Joseph Gordon-Levitt famous quotes

It's less about what you do and more about who you are doing it with.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Who You Are

Don't we want to escape our real world and go into something larger than that, simpler than that, more beautiful or darker?
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Beautiful #Real #World

If you're going to put yourself above everybody else, you might end up alone.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Might #Ends

Music belongs to everybody. Having a little clique of the industry tell us what our culture is... I don't think that's healthy. And the Internet is helping us get away from that.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Thinking #Healthy #Culture

Media used to be one way. Everyone else in the world just had to listen. Now the internet is allowing what used to be a monologue to become a dialogue. I think that's healthy.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Thinking #Media #Healthy

If you know which way the current is going, you can use it to your advantage.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Use #Way #Advantage

The most valiant thing you can do as an artist is inspire someone else to be creative.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Artist #Creative #Inspire

If you do or don't like something it's because of that thing and not because it has the right politics behind them or the right company or the right connections. It's really just about the thing itself.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Connections #Company #Behinds

The sun is such a lonely star. Whenever he comes out to see his friends, they all disappear.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Lonely #Stars #Sun

I have an eclectic taste in stuff whether it be movies or music or books or food or anything. Variety is interesting.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Book #Interesting #Stuff

It's worth paying attention to the roles that are sort of dictated to us and that we don't have to fit into those roles. We can be anybody we wanna be.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Roles #Attention #Fit

There seems to be a notion in Hollywood that if you want to make money, you have to sacrifice doing good work with integrity. And I think that's bullshit. I think that's an excuse, and it's what people say who are scared that they can't do good work.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Integrity #Sacrifice #Thinking

Every day I've got to be thankful that I am alive, and you never know - the cliche is, I guess, you could get hit by a bus tomorrow, so you'd better be at peace with whatever you got going at the moment.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Motivational #Being Thankful #Alive

I go through a lot of bad stuff, because most of the stuff that's written is pretty bad. But occasionally something comes along that's good, and I want to do it.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Want #Stuff

While I'm not a celebrity, it's such a weird concept that society has cooked up for us. Astronauts and teachers are much more amazing than actors.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Teacher #Actors #Astronaut

Once you spend time with [the afflicted], you start recognizing them as individuals, as opposed to lumping them in with everybody else who might have those symptoms.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Might #Individual #Symptoms

The Internet is allowing us to get back to what's really more natural, which is that storytelling is a shared thing. It's our natural way to be communal.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Way #Internet #Storytelling

He [Mark Webb] is very savvy, technically, he's shot so many videos, he knows how to get what he wants. The surprise, of course, is that he's also an extremely humanistic story-teller. He's obsessed with story and character, and not just making it look right, which is a double-thred that's rare in directors.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Character #Directors #Video

Success is not important to me, nor are power or money. If the script feels good, then I'm in. It's that simple.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Simple #Feel Good #Important

You usually get one or the other, you get someone who knows how to tell a story but they don't necessarily know about light and camera and rhythm, or you get someone who can make beautiful images but they can't necessarily tell a great story. He[Mark Webb] does both and I think he's going to be one of the film-makers that our time is remembered for.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Beautiful #Thinking #Light

The spiral in a snail's shell is the same mathematically as the spiral in the Milky Way galaxy, and it's also the same mathematically as the spirals in our DNA. It's the same ratio that you'll find in very basic music that transcends cultures all over the world.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Dna #Ratios #Way

Every director is different. And all the movies are very different, and the characters are very different.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Character #Directors #Different

Supermarket tabloids and celebrity gossip shows are not just innocently shallow entertainment, but a fundamental part of a much larger movement that involves apathy, greed and hierarchy.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Gossip #Greed #Hierarchy

Sometimes what someone else does is really not what you expected them to do, which to be honest, sometimes doesn't work.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Doe #Honest #Sometimes

There's something really appealing about the simplicity of black-and-white images.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Black And White #White #Simplicity

The thing about Occupy is that the sentiment the movement embodies is timeless: Don't be greedy, share.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Movement #Greedy #Timeless

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.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Depressing #Jobs #Creativity

I think there is something beautiful in reveling in sadness. The proof is how beautiful sad songs can be. So I don’t think being sad is to be avoided. It’s apathy and boredom you want to avoid. But feeling anything is good, I think. Maybe that’s sadistic of me.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Beautiful #Song #Sadness

