Rian Johnson's Looper doesn't just have a clever use of time travel — it also has a complicated gangster society, with its own futuristic terminology. Including the movie's title — Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character is a "looper," which means he's the lowest of the low, when it comes to these future gangsters.
We talked to the cast and director of Looper, and they explained to us why Joseph Gordon-Levitt doesn't get to have a cool gun.
Where does a Looper fit in the gangster hierarchy of the future?
Joseph Gordon-Levitt: A Looper is not a big deal. A Looper is sort of a "lower on the totem pole" kind of guy. He's hired to shoot people that are already hog-tied. That's it.
What's your job?
Noah Segan: I'm a Gat Man! In our little world we have Loopers, and we have Gat Men. The Gat Men are a little bit higher on the totem pole than the Loopers. They're sort of the real gangsters. My character was a Looper who graduated to be a Gat Man. And is now sort of his own guy. I like to think that it's my job to keep the Loopers in check, which is a difficult job.
We saw a bunch of weapons earlier in the Looper case, can you explain them?
Noah Segan You saw my weapons! There are two main weapons in the movie the Looper's blunderbuss, which is sort of a shotgun type thing. It shoots out buckshot, it's a cannon. You don't need to be anybody to know how to use it. You point it as something and as long as it's in 15 yards, you'll hit it, you'll kill it. Gat Men they carry a Gat. A six shooter it's like an old fashioned revolver. My character, Kid Blue, who fancies himself a bit of a cowboy, gets to carry a beautiful customized chrome version with beautiful wooden handles that were molded to my hand. A nice holster with the "Kid Blue" initials monogrammed on it. I like to go around, spin it, and take people out.
Rian Johnson: These guys, the Loopers, they really are not high on the food chain of assassins. They're kind of screw ups. A guy shows up from the future with his hands tied behind his back and a sack over his head, and they shoot him. They're not skilled. So these blunderbusses, I wanted to design them so they looked like the crudest thing possible. It's basically impossible to miss something if you fire one of them. Whereas the Gat Men have these revolvers that are very long and elegant and very accurate and actually require skill. It's less about going after some kind of specific design aesthetic — it's more about what's suited for the character, and hopefully having it take a cue from that.
Emily Blunt: I have the standard shotgun. And what i like doing is the hip thing. Shooting from the hip is kind of fun.
Check out our pictures of these different types of weapons below:
