(Credits: Far Out / YouTube Still)
Sun 1 February 2026 12:30, UK
For a while, back in around 2010, it seemed like Joseph Gordon-Levitt was going to be one of the most prominent actors of his generation.
He was a favourite of Christopher Nolan’s, arguably the best director working in Hollywood, and a three-time Golden Globe nominee seemingly ready to embark on the most important part of his career. But then, over the past ten years, things have gone very quiet indeed, with Gordon-Levitt barely making any films at all, save for several voice-overs.
When he has appeared on screen, he still puts in a fine shift, as anyone who saw his 2023 musical comedy Flora and Son with Bono’s daughter Eve Hewson will agree, but he’s definitely a long way from the high points kicked off by 500 Days of Summer, the comedy for cool kids which gave him a boost into the spotlight.
Co-starring Zooey Deschanel, the 2009 film was a huge hit and sparked a run of movies for Gordon-Levitt that made him one of the highest-grossing supporting actors of the decade, appearing not just in Nolan’s 2010 smash Inception, but The Dark Knight Rises, Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln and the brilliant Bruce Willis time travel thriller Looper, the last three movies coming in 2012 alone.
He was at this point a genuine frontrunner for several of the biggest directors in the business, but due to having a family and the tragic death of his brother in his 30s, he took a deliberate step back from the limelight. A self-confessed cinephile, the actor’s grandfather, Michael Gordon, a director in Hollywood who was blacklisted for being a communist, gave him a direct link to the industry, and in picking his favourite films of all time, he displayed a wide knowledge of different genres.
Asked by Hitrecord to compile a list of ten films that “I dearly love, listed in no particular order”, Gordon-Levitt started his selection with Dumbo, the hour-long animated classic from Disney that was the studio’s most successful film of the 1940s and regularly makes lists of the best animations of all time.
Still from Disney’s 1941 film, Dumbo. (Credits: Far Out / The Walt Disney Co. / RKO Radio Pictures)
Next, he chose one of John Cassavetes’ early movies, 1968’s Faces, his second with his actress of choice, Gena Rowlands, which tells the story of a marriage breaking up and claimed three Oscar nominations, and third on his list was Zentropa, known as Europa in the UK, a psychological drama from the controversial Danish director Lars von Trier about an American in post-WW2 Germany caught up in a plot to destroy a train.
Following up, Gordon-Levitt chose Singin’ in the Rain from 1952, starring Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds, one of the finest musicals ever made and one of the most iconic movies to ever come out of Hollywood, which was nominated for two Oscars and two Golden Globes, winning one for co-star Donald O’Connor.
Changing the vibe, the actor then chose The Matrix trilogy, directed by the Wachowskis, kicking off in 1999 with the groundbreaking first film starring Keanu Reeves that pushed the boundaries of special effects and brought in half a billion dollars at the box office, after which he went for a Coen brothers effort, 1991’s Barton Fink starring John Turturro and John Goodman as a New York City playwright and lawyer, respectively.
Paul Thomas Anderson makes JGL’s shortlist with the Adam Sandler comedy Punch-Drunk Love from 2002, before the actor went for the 1963 Italian comedy drama 8 ½ by Federico Fellini, a movie that won ‘Best International Film’ at the Oscars the following year and is a certified classic that all film buffs should see at least once.
The last two places in Gordon-Levitt’s list went to two very different films, firstly the divisive 1973 docudrama F for Fake, directed by Orson Welles in which the director played himself, and secondly the astonishing 2004 romance drama Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind from French director Michel Gondry and starring Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey.
Meanwhile, on the career front, Gordon-Levitt will be back this year in a new thriller called Pendulum, co-starring Bridgerton’s Phoebe Dynevor and Norman Reedus from The Walking Dead.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s 10 favourite movies:Dumbo (Ben Sharpsteen, 1941)Faces (John Cassavetes, 1968)Zentropa (Lars von Trier, 1991)Singin’ In The Rain (Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen, 1952)The Matrix Trilogy (the Wachowskis, 1999)Barton Fink (Coen brothers, 1991)Punch-Drunk Love (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2002)8½ (Federico Fellini, 1963)F For Fake (Orson Welles, 1973)Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004)
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