If we want to watch Citizenfour, well, we know where to find it. We’re saying that they - their faces, their gaits, their styles, and, yes, their accents - are the reason we watch in the first place. When we joke that certain movie stars “always only play themselves,” what we’re really saying is that we implore them to. We joke that these actors “always only play themselves.” It sounds like an insult when we say it, but of course it isn’t one. There’s a common observation that we make about famous actors at a certain level - the Tom Hankses and the Denzel Washingtons and the Jennifer Lawrences of the world. In the same way it doesn’t matter that Snowden is 5-foot-11, while Gordon-Levitt is 5-foot-9 and it doesn’t matter that Snowden is 33, while Gordon-Levitt is 35 - it doesn’t matter that Gordon-Levitt and Snowden sound nothing alike. What Edward Snowden sounds like is so totally incidental to the prospective quality of an Edward Snowden movie. Because here’s the truth: Literally no one cares what Edward Snowden sounds like. What ruins the film, rather, is the idea that he had to do an accent at all. Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s accent in Snowden is bad - but it’s not so bad. It’s great! But you’re, umm, you’re kind of just here for the party.Īnd it could have been a pretty good party. Actually, quite to the contrary: You’ve seen the documentary. And it’s not even that the documentary sounds bad. Snowden is essentially a horror movie about some guy who has you cornered at a party and won’t stop talking about this “amazing documentary” he just watched. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is an actor who doesn’t just want to act. And if Edward Snowden speaks like a bucket of marbles that smugly finishes its CIA camp standardized tests way before everyone else, then Joseph Gordon-Levitt wants to speak like a bucket of marbles that smugly finishes its CIA camp standardized tests way before everyone else. If the random guy he saw at the gym once whom he based Don Jon’s Jon on speaks like a lazy and dated approximation of a Jersey Shore cast member, then Joseph Gordon-Levitt wants to speak like a lazy and dated approximation of a Jersey Shore cast member. If The Walk’s Philippe Petit speaks with a French accent, then Joseph Gordon-Levitt wants to speak with a French accent. He sees an accurate accent as going that extra mile - as a means of bringing a real and maximal authenticity to his performances. As far as why he does this - I think it’s clear: He cares. An outtake from a YouTube review of the iPhone voice changer appĪnd it’s not just Snowden: The Walk … Don Jon … that’s now three terrible accents from Gordon-Levitt in four years.A short story where an old frog teaches a young frog how to build a boat, and then dies.Someone Shailene Woodley would waste her early 20s on.A prank caller whose heart just isn’t in it.The moment in a 2000s comedy when the third male lead realizes he’s been shot with a tranquilizer gun.Three kids stacked on top of each other inside of a trench coat.Here is an abridged list of things that Joseph Gordon-Levitt almost, but not quite, sounds like in Oliver Stone’s Snowden, out last week: Joseph Gordon-Levitt is an actor whom I want in my life as a moviegoer.īut the accents? The accents - they have to stop. 500 Days of Summer isn’t for me but I get that you like it and I want you to continue to live your life, you’re doing great, I’m so proud of you. If The Dark Knight Rises were being reenacted in my backyard right now, I would watch it. He seems cool, and he’s made a lot of movies I like: Looper, 10 Things I Hate About You, The Lookout, Inception, Brick. He’s a talented actor, and a charismatic star.
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