Joseph Gordon-Levitt announces directing debut film

Joseph Gordon-Levitt has announced that he will make his feature filmmaking debut, directing his own script with himself in the lead alongside confirmed talent Scarlett Johansson.

Shooting begins in April on the comedy that follows a selfish lothario (Gordon-Levitt) and his quest to become a better person. It's thought that Johansson will play his love interest in the contemporary romance.

After confirming that he has a stack of screenplays written, Gordon-Levitt told Deadline Hollywood that he decided on this one and is proud that: "I wrote myself a helluva role, one that people wouldn’t necessarily thought of me for."

After making his bones as a child star on hit sitcom 'Third Rock From the Sun', Gordon-Levitt took a break from acting to attend Columbia University before returning with a critically acclaimed streak of hits including 'Brick', '(500) Days of Summer' and 'Inception'.

"I was a child actor for years and quit at 19, went to school awhile, and a big part of why I came back was that I ultimately wanted to make movies", Gordon-Levitt said. "I spent a year working with Chris Nolan, Rian Johnson, Steven Spielberg, and I did my best to pay attention. I’ve also been making short films for a long time now, I’ve directed a ton of them, and that is a huge part of why I feel comfortable and confident in this."

The last year has seen him emerge as one of Hollywood's most in-demand young actors, bagging a Golden Globe nomination for playing a cancer patient in '50/50'. Yet to be released roles include Christopher Nolan's 'The Dark Knight Rises', 'Premium Rush', 'Looper' and 'Lincoln' for Steven Spielberg.

He is also set to appear in Quentin Tarantino's highly anticipated 'Django Unchained' but has revealed that he may have to pull out to shoot his own film: "It will be tricky schedule-wise, but I was honest with Quentin upfront", Gordon-Levitt said. "He was so cool and encouraging. He said, 'You strike me as the kind of guy who would want to direct', and I took that as high praise."

You can check out the trailers for 'The Dark knight Rises' and 'Premium Rush' right here at Cinemas Online.

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