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

#Natural #Music Is

When I started editing on my home computer, I said to myself, 'Well, I could be at home studying for a class or I could be at home editing a video.'
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Home #Editing #Class

The term 'popular culture' always used to mean what the people do - pop songs, folk songs, music in general used to live because people would sing these songs and tell these stories together. Then all of these new technologies came out and it became the work of professionals.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Song #Mean #Technology

There's a long, long history of women suffering abuse, injustice, and not having the same opportunities as men, and I think that's been very detrimental to the human race as a whole.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Men #Thinking #Opportunity

If the inspiration is genuine and it's coming from the right place, that's what I like and want to be a part of.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Inspiration #Want #Genuine

It's nice to not feel like you're just re-enacting a preconceived moment, but there's room for an organic feeling to develop while the camera is rolling. Even amidst these enormous technical productions, Chris [ Nolan] always prioritized making sure that sort of spontaneous and organic feeling could happen at the moment.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Nice #Feelings #Cameras

If you look at all the movies that have made tons of money, almost all of them are great movies. Even Titanic. I think Titanic is a great movie.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Thinking #Looks #Made

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.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Real #Kids #Acting

I want to keep working with people that care about what they're doing. It seems obvious, but it's not. It's sometimes hard to keep on that track.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#People #Track #Care

I love her [Kimberly Peirce]. Incredibly intense is a good way of describing her. Brutally honest. Really sharp. She's a director for actors. That's what she's best at, sitting down with an actor and just getting to the heart of what a scene is. And getting to the heart of not just what the scene is and the character is, but what you are, and how to build that bridge between the "me" and the character, and those emotions.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Heart #Character #Bridges

The truth of actually working on a movie set is that you're in the midst of a logistical nightmare. There are so many things going on. There are many factors that keep your ideal scenario from ever happening. And you're rarely going to get that.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Nightmare #Midst

When I'm on set, I do whatever I can to find my focus. One thing that stays pretty consistent for all my jobs is, I listen to a lot of music while I'm working. Because when there's all this stuff going on, for me to be able to put on headphones and listen to music helps me keep my focus,. A big part of creating a character for me is finding the general palette for what kind of music I'm going to be listening to.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Jobs #Character #Creating

I think the reason I was able to get the jobs I did is because I worked for some very strong, self-possessed filmmakers who wouldn't listen to the executive-suited wisdom, and they believed in me from director to actor. Not from salesman to commodity.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Strong #Jobs #Thinking

Kids play pretend. I think that kids can be the best actors.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Kids #Thinking #Play

I think acting is totally conducive to being a little kid, because kids are less inhibited and use their imagination.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Kids #Thinking #Imagination

I don't buy into the glory days thing. I think every time has its great things to it. The '60s were such a glorious time but it's easy to forget that there was all sorts of bullshit too.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Thinking #Bullshit #Forget

Today's a great time to be any creative type of person, I think, and in just about every aspect of creativity, this generation is going to blow away every generation ever. Because we're the first ones with the Internet. I can get together with some friends, shoot a movie, cut it on my laptop at home, and then put it online. We don't have to listen to anyone.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Home #Creativity #Cutting

Most of what Hollywood puts out is crap anyway.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Hollywood #Crap

I have a lot of trouble getting turned on by girls who are turned on by celebrity.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Girl #Trouble

Fame has always been a downside to acting for me. It gives me the creeps.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Giving #Acting #Fame

It's just a natural part of being a social creature and being a human being.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Natural #Social #Humans

Singing doesn't have to mean that you sound like Stevie Wonder. I love to sing. I'm not the greatest singer in the world. But, a lot of my favorite singers aren't the greatest singers in the world.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Mean #Singing #Sound

Here's the new art of the twenty-first century: the art of curating, the art of plucking all the good stuff from a superabundance of crap.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Art #Twenties #Stuff

I think violence begets violence. I don't think a way to solve any sort of conflict is with violence because nothing ever ends up solved, that way.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Thinking #Way #Violence

I don't think action for action's sake is so fun, but when it helps tell the story, I love doing a good fight scene.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Fun #Fighting #Thinking

The chemistry and the comfort and trust between two people playing a love story l is key, and to have a friend that I could trust, and whose sensibilities I already understood, made it so much easier, and is a big part of why it all looks natural on screen.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Keys #Two #People

I enjoy a challenge or provocation, something to think about, to talk about after it's done.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Thinking #Challenges #Done

