This is what gets Joe fired up. “The most valiant thing you can do as an artist,” he says, “is inspire someone else to be creative.” He has instigated a spate of short films—some starring friends like Gugino and Channing Tatum—and he does a lot of the shooting and recording and mixing right here in his black-curtained cavern. Through hitRECord he wants to attract ideas from people all over the world and make original movies without a whit of Hollywood interference. A psychoanalyst might observe that the kid who kept hearing no from Hollywood has sublimated his annoyance by conjuring up an alternative salon where everyone always hears yes. “If the goal is to get the best artists, actors, and filmmakers in the world to create the best movies, Hollywood does a decent job,” he says. “And I think no one would disagree with me that it also makes a ton of bad movies and employs a bunch of hacks. What’s coming is going to be a lot better, whether it’s music or movies or journalism. The media’s about to become a lot more effective.” Whether Joe is an altruist or a wired Louis B. Mayer in embryonic form, he’s so convinced that idea-swapping indie media is the wave of the future that he nearly floats when he talks about it. “There’s a lot of stuff that gets created for the love of it, and there’s a lot that really does get created with almost no love involved,” he says. “Just to make money. I think of Chris Nolan as a shining example of somebody who can do something for the love and still succeed at the money game. A lot of people make excuses and say, ‘Ah, well, there’s no room for love here. We have to make money.’ And I love to point to Chris Nolan and say, ‘Fuck you guys. This guy’s making more money than you are, and he’s making beautiful, genuine movies.’”

Details: Joseph Gordon-Levitt Comes of Age