Rian Johnson's Looper. Beyond those pairings, Gordon-Levitt has had a role in all of Johnson's movies in some capacity, even if in voice only.
It doesn't come as any surprise that Star Wars franchise, Gordon-Levitt is part of some of the most significant movies of the 2010s, and almost nobody has a clue. Below is a guide to Joseph Gordon-Levitt's many cameos in Rian Johnson's movies.
Brick (2005)
Rather than a cameo, Joseph Gordon-Levitt's difficult role in Brick is very much the lead, but the movie is included here because it's the one that started his and Rian Johnson's working relationship, which has provided so many laughs over the years. However, this noir-influenced high school movie isn't really that funny, and it wasn't until later in his career that Johnson would establish the comedic style for which he has become known. Brick follows Gordon-Levitt's teenage sleuth, Brendan Frye, as he investigates the disappearance of his girlfriend but gets embroiled in a seedy criminal underworld.
While Gordon-Levitt had made a name for himself on TV as the awkward teenage alien in the '90s sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun, Brick proved that he could lead a movie, and it showcased his dramatic abilities, too. That was something that fans of 3rd Rock from the Sun had never seen. But Brick is an important film for Johnson, as well. The murder mystery movie was his feature directorial debut, and it immediately put him on the map for how well he can write and direct a crime thriller on such a shoestring budget, as it was made for just $450,000.
The Brothers Bloom (2008)
The Brothers Bloom stars Mark Ruffalo and Adrien Brody, but writer-director Rian Johnson brought back his Brick lead for a non-dialogue role. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a patron at a bar where everyone but him is drunk, dancing, and having a great time. Although The Brothers Bloom is the worst of Rian Johnson's movies, it's still a fun crime caper and something of an onion with layers itself, and the sudden-but-brief appearance of Gordon-Levitt for no discernible reason is a hilarious stand-out moment. The cameo is mostly in the background, as the actor depressingly sips on a beer while watching the buffoonery, and it's likely most viewers don't even notice him.
While it's hard to read into the cameo, as Gordon-Levitt literally has a blank stare in the one scene he appears in, the role has the actor doing what he does best. Gordon-Levitt has shown how great of a dramatic actor he can be in everything from Don Jon, a 2013 movie that Gordon-Levitt both starred in and directed, and it's perfectly encapsulated in the brief Brothers Bloom cameo.
Looper (2012)
Just like Brick, Looper features Gordon-Levitt in a lead role, not a cameo. The sci-fi movie follows his protagonist, Joe, who is a hitman hired to kill people sent to him from the future. Things get messy when he's forced to kill his older self (Bruce Willis), which leads to a surprisingly fantastic team-up action flick. It's a great premise full of plot twists typical of a movie written by Rian Johnson and takes advantage of Gordon-Levitt sharing a likeness with Willis in a creative way, too. Looper has a terrific ensemble cast — alongside Gordon-Levitt and Willis, the movie stars Paul Dano, Emily Blunt, Piper Perabo, and Jeff Daniels.
Following his ing role in Looper gave Gordon-Levitt his personal favorite movie role, but unlikely given the way the first film ends.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)
In Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Gordon-Levitt clearly had a ton of fun with his Star Wars character in The Last Jedi, and though it's only a minor cameo, it sees the actor doing something he's never done in his career. He manipulates his voice, and it sounds much more baritone than usual, but it also maintains that goofy humor Gordon-Levitt is known for. However, as was the case with most other elements of The Last Jedi, Slowen Lo was heavily criticized for being part of a forgettable subplot in the 2017 movie. Gordon-Levitt later had another Star Wars role, playing Jay in the animated Star Wars: Visions, a character far more layered than Slowen Lo.
Knives Out (2019)
Given that Knives Out was Rian Johnson's return to the murder mystery genre for the first time since Brick, the 2019 movie wouldn't have felt right without a cameo from Joseph Gordon-Levitt. It's once again a small voice-only role, but it's just as creative as always. At the beginning of the movie when Marta is in her kitchen, her sister is watching a crime show on her laptop. The voice of the detective emanating from the laptop's speakers, Detective Hardrock, is Gordon-Levitt. Nobody would have ever thought that the biggest talking point of Knives Out is Ransom's sweater, but Gordon-Levitt's cameo is the runner-up.
This cameo has led to speculation that Knives Out 3 could star Joseph Gordon-Levitt and see Daniel Craig's Benoit Blanc teaming up with Hardrock. That might not make sense given that Hardrock is a fictional TV detective in the Knives Out universe, but Johnson has been known to cleverly subvert expectations in the past, and he could make it work. There's a small chance the third movie in the series could be a prequel, as many other interesting murder mysteries solved by Blanc have been alluded to throughout the first two films. Whatever it turns out to be, it'd be great to see Gordon-Levitt and Craig chew the scenery together.
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)
The Knives Out sequel Glass Onion is tonally different from its predecessor, as it is much more of a comedy and is full of laugh-out-loud jokes, and that's where Joseph Gordon-Levitt's cameo comes in. Gordon-Levitt voices The Hourly Dong in Glass Onion, which isn't even a character. The Hourly Dong is billionaire Miles Bron's timely chime, originally meant to be an hourly gong. Instead, throughout the movie, Gordon-Levitt frequently announces, "Dong!" and it's one of many brilliant running gags throughout the murder mystery. The longtime Rian Johnson collaborator is unrecognizable as The Hourly Dong, and he clearly had fun in the sound booth when he was recording it.
The fact that Gordon-Levitt's roles and appearances in Johnson's movies have had less and less screen time and dialogue with almost every consecutive release could be an inside joke between the two friends, as the actor literally says one word in Glass Onion. But Gordon-Levitt isn't the only actor to be given a different role in each of the Knives Out movies. Another longtime collaborator of Johnson is actor Noah Segan, who plays the stoner Derol in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery and Trooper Wagner in the first movie. It won't come as any surprise when both actors inevitably have cameos in the threequel either.
