Joseph Gordon-Levitt on working with Shailene Woodley again – “Completely different”

Joseph Gordon-Levitt recently spoke with Newsweek about reuniting with Shailene Woodley for her latest film Killer heattheir first collaboration since their joint lead role in the 2016 biographical thriller Snowden.

Released on Prime Video on September 26th. Killer heat is a crime novel based on Jo Nesbø's short story The jealous manwhich Gordon-Levitt calls a “master of the genre.” Set against the sun-drenched backdrop of Crete, the film blends classic noir with a modern twist. Gordon-Levitt plays Nick Bali, an American private detective who becomes entangled in a web of deception.

The plot revolves around the suspicious death of Leo Vardakis, a young shipping magnate played by Richard Madden. Although the official police report states that it was an accident, Leo's sister-in-law Penelope (Shailene Woodley) suspects foul play. She believes that someone from the powerful Vardakis family is responsible and fears that the local police are under their influence.

As Nick delves deeper into the case, he discovers a world ruled by the wealthy Vardakis family, where jealousy, secrets and danger lurk around every corner. Penelope's suspicions even extend to her own husband Elias, Leo's twin brother, also played by Madden.

Gordon-Levitt shared that one of the biggest highlights of Killer heat was reunited with Woodley and praised her performance as outstanding in the film, noting that the experience felt completely different from their time together on Snowdenand described it as a much easier and more playful collaboration.

“Well, Shay's performance in this movie is my favorite part of the whole movie,” he said Newsweek.

“She is so brilliant at it and we made a film together years ago called Snowdena dramatization of whistleblower Edward Snowden, a really significant and weighty historical event. We had to take our work very seriously and it was a very different feeling because in this film we were just having fun.

“We just went to a beautiful Mediterranean island and made a crime thriller. It wasn't that deep, we could just play. So the contrast was actually quite nice.”

Reflecting on his preparation for his role in Killer heatGordon-Levitt said he was inspired by a number of “great” crime films.

“Chinatown, The long farewell—You can even go back to the old black and white days and watch The Maltese Falcon or Double compensationthese kinds of films,” he said.

“I also love the more modern films of the Coen brothers, they wrote a lot of great detective crime novels.”

Gordon-Levitt's Nick is not only a detective who unravels the mystery of Leo's death; he also has to fight his own demons. When discussing the project, Gordon-Levitt said how easy it was for him to immerse himself in the role.

“To be honest, this whole job is pretty easy. Some things are challenging, others just come naturally. And this is one of those jobs,” he said.

He also praised the story's noir style and its source material, saying, “This one just came off the page.”

Filming in Crete made the project even more appealing. Not only was the island's sun-drenched Mediterranean landscape perfect for the film's atmosphere, but for Gordon-Levitt, learning the language was a unique experience.

“I learned a little bit of Greek, but we were in Greece, so it wasn't that difficult. Because, you know, I didn't need a private teacher or audio files, audio language courses or anything like that,” he explained.

“I could just turn to the person next to me and ask the costume designer or, you know, the guy from the lighting team or whoever. Like, 'Can you say that again for me? I want to make sure I'm saying it right.' So it was pretty easy.”

“Of course, I remember almost none of it because my short-term memory is much stronger than my long-term memory and I have an extraordinarily strong talent – which is useful as an actor and useless in any other situation in life – of remembering things very well for a short time. Until the camera rolls and I record them and then they're gone.”

Killer heat is available on Prime Video.