Joseph Gordon-Levitt

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Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jessica Chastain to Present at Film Independent Spirit Awards

Originally posted 01/27/2012 09:40AM

The year's Film Independent Spirit Awards promises plenty of star wattage: nominee Jessica Chastain and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who stars in the best feature nominee, 50/50, will present at the show.

The ceremony, held the day before the Academy Awards in a tent on the beach in Santa Monica, Calif., will also include appearances by Bryan Cranston, Elizabeth Banks and Ewan McGregor, who will also present awards on the show.

Hosted by Seth Rogen, the Film Independent Spirit Awards will also air on IFC on Feb. 25 (10 p.m.).

Among this year's crop of nominees: Michelle Williams, who also scored an Oscar nomination for My Week with Marilyn, for best female lead; and Ryan Gosling, who some say was snubbed at the Oscars, is up for best male lead for Drive.

Chastain, meanwhile, is up for best supporting female for Take Shelter.

Best feature nominees include: 50/50, Beginners, Drive, Take Shelter, The Artist and The Descendants.

Zooey Deschanel & Joseph Gordon-Levitt: What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?

Originally posted 12/30/2011 08:30AM

Those two stars of 2009's bittersweet romantic comedy (500) Days of Summer, Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, have reunited – just in time to ring in 2012.

With a ukulele in her hand and a guitar in his, the attractive costars strum and sing composer Frank Loesser's 1947 "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve," which, even Deschanel admits, was most famously rendered by Grammy-winning jazz great Nancy Wilson.

In a message accompanying their decidedly low-budget video on her HelloGiggles website, the New Girl Golden Globe nominee notes that she and Gordon-Levitt have known each other for nearly 12 years, after meeting during "the summer of 2000 while doing a tiny movie called Maniac, where we bonded over a mutual appreciation for Harry Nilsson and Nina Simone and I have been lucky enough to call him one of my dearest friends ever since."

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Credit: WENN, Armando Gallo/Retna

Friends Remember Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Brother as Inspirational

Originally posted 10/07/2010 06:25PM

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is famous as the star of such hit movies as Inception and (500) Days of Summer, but his older brother, Dan Gordon-Levitt, who died this week at age 36, was a superstar in his own circle.

Dan, (known as "Burning Dan" to his friends), is being remembered as an innovator and inspiration among those in the insular world of fire dancing, which he was passionate about. Dan was often seen spinning and twirling with fire at Flow Temple Arts School in Venice Beach, Calif., which he founded; at Renaissance Fairs, where he often worked; and at the annual arts festival Burning Man Project.

"In the world of fire [performing], Burning Dan was a icon," Sean Driskel, a partner with Gordon-Levitt in the Flow Temple Arts school, tells PEOPLE. "He did amazing things with fire and anyone who saw him would come away believing that they could do it too."

Says his friend and former student John Routson, "All of a sudden, the world seems a bit less bright."

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