What makes a good work of art is something that honors certain traditions and breaks with others.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Art #Honor #Tradition

My favorite kinds of movies are the ones that start a conversation.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Kind #My Favorite #Conversation

As an actor, it's always important to understand what the director is after. That, to me, is my job. When I'm acting, I like to ask a lot of questions and understand exactly why the director is doing what they're doing, so that I can provide him or her with the ingredients that they need to get the scene that they want. It's not to challenge them, in any way. It's just so that I can do my job best.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Jobs #Challenges #Important

Bikes are clearly a superior form of transportation when it comes to just simple getting around. A car makes sense if you need to carry a bunch of stuff.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Simple #Car #Needs

If more people rode bikes and less people drove cars, the air would be in better shape and people would be in better shape.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Air #People #Car

I have a pretty eclectic taste in the movies that I like to watch, and also in the movies that I'm inspired to work on.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Watches #Taste #Inspired

I think the way the media is going to work in the future is less something that the population consumes and more something that the population creates.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Thinking #Media #Population

In the old days, people would gather around the fire, or they would gather at a tavern, and they'd tell a story. And then, maybe a week later, someone would tell the same story, but with a different twist on it. That's how folk takes evolved.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Fire #People #Twists

I'm the last person to tell my friends to go see something I'm in. I could care less if friends of mine never saw anything I'm in.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Care #Lasts #Saws

I think our culture is sick and tired of fluffy nonsense and people want something more sincere and heartfelt.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Tired #Thinking #People

The director is the most important because, ultimately, as an actor, when you watch a movie, it looks like an actor is giving a performance, and they kind of are. But, what's actually happening is that an actor has given a bunch of ingredients over to a director, who then constructs a performance. That's movie-making.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Giving #Important #Directors

Genres give a vocabulary. They give a frame of reference for the audience to enter into a movie. Then, once they have their footing, that's when you can start doing things that they don't expect.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Vocabulary #Giving #Genre

I don't think you necessarily have to be the most perfected performer, in order to express your feelings. It's really those feelings that an audience connects with, I think, at least as much as perfected technical skill.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Thinking #Order #Skills

Nothing is ever finished. It's a funny thing. I actually think that's really the more natural way of stories or songs.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Song #Thinking #Funny Things

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.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Media #People #Understanding

Hollywood can be an exclusive place. Who gets to be on TV, or who gets to make TV can be a small clique of an industry. There's so many talented, skilled people, all over the world, that might not have the connections or the opportunities to work in TV.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Opportunity #People #Hollywood

The traditions of Hollywood are grand and great and are going to survive forever, in a way. But they're not going to be the only way for much longer. The technology is such now that you don't have to have millions of dollars to make a movie. You can make one with a computer.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Technology #Forever #Hollywood

Making little videos that you know are going to be on tiny windows is a whole different thing. I don't know what it's going to lead to necessarily, but it's certainly fun.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Fun #Different #Video

Our culture has a tendency to pigeonhole people and to try to tear down anybody who's breaking out of our comfort zone. That's why we get into these cultural ruts that end up being destructive prejudices. But breaking out of that comfort zone is the most rewarding thing you can do, in your life. I do my best to push myself, when I can.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#People #Tears #Trying

You're gone. No mailing address. But I send you letters anyway.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Gone #Addresses #Letters

I know other worlds exist. I can see them in my peripheral vision.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Other Worlds #Vision #World

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.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Jobs #Teenager #People

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.'
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Zero #Motivation #Laughing

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.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Artist #Able #Hollywood

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.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Jobs #Thinking #Artist

Normally you read a screenplay - and I read a lot of them - and the characters don't feel like people. They feel like plot devices or cliches or stereotypes.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Character #People #Plot

When I was Younger, I wanted to be something.Now, I just want to be younger.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Want #Wanted

I collect flickering stars in old pickling jars, poking holes in the lids so they can breathe.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Stars #Jars #Breathe

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

#Book #Hands #Feelings

We can be anybody we wanna be.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Well, look who I ran into," crowed Coincidence. "Please," flirted Fate, "this was meant to be.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Fate #Were Meant To Be #Looks

When I arrived at Columbia, I gave up acting and became interested in all things French. French poetry, French history, French literature.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Acting #Literature #Columbia

I have a really terrible sense of direction.
-- Joseph Gordon-Levitt

#Terrible