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The always estimable Frosty over at Collider sat down with actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt during his press day for the upcoming Stop Loss and asked a few questions regarding his participation in Stephen Sommers G.I. Joe.  In that film, it is rumored that Gordon-Levitt will be playing Cobra Commander.

 Here’s the skinny:

Collider: What attracted you to being in G.I. Joe and how much of a fan are you of Akira?

Joseph Gordon Levitt: (he laughs) Well what attracted me to being in G.I. Joe was when they showed me the drawings of the character that I was going to get to play. I love the idea of just getting to play something way, way larger and huger than life. It’s kind of the opposite of Stop Loss, in fact. Stop Loss is a realistic portrayal of what it’s like to be a solider today. I think movies can be two things – or many things. Movies can be any number of things, they can be - despite the fact that some people don’t believe this – but I think movies can be a meaningful and profound work of art about humanity. They can also be just a spectacle for pure entertainment and that’s another tradition. And that’s the tradition that G.I. Joe fits into, as opposed to Stop Loss, which is, I think, a layered and profound human story. G.I. Joe is not layered or profound at all; it’s just a big thrill ride…it’s like have some fun. And it’s a lot of fun. And when I saw those drawings of the character I was going to get to play, I got that feeling of like just being a kid and wow, that’s so cool, and I get to be that and yeah…that’s why I wanted to do it. And Akira, I love that movie and I know that they are writing in blogs that I’m doing it. It’s funny because the script isn’t even done. I haven’t read a script yet.

Collider: But would you be interested assuming the script is up to par? Because they’ve talked about Leonardo DiCaprio and you being the two leads.

Joseph Gordon Levitt: Like I said, I love that movie. I love that movie. Assuming the script is up to par is a rather big assumption, you know what I mean.  Who knows? There are a million great ideas but it’s all about the execution.

Certainly, landing Gordon-Levitt for a role in Akira with Leonard DiCaprio would propel that movie up the expectation charts a bit.  If you’ve never seen Brick do yourself a favor and go rent that movie today.

I’m not quite sure what to make of the G.I. Joe movie that is about to begins shooting.  First off, it seems that studio Paramount doesn’t really know what to do with the property.  They hired hack director Stephen Sommers, who given great material may actually be capable of delivering a fun and breezy movie, even if we haven’t seen it from him.  He’s not totally unredeemable like say Uwe Boll or Paul W.S. Anderson.

But then the script leaked and Hasbro had to issue press releases to reassure fans and whomever would listen that they went back to retool the script.  And then, if that was bad enough, it seems like they’ve assembled a lackluster cast.

First it was Sienna Miller, boo, but then Ray Park was cast as Snake Eyes, yay!  Then we got word that some other actors had been cast including Mr. Eko from Lost.  Today we got word that both Marlon Wayans, yikes, and Joseph Gorden-Levitt have been added to the cast.

Marlon Wayans has shown signs of brilliance in the past, but then again that was when he was working for Darren Aronofsky on Requiem for a Dream.  Wayans will play Ripcord.  Despite loving his performance in Aronofsky’s movie, Wayans hasn’t shown much since then, except his goofiness in lots of bad comedies.

Gordon-Levitt, a rising “serious” actor in indie films, is best known for his role on sitcom Third Rock from the Sun.  Seems like he’s cashing a major payday.  If being in this means he can pursue projects that excite him then by all means sellout friend.  No word yet on who Gordon-Levitt has been cast as.   Seriously though, go rent Brick if you haven’t seen it.  JGL is the star and it’s absolutely a work of dynomite.

G.I. Joe is expected to hit theaters in August of 2009