TIFF PRESS CONFERENCE: Bruce Willis on Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing Bruce Willis in Looper
Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis at the press conference for Looper (Image: Erin Seaman)
Apparently, answering questions is the hardest part of an actor’s job. Or at least Bruce Willis said so, and we think quite seriously. We didn’t even notice a hint of that signature Willis smirk (and, believe us, we really wanted to see the smirk).
Willis was on the hot seat this afternoon at the press conference for Looper, Rian Johnson’ s sci-fi-western-future-noir flick that’s opening the 2012 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival. Sitting alongside co-star Joseph Gordon-Levitt, the man who’ll forever be synonymous with New York cop John McClane answered a lot of questions: some about his new movie, more about time travelling (be it to the past or the future—or back through his own film career). Of course, given Lo oper’ s heady premise, the queries were entirely appropriate. Willis plays a time-travelling hitman who launches himself back to the past to thwart the ascendency of a super-powered mob boss, only to have his younger self, played by Gordon-Levitt, interfere. To prepare for the role, Gordon-Levitt copied the audio tracks of Willis’ old movies onto his iPod, and listened to them repeatedly. “He was a very good Bruce Willis,” Willis joked. But again, nary a smirk to be seen.
162747 <em>Looper</em>Rian Johnson (Image: Jason Merritt/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images) TIFF PRESS CONFERENCE: Bruce Willis on Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing Bruce Willis in Looper TIFF PRESS CONFERENCE: Bruce Willis on Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing Bruce Willis in Looper https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-press-conference-looper06-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-press-conference-looper06.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-press-conference-looper06.jpg 416 624 [] https://torontolife.com/culture/tiff-2012-looper-press-conference/slide/tiff12-press-conference-looper06/ tiff12-press-conference-looper06 0 0
(Image: Jason Merritt/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images)
162742 Rian Johnson and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Image: Jason Merritt/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images) TIFF PRESS CONFERENCE: Bruce Willis on Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing Bruce Willis in Looper TIFF PRESS CONFERENCE: Bruce Willis on Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing Bruce Willis in Looper https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-press-conference-looper01-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-press-conference-looper01.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-press-conference-looper01.jpg 624 416 [] https://torontolife.com/culture/tiff-2012-looper-press-conference/slide/tiff12-press-conference-looper01/ tiff12-press-conference-looper01 0 0
(Image: Jason Merritt/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images)
162745 Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis (Image: Jason Merritt/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images) TIFF PRESS CONFERENCE: Bruce Willis on Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing Bruce Willis in Looper TIFF PRESS CONFERENCE: Bruce Willis on Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing Bruce Willis in Looper https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-press-conference-looper04-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-press-conference-looper04.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-press-conference-looper04.jpg 624 416 [] https://torontolife.com/culture/tiff-2012-looper-press-conference/slide/tiff12-press-conference-looper04/ tiff12-press-conference-looper04 0 0
(Image: Jason Merritt/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images)
162750 <em>Looper</em> co-star Bruce Willis (Image: Jason Merritt/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images) TIFF PRESS CONFERENCE: Bruce Willis on Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing Bruce Willis in Looper TIFF PRESS CONFERENCE: Bruce Willis on Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing Bruce Willis in Looper https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-press-conference-looper09-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-press-conference-looper09.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-press-conference-looper09.jpg 416 624 [] https://torontolife.com/culture/tiff-2012-looper-press-conference/slide/tiff12-press-conference-looper09/ tiff12-press-conference-looper09 0 0
(Image: Jason Merritt/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images)
162748 Bruce Willis (Image: Jason Merritt/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images) TIFF PRESS CONFERENCE: Bruce Willis on Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing Bruce Willis in Looper TIFF PRESS CONFERENCE: Bruce Willis on Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing Bruce Willis in Looper https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-press-conference-looper07-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-press-conference-looper07.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-press-conference-looper07.jpg 416 624 [] https://torontolife.com/culture/tiff-2012-looper-press-conference/slide/tiff12-press-conference-looper07/ tiff12-press-conference-looper07 0 0
(Image: Jason Merritt/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images)
162746 <em>Looper</em> co-star Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Image: Jason Merritt/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images) TIFF PRESS CONFERENCE: Bruce Willis on Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing Bruce Willis in Looper TIFF PRESS CONFERENCE: Bruce Willis on Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing Bruce Willis in Looper https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-press-conference-looper05-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-press-conference-looper05.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-press-conference-looper05.jpg 416 624 [] https://torontolife.com/culture/tiff-2012-looper-press-conference/slide/tiff12-press-conference-looper05/ tiff12-press-conference-looper05 0 0
(Image: Jason Merritt/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images)
162743 Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis and Rian Johnson (Image: Jason Merritt/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images) TIFF PRESS CONFERENCE: Bruce Willis on Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing Bruce Willis in Looper TIFF PRESS CONFERENCE: Bruce Willis on Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing Bruce Willis in Looper https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-press-conference-looper02-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-press-conference-looper02.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-press-conference-looper02.jpg 624 416 [] https://torontolife.com/culture/tiff-2012-looper-press-conference/slide/tiff12-press-conference-looper02/ tiff12-press-conference-looper02 0 0
(Image: Jason Merritt/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images)
162749 Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis (Image: Jason Merritt/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images) TIFF PRESS CONFERENCE: Bruce Willis on Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing Bruce Willis in Looper TIFF PRESS CONFERENCE: Bruce Willis on Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing Bruce Willis in Looper https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-press-conference-looper08-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-press-conference-looper08.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-press-conference-looper08.jpg 624 416 [] https://torontolife.com/culture/tiff-2012-looper-press-conference/slide/tiff12-press-conference-looper08/ tiff12-press-conference-looper08 0 0
(Image: Jason Merritt/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images)
162744 Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis and Rian Johnson (Image: Jason Merritt/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images) TIFF PRESS CONFERENCE: Bruce Willis on Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing Bruce Willis in Looper TIFF PRESS CONFERENCE: Bruce Willis on Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing Bruce Willis in Looper https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-press-conference-looper03-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-press-conference-looper03.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-press-conference-looper03.jpg 416 624 [] https://torontolife.com/culture/tiff-2012-looper-press-conference/slide/tiff12-press-conference-looper03/ tiff12-press-conference-looper03 0 0
(Image: Jason Merritt/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images)
162767 Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis at the press conference for <em>Looper</em> (Image: Erin Seaman) TIFF PRESS CONFERENCE: Bruce Willis on Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing Bruce Willis in Looper TIFF PRESS CONFERENCE: Bruce Willis on Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing Bruce Willis in Looper https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-press-conference-looper_intro-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-press-conference-looper_intro.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-press-conference-looper_intro.jpg 656 416 [] https://torontolife.com/culture/tiff-2012-looper-press-conference/slide/tiff12-press-conference-looper_intro/ tiff12-press-conference-looper_intro 0 0
(Image: Erin Seaman)