Joseph Gordon-Levitt Reveals Looks and Feel Inspirations from Mr. Corman – The Hollywood Reporter

Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Josh Corman, a fifth-grade teacher who lives in the San Fernando Valley, in Apple TV +’s dark comedy Mr. Corman. Faced with the loneliness in his late 30s after a breakup and difficulty connecting with others (including his kind-hearted roommate as well as his tough mother played by Debra Winger), Josh tosses through his days, making music in his bedroom, hoping for one End of his neurotic, fearful worldview. Gordon-Levitt, who also created the series and directed eight of the 10 episodes, reveals to THR a collection of visual inspirations for the show, ranging from his own experimental work in film and music, as well as the film that was screened how to “find cinematic beauty in a place that may seem banal”.

Photo taken at Van Nuys High School

Gordon-Levitt grew up in the San Fernando Valley when he started his career as a child actor. Perhaps not by chance, Mr. Corman is set in the Valley, where the title character teaches at an elementary school in Van Nuys. “I went to Van Nuys High, and the look and feel of the place is a big part of the show,” says Gordon-Levitt. This photo of the actor (left) – along with friends John, Mike, and Ian – was taken by another friend, Josh, during their freshman year of high school. “He was an artistic boy at the time who was experimenting with photography,” says Gordon-Levitt. “Photography meant something different back then, before everyone had digital cameras on their cell phones.” Since the black and white snapshot of the four friends resembled a tape photo, the photographer asked the young people to sign the picture.

First stars I see tonight

Josh Corman is a man in search of connection in an overconnected world, and much of his melancholy mood stems from the lonely nature of creating art. It’s a fitting topic for Gordon-Levitt, as he and his brother Dan Gordon-Levitt founded the online collaboration platform HitRecord in 2005. With hundreds of creative contributors, HitRecord has produced short films, music and prose, as well as an Emmy-winning show that ran for two seasons.

Through the collaborative process at HitRecord, Gordon-Levitt began experimenting with animation and green screens (both appear in Mr. Corman). “There are a number of greenscreen scenes where Josh is daydreaming and you see his feelings, which are too strong or too powerful to really capture realistically, capitalized in a great cinematic way,” explains Gordon-Levitt. “We’d do it a little differently with HitRecord than with Mr. Corman. We would [footage of actors shot in front of a greenscreen] visible to everyone online even though it wasn’t finished and then people added [their own] Visuals. ”Gordon-Levitt notes that the photo collage sequences in Mr. Corman were done in a“ more orderly manner, ”but he cites one of HitRecord’s short films, First Stars I See Tonight (in which actress Elle Fanning you can see). of the multimedia process.

First stars I see tonight
Courtesy photo

“Take Your Time” by The Books

Although he spends his days teaching fifth graders, Josh spends much of his free time working on his music. “Nathan Johnson – who composed the music – and I are good friends,” says Gordon-Levitt. “One of the things we talked about was [that] Josh’s music should be things that he could do in his bedroom. “

Gordon-Levitt points to the experimental duo The Books as an influence on Josh’s music. The New York City-based band – consisting of guitarist and vocalist Nick Zammuto and cellist Paul de Jong – released four albums between the band’s formation in 2000 and its breakup in 2012. Her songs are a mix of folk tunes and samples taken from tapes bought at Thrift shops; The band eschewed traditional percussion instruments and preferred the use of everyday objects instead of drums. Gordon-Levitt names the song “Take Time” from the band’s second album, The Lemon of Pink, as the path to Josh’s musical sound. “The Books is music that someone could make in a bedroom,” he says, “but it’s incredibly expensive and creative and beautiful.”

“Take Your Time” by The Books
Courtesy photo

Punch drunk love

Paul Thomas Anderson’s fourth feature film was his third (after Boogie Nights and Magnolia) in the San Fernando Valley, where he grew up. For Gordon-Levitt, the idiosyncratic romantic comedy – starring Adam Sandler in his first dramatic role as a clumsy, frightened man alongside Emily Watson – changed his view of the Los Angeles area he grew up in. “It finds cinematic beauty in a place that may seem mundane,” notes Gordon-Levitt. “If you were standing in the alley where Adam Sandler’s character works, you probably wouldn’t be thinking, ‘Wow, that would be a beautiful place for a movie.’ “

Gordon-Levitt credits Anderson’s particular vision of the Valley as the inspiration for the way Josh sees the world. “Paul Thomas Anderson doesn’t decorate the place – it’s just a matter of the setting,” he says. “I love the idea that a place that seems ordinary or not special can take on so much beauty depending on your perspective.” Gordon-Levitt adds that it’s the “life lesson” of his series: “Mr. Corman is about having a negative perspective versus a positive perspective. It’s about taking the everyday and making it beautiful. “

Punch drunk love
Columbia / courtesy Everett Collection

Fostex four-track recorder

Gordon-Levitt says he’s been making music since he was a teenager. “When I was 15, I got a four-track – that’s what we called it back then,” he remembers when he started recording his own songs, a time long before digital recorders were commonplace. “You would record on a cassette – just a normal, blank cassette – but this device [would allow you to] record four different tracks on one [tape]. “

Josh composes new music in Mr. Corman to penetrate his fearful mind. Gordon-Levitt admits that it was his own passion for music that influenced this element of Josh’s character. “From the age of 15 I recorded a lot of little songs. I’ve always loved it – I still love it, ”he says. “This hobby of mine became an important part of both Mr. Corman’s and Josh’s character. If you fast forwarded this 15 year old to his adult life, it would be Josh in many ways. ”

As Josh composes his music (each episode starts with Josh tinkering in his bedroom, albeit on a computer rather than an analog four-track), we slowly hear what he was working on with the show’s finale. “All of these parts,” he says, “are actually part of a song.”

Fostex four-track recorder
Adobe Stock

This story first appeared in a standalone December issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.