Joseph Gordon-Levitt Quotes - Page 6

Comedy takes a very specific technique, specific skills.

A lot of the motivation for doing the 'Make 'Em Laugh' on SNL was because I had just finished shooting 'Inception,' where there were zero-gravity scenes and I got into really good shape and was training and did all these stunts. Coming off of that, that instilled me with the confidence to do 'Make 'Em Laugh.'

I didn't want to just work within Hollywood when I started a production company. I wanted to be able to collaborate with great artists from all over the world.

If the goal is to get the best artists, actors, and filmmakers in the world to create the best movies, Hollywood does a decent job. And I think no one would disagree with me that it also makes a ton of bad movies and employs a bunch of hacks.

I just love to act. It's my favorite thing to do in the world, and what keeps it interesting, to me, is the creative challenge. So, different kinds of characters, that's what I just love to do.

His hands were weak and shaking from carrying far too many books from the bookshop. It was the best feeling.

You're gone. No mailing address. But I send you letters anyway.

When I was a teenager I loved acting, but I really just loved it for myself. I didn't like the fact that anyone else saw the work I was doing

I don't blame folks for not wanting to put me in their movies or whatever. I understand if their audiences had an association with me.

That you can be whatever you want to be, whoever you want to be, regardless of your gender.

One thing that stays pretty consistent for all my jobs is, I listen to a lot of music while I'm working.

As soon as you are trying to be funny or dramatic, that's when things start feeling fake and boring.

When I was a teenager, if anyone recognized me for anything I did, it would ruin my day. I couldn't handle it. It was some sort of neurotic phobia. I guess I was paranoid that people would treat me differently, or in an unfair way, because of my job.

I was studying for the SAT's and learning lines.

I didn't really like doing commercials.

I like making little videos and little records. I've always loved video cameras and four-track cassette recorders, still cameras, anything.

Even today, in our progressive times, in most movies that come out, the men have to have biceps and the women have to be thin or something.

There's an absolute prejudice that good movies are dramas and comedies are more dismissable. But I couldn't disagree more.

I think, honestly, that the word 'indie' is a false gimmick. 'Independent' used to mean a movie that was financed outside corporate Hollywood, but a lot of what gets called independent these days is totally produced within that system. And there's nothing wrong with that.

I'd been an actor my whole life, since I was a kid. And then, I quit for awhile and went to university. When I wanted to start acting again, I couldn't get a job, and that was really depressing. So, I realized, at that time, that I have to take responsibility for my own creativity.

Even when I was really young, I hated doing commercials, because I would say, "That's not real acting." And it's not. It's embarrassing what they make little kids do in commercials.

"Music is something that professionals do and not something that I do." That's not natural. Music belongs to everybody.

If you don't stick to your plan enough, and you're too seduced by whimsical notions and new ideas, you can kind of lose your train of thought and end up with something that doesn't have a solid through-line.

I knew that if I wanted to really maintain control, I would have to keep the budget down. And I did. And I feel very fortunate that - y'know, this movie [Don Jon] - frame for frame, line for line - is exactly what I wanted it to be. Nobody made me change anything.

I just want to open up the avenues for people to express themselves. That's what the media ought to be. It shouldn't just be a conveyer belt of shiny products to buy. It should be a way that we're all communicating and understanding each other.