I think there's something allegorical with that with life in general. That's part of the movie, too. Wilee, the character I play, he is that kind of confident guy that has no hesitation to make a split second decision. There's a lot of virtue in that.

Dania Ramirez: He's riding a bike with no breaks. He lives his life like that.

Billy Tatum: How was it working with Michael Shannon and what did you think of his performance?

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: Shannon's the (expletive)! There's a tradition, it seems, of really, really fine actors playing villains in a big chase movie, whether it's Dennis Hopper in "Speed" or Alan Rickman in "Die Hard" and I think Shannon really fits into that tradition. I think he's one of the best alive and he's so good in this movie.

Dania Ramirez: He's brilliant. He plays that villain role amazingly. He's so charismatic

while he's doing it. You want to hate him because he's after the good guy, but you can't

help but to smile and laugh at him.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: The funny thing is he's actually a very gentle, sweet guy with a dry sense of humor. He's nothing like the character he plays in this movie.

Billy Tatum: Were the bike messenger community skeptical about the way you were going to portray them?

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: Yeah, and they have a right to be skeptical. Like I said, it's not a documentary about bike culture. It's a Hollywood chase movie that does glorify the hell out of bikes and I think it'll be a rocking good time for anybody who loves to ride bikes or whose never been on a bike.

Dania Ramirez: Also, it's not that many times that the bike messenger community gets to be represented, so in my experience, they were really excited. They were excited that, as actors, we were genuinely interested in finding out about their lives and the way that they see the world and the city. That's something that you get when you see the movie. It's a gritty, very specific look at New York City.

Billy Tatum: Did this movie change any notions you had of bike messengers?

Dania Ramirez: I have so much more respect for bike messengers, in general. It's a very hard profession and they have to be incredibly fit. You really have to learn how to manage your time, because you do have a job where you have to get a package to a certain place by a certain time.

Billy Tatum: Who's the bigger daredevil between the two of you?

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: Uh...

Dania Ramirez: Me (laughs)!!

Billy Tatum: After you trained here for six weeks, did you notice the difference in the way people treat cyclists out here versus New York?

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: Yeah, there was a big difference. New York drivers are more used

to it, because Manhattan is a city that's more conducive to riding a bike. You have to be pretty

good cyclist if you're going to use a bike as your main mode of transportation In L.A. It's rare, but in New York, you can really do it. But there's a real bike culture here in L.A, which is so car-centric, especially on the east side of town. If you go to the west side of town, there's a thriving bike culture.

Billy Tatum: Much of your relationship takes place over the phone while riding? Did you two do those scenes first?

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: We'd already gotten to know each other really well.

Dania Ramirez: Yeah, we had trained for six weeks, so we had already known

each other and gotten to ride bikes together. We were already solid and knew

what the relationship would be and how to play it out. My first scene was riding

through Park Avenue when I'm having a real intense conversation with him

about our relationship. It did help that we knew each other and spent a lot

of time together outside of filming. By the time we filmed, It just felt kind of natural.

Billy Tatum: You're also putting on the director's hat. Tell me a little about that.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: I wrote a movie that I'm directing called "Don Jon's Addiction". I learned so much from working with so many great directors that it allowed me to do it. I'm stoked to talk to you about it once it's closer. I had a blast. Scarlett Johanssonread it and liked it and is starring in it. Julianne Moore is also starring in it. We had a great time.

Dania Ramirez: Some little names (laughs).

Billy Tatum: Now that you've directed, do you ever go into director's mode when someone

is directing you?

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: As an actor, it's important to try to always understand what the director is after. That's my job when I'm acting. I like to ask a lot of questions. I like to understand why the director is doing what he's doing so I can provide him or her with the ingredients that they need to get the scene that they want. You can ask Dave. I asked a lot of questions, because I want to understand where they're coming from. It's not to challenge them in any way. It's so I can do the best job. I can't wait to act again and not direct. They're two very different creative challenges.

Billy Tatum: Dania, did you cycle across the plank and did you nail it on the first take?

Dania Ramirez: Yes, I cycled across the plank. It was nerve-wracking, because I'm scared of heights. I had to go over the Hudson River on a plank. For a while there, I was like "Oh." My doubles are there and were willing to do it. I'm like "I'm Vanessa. I'm a bike messenger. I can totally do this."

Billy Tatum: Were there any other uniquely New York experiences you had?

Dania Ramirez: Yeah. We were written up in the Post a few times. It was just hard to tell a New Yorker "You can't cross the street. We're rolling right now." They have a place to get to and that's their main concern. One guy head butted one of our PAs because he was trying to stop him from crossing the street. It's just classic New York behavior. I'm from New York and I love it. I thrive on that. Part of the movie, as well, is the adrenaline that keeps you going and the New York vibe. People don't take anything.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: We're also locking down big swaths of street. Normally to lock up a location to shoot in New York City, that's a street corner or outside a doorway or something

like that, but we're locking up 6th Avenue between 32nd Street and 39th Street because we do

a whole scene, but it takes seven blocks of distance. It was very impressive. We had a really

skilled crew of people.

Billy Tatum: What do you guys do for fun? Is cycling your way to blow off steam?

Dania Ramirez: I love it. One of the things I want people to take from the movie is to

pick up a bike afterwards. I got inspired to do so. I'm actually training to do the

Malibu triathlon. I'm going to do the biking section on September 16th.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: Hell yeah! I'm going to...cheer her on.

Billy Tatum: What's the latest on HitRecord?

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: We're releasing a final record right now. We spent the summer putting together a bunch of collaboratively made music. HitRecord is a production company I run. We use the internet to collaborate so artists of all kinds can contribute to our projects. We do music, films, writing, and things like that. We're about to put out two 12" records. It's 78 different artists out of thousands. Thousands of people contributed to all these songs, but we curated it down to the collaborative work of 78 different artists. I have a song on there that I wrote. I'm so proud of it. We keep getting better and better as a community. As it sticks around and continues to grow, the level of artistry keeps going up and up. The quality of music on this release called "Move on the Sun" blows my mind. I'm so proud of it.

Billy Tatum: How many tracks did those 78 artists create?

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: I forget the exact number, but it's two 12" vinyl records. I think there's

twelve because there's three songs on a side.

Billy Tatum: The pacing definitely qualifies as "edge of your seat". Did the fact that it was made practically in real time change the way you approached the role?

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: Yes. It's a pacey film. It's not a film where you take a long pause. You've got to learn your lines real good. You can't do that BS move where you pretend like you're thinking of what to say when actually you're trying to think of the line you didnt learn well enough. And Dave Koepp writes in a really crisp fashion. He writes great dialogue.

Dania Ramirez: I think the fact that it's 90 minutes and he has to get the package to

a certain place in 90 minutes is challenging for an audience and really exciting.

You have to really pay attention and find out what's really going on and what the package

is all about. The little times where you actually get a flashback in the story, you have to

make sure that you're paying attention. The title of the film is "Premium Rush". We're

in a rush. Ninety minutes.

http://www.examiner.com/article/joseph-gordon-levitt-and-dania-ramirez-talk-premium-rush