Comic-Con 2012: Looper footage impresses the crowds

Director Rian Johnson and stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Emily Blunt were the talk of Hall H today as they debuted a five-minute sizzle reel from their upcoming sci-fi actioner, Looper .

The footage set up the film’s plot, in which JGL stars as a ‘Looper’ – a hitman charged with offing targets sent back from a future in which murder is nigh on impossible to commit without getting caught.

But he’s put in a pickle when his future self – played by Bruce Willis – is sent back and manages to escape the young Looper’s clutches. Cue a tense, action-packed game of cat-and-mouse, as Gordon-Levitt tries to hunt down Willis and finish the job, before he’s taken out in his prime by his own organisation.

“The thing I focussed on was the voice,” Gordon-Levitt told Total Film of the challenge of playing a young Bruce Willis. “Bruce recorded himself reading some of my voiceover lines and sent them to me.”

The star, reteaming with his friend and Brick director Johnson, was also happy that his appearance – augmented with some nifty prosthetics – managed to impress the action legend himself… “He’s an understated man,” said Levitt, “so to get a reaction out of him was amazing!”

The footage also gave us a glimpse at Blunt’s character, who looks like she’s pretty nifty with a firearm too. “She’s a really tough cookie, a tough nut to crack,” said the actress, who reckoned it’s the best work she’s done so far. “The film is rich in complexity and not derived from anything else you’ve ever seen…”

Looper hits cinemas on 28 September.

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