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" Cotton trench coat ($1,995), two-button mohair-and-wool jacket ($1,595), silk tie ($175), and cotton trousers ($795) by Burberry Prorsum; cotton shirt ($245) by Z Zegna; suede boots ($312) by Grenson; Contax G1 camera.  Call him Joe. That&amp;#039;s the first thing you should know about Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and it&amp;#039;s the first thing he&amp;#039;ll tell you when he grips your hand to shake it. The second thing you should know is that Joe gets it he&amp;#039;s done a lot of acting in his twenty-eight years, most famously as the mouthy kid on TV&amp;#039;s Third Rock from the Sun and most successfully in small films that nobody bothered to see (Mysterious Skin, Brick, Stop-Loss), and he gets that most of us are, shall we say, frustrated with the quality of movies today. Joe knows this he&amp;#039;s frustrated, too, and with two starkly different films coming out this summer, one that is small and quirky (500) Days of Summer and one that is... not G. I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra he wants to prove that it&amp;#039;s possible to combine mainstream appeal with independent vision. We&amp;#039;ll see. Even if (500) Days of Summer isn&amp;#039;t quite a romantic comedy for everyone, and G. I. Joe doesn&amp;#039;t plumb the depths of our souls, he&amp;#039;s got the right idea. ESQUIRE: So who&amp;#039;s your character in G. I. Joe? JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT: Uh, well, it&amp;#039;s, uh, yeah... ESQ: You&amp;#039;re not allowed to say? JOE: That&amp;#039;s right.  ESQ: Is he a good guy? JOE: You want me to answer yes or no questions? I&amp;#039;ll tell you what I loved about playing him. He&amp;#039;s  ESQ: It&amp;#039;s a him? JOE: It&amp;#039;s a him. But he wears a mask, and  ESQ: A mask? This is no way to get famous.  JOE: Fame has always been a downside to acting for me. It gives me the creeps. ESQ: Even the women? The money? JOE: I have a lot of trouble getting turned on by girls who are turned on by celebrity.  ESQ: It seems as if it&amp;#039;s no fun being an actor anymore. The big money&amp;#039;s drying up, the paparazzi are always watching, everyone ends up in rehab. JOE: Today&amp;#039;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&amp;#039;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&amp;#039;t have to listen to anyone.  ESQ: But if everyone does that, don&amp;#039;t we just end up with a lot of crap? JOE: Two things I have to say to that: One, in case you haven&amp;#039;t noticed, most of what Hollywood puts out is crap anyway. And two, here&amp;#039;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. And then, when everything&amp;#039;s online, you can check out the recommendations of people, of curators, you trust. On any given night, your chances of being able to watch a good movie will be much higher. Why should you watch something that&amp;#039;s not great?  ESQ: Because we have low expectations.  JOE: I know. It bothers me. People&amp;#039;s expectations should be higher. All of us have to man up a little and be like, Okay, we&amp;#039;re not going to see any more shitty movies. Enough is enough. ESQ: Enough is enough. No more shitty movies. Something we can all agree on.   Double-breasted wool jacket ($2,860) and cotton shirt ($800) by Versace; cotton jeans ($168) by AG Adriano Goldschmied; leather shoes ($575) by Harrys of London; vintage hat by Borsalino.  Two-button wool jacket (part of suit, $2,150) and cotton shirt ($325) by Ralph Lauren Black Label; wool vest ($500) by Band of Outsiders; cotton jeans ($48) by Levi&amp;#039;s; sunglasses ($415), Zooey by Oliver peoples.   Two-button cotton jacket ($1,595), cotton shirt ($370), and cotton trousers ($570) by Gucci.   Two-button linen-and-rayon jacket ($845) and rayon trousers ($245) by Emporio Armani; cashmere cardigan ($455) by Band of Outsiders; cotton shirt ($255) by John Varvatos; steel Class Elite Automatique watch with crocodile strap ($4,200) by Zenith.   Two-button cotton jacket ($1,475), cotton shirt ($375), silk tie ($195), and wool trousers ($575) by Dolce &amp;amp;amp; Gabbana; leather shoes ($575) by Moreschi.   Two-button cotton jacket ($1,245), wool cardigan ($765), cotton shirt ($280), and cotton trousers($465) by Prada; leather shoes ($1,850) by Berluti.   Two-button cotton jacket ($650) and silk tie ($100) by Calvin Klein Collection; cotton shirt ($339) by Neil Barrett.  RELATED STORIES:  VIDEO: Esquire&amp;#039;s Spring 2009 Fashion Film Festival   PLUS: Who&amp;#039;s the Best Dressed Real Man in America?   "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/style/a5873/joseph-gordon-levitt-0609/>