After a string of hit indie films, actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt is starring in (500) Days of Summer, in which he plays a man looking back on his relationship with the former girl of his dreams, played by Zooey Deschanel. Here he chats about getting his heart broken, making his own films and stories with happy endings.

Can you relate to some of the experiences of the film? How do you mend a broken heart?
Joseph Gordon-Levitt (JG-L): Of course, everybody can relate to both sides. Everyone’s been Tom, everybody’s been Summer at some point or another, to some degree or another. I certainly have. That was really our aim with this, to not just make something that’s funny or pulls at the heartstrings, so to speak, but is actually heartfelt and honest.

Has there been a Summer in your life?
JG-L: Of course, there’s been one in everyone’s.

How was it working with Zooey again?
JG-L: The cool thing was Zooey and I have known each other for a long time, because we did a movie together called Manic, almost ten years ago. It was a very different movie from (500) Days of Summer, it’s one I’m really proud of actually, it’s a very heavy, dramatic movie, and we’ve stayed friends since then. The chemistry and the comfort and trust between two people playing a love story like this is key, and to have a friend that I could trust, and whose sensibilities I already understood, made it so much easier, and is a big part of why it all looks natural on screen.

Was it never awkward, being such good friends, doing those intimate screens together?
JG-L: No, it’s the opposite, it’s so much easier when it’s someone you know. It���s weird when it’s a stranger, but when you’re friends - we’ve done this before, we’re both actors.

I assume a film like this is dearer to your heart than something like G.I. Joe. Did you do G.I. Joe for the money, dare I ask?
JG-L: Actually no, to be honest, G.I. Joe’s not the best paying job I’ve had at all. I did that movie for fun. I got the opportunity to do this cool character with this mask and crazy make-up, and costume and voice - it was a blast. I go in for diversity and an eclectic mix of creative challenges, and G.I. Joe was really fun.

Was there anything cut from (500) Days that you hated to lose?
JG-L: There used to be a sequence that was sort of the antithesis of the dance number, The Best Morning Ever - there used to be a Worst Morning Ever, which was really funny, and fun, but I think you always have to take some stuff out if it’s slowing it down or whatever. They were going to play the same music but have terrible things happening instead.

Are you musical, too? Did you and Zooey jam together? Is there a YouTube video of you guys singing your heart out in a bar somewhere?
JG-L: There isn’t. I just made a short film that played at Sundance and it’s going to come out on a DVD compilation of short films. Spike Jonze actually has one on the same disc, which tickles me. The movie’s called Sparks and I adapted it from a short story, and I directed it, cut it and scored it. It’s really the first time I’ve been public about music that I make. But yeah, I've always loved music.

Is that a taster of things to come, directing features maybe?
JG-L: I don’t know. I don’t have a feature I’m working on now. But I do stuff all the time on this website called hitRECord.org. I put up little videos or pieces of audio or writing or photos and then invite other people to do the same, and we all sort of re-mix each others’ records and collaborate and make collages. It’s really fun.

One critic called the film the first great cinematic romance of the Facebook generation, it sounds like you’re into all of that - how would you say the Internet has changed your life?
JG-L: One thing I love about hitRECord and getting to make stuff and putting it up online is how instantaneous it is. I love (500) Days of Summer, I loved it when we shot it a year and change ago, and I love it now, but it’s very different to be talking about and finally showing a movie to audiences that was shot so long ago, whereas online you can make something and that day, put it out and have people see it and respond to it and maybe change it and collaborate. It’s just a different kind of vibe - it’s instant and it’s resonant. It allows for a kind of resonance that’s impossible in