Stop-Loss, the newest war film of 2008, was directed by Kimberly Pierce, who also directed Boys Don’t Cry.

The 27-year-old Jewish actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Tommy Burgess, an army misfit who befriends two others (Ryan Phillipe and Channing Tatum) while serving in the 21st Infantry Regiment.

The movie, due to be released in theaters nationwide on March 28, 2008, was filmed in four locations: Austin, Lockhart, and San Antonio, Texas, and Morocco to simulate Iraq. Stop-Loss tells the story of three Army soldiers caught up in the stop-loss policy that follows returning from Iraq.

The U.S. military's "Stop-Loss" policy is the involuntary extension of a service member's enlistment contract in order to retain them beyond the normal end of their term of service, or the ceasing of a permanent change of station move for a member still in military service.

"And that's what Stop-Loss is all about" said Gordon-Levitt, a Los Angeles native, in an interview with Spectrum. "Trying to get people to consider it from the point of view of the human beings that are in the midst of this [war in Iraq], as opposed to the system, and the money, and the oil [see our editorial]. All the other things that we hear day after day."

Gordon-Levitt said he was challenged by his role in the film. "I don't claim to know what it's like to be a soldier. I've never played a solider before, and in my life, have never considered what being a soldier would be like. Playing a soldier intrigued the hell out of me," he said.

He spent the first few weeks of role preparation getting to know the other characters along with three real soldiers and director Kimberly Pierce.

"I made a playlist on my iPod called 'Tommy Burgess.' I had bands like the Casualties, Social Distortion, and a lot of punk bands just to get me in that mood. As far as movies go, I watched a documentary called Operation Dreamland. The cameraman literally sat down with the guys and filmed them out there in Fallujah," Gordon-Levitt said.

Although not too keen on the term "celebrity," Gordon-Levitt has a resume ranging from independent films, family films, and TV roles. But fame hasn't been his goal or expectation.

"Focus on the craft and the art itself," said Gordon-Levitt. "There’s really no fundamental link between being an actor and being rich and famous. It's just kind of been created in the last hundred years or so."

After years of portraying Tommy Solomon, the extraterrestrial information officer stuck in a teen's body on NBC's 3rd Rock from the Sun, it's no wonder he's got an intelligent insight on things like the U.S. military.

Gordon-Levitt considers the military as a group of individual people and has the utmost admiration and respect for them. He also believes the politicians like to make an alliance between themselves and the troops, saying things like: "If you don't support my political cause, then you don't support the troops."

Gordon-Levitt said, "I asked some of the soldiers and their families that I befriended in preparation for this film, and they've all said the same thing. 'I'm just trying to do my job, keep my friends alive, and stay alive myself.'"

Look for the Spectrum review of Stop-Loss later this semester.

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