in the magazine

Joseph Gordon-Levitt to Hide Face, Hone Craft in G.I. Joe

So far, Paramount has issued posters for every actor in this summer’s G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra — except for Joseph Gordon-Levitt. His appearance in the movie, as Cobra Commander, is still something of a secret. So, when we spoke with the actor for a feature in this week’s magazine, we asked him to explain a little — and he did! His characteristically intense answer is after the jump.

“Yeah. My face is in it. There’s this crazy kind of getup that I wear. It’s got makeup and it’s got all this other stuff, and it’s a mask, basically. You can hardly tell it’s me. And that, to me, is the best. That’s why I love Daniel Day-Lewis or Gary Oldman. Actors like that, where they’re so different as each character, the actor disappears. Doing G.I. Joe made it real easy to disappear because of all the elaborate stuff on my face. And it demands a totally different kind of acting style. You sort of check your realism at the door.

“Yeah. My face is in it. There’s this crazy kind of getup that I wear. It’s got makeup and it’s got all this other stuff, and it’s a mask, basically. You can hardly tell it’s me. And that, to me, is the best. That’s why I love Daniel Day-Lewis or Gary Oldman. Actors like that, where they’re so different as each character, the actor disappears. Doing G.I. Joe made it real easy to disappear because of all the elaborate stuff on my face. And it demands a totally different kind of acting style. You sort of check your realism at the door.


Related: The Fierce Sensitivity of Joseph Gordon-Levitt [NYM]

Joseph Gordon-Levitt to Hide Face, Hone Craft in G.I. Joe