Joseph Gordon-Levitt recently spoke with Newsweek about reuniting with Shailene Woodley for their latest film Killer Heat, marking their first collaboration since co-starring in the 2016 biographical thriller Snowden.
Released on Prime Video September 26, Killer Heat is a murder mystery based on Jo Nesbø's short story The Jealousy Man, who 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 investigator drawn into a web of deceit.
The plot centers on the suspicious death of Leo Vardakis, a young shipping magnate portrayed by Richard Madden. Although the official police report deems it an accident, Leo's sister-in-law, Penelope (Shailene Woodley), suspects foul play. She believes someone within the powerful Vardakis family is responsible, and fears the local police are under their influence.
As Nick delves deeper into the case, he uncovers a world ruled by the wealthy Vardakis family, where jealousy, secrets and danger lurk at every turn. Penelope's suspicions even extends 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 reuniting with Woodley, praising her performance as a standout in the film. He noted that this experience felt completely different from their time working together on Snowden, describing it as a much lighter and more playful collaboration.
"Well, Shay's performance in this movie is my favorite part of the whole film," he told Newsweek.
"She's so brilliant in it and we did a movie together years ago called Snowden, which is a dramatization of the whistleblower Edward Snowden, which is a really momentous and weighty historical event. We had to take our work very seriously and it was a very different feeling because in this movie, we were just having fun.
"We just went to a beautiful Mediterranean island and did a murder mystery. It was not that deep, we just got to play. So it was really nice, the contrast, actually."
Reflecting on his preparation for his role in Killer Heat, Gordon-Levitt said he was inspired by a variety of "great" detective films.
"Chinatown, The Long Goodbye—you can go back even to the old black-and-white days and watch The Maltese Falcon or Double Indemnity, these kinds of movies," he said.
"I also love the more modern ones, the Coen brothers, they have a bunch of great detective murder mysteries."
Gordon-Levitt's Nick isn't just a detective untangling the mystery surrounding Leo's death; he's also navigating his own demons. In discussing the project, Gordon-Levitt shared how easy it was to dive into this role.
"This whole job is just kind of easy, to be really honest. Some are challenging, and some kind of just happen naturally. And this is one of those," he said.
He also praised the story's noir style and its source material, saying: "This one, it just kind of came off the page."
Filming in Crete added to the allure of the project. Not only was the island's sun-soaked Mediterranean scenery perfect for the film's atmosphere, but Gordon-Levitt also found it a unique experience to learn the language.
"I did learn a little bit of Greek, but we were in Greece, so it wasn't that hard. Because, you know, I didn't have to have like a tutor or, you know, listen to audio, audio language courses or anything," he explained.
"I could just turn to the person next to me and ask the costumier or, you know, the guy in the lighting crew or whatever. Like, 'Can you just say that again for me? I want to make sure I'm saying it right.' It was kind of easy that way.
"Of course, I don't remember almost any of it because my short-term memory is much stronger than my long-term memory, and I have an exceedingly strong talent—which is useful as an actor and useless in every other circumstance in life—to remember things very well for a little bit of time. Until we roll camera and I record them and then they're gone."
Killer Heat is available on Prime Video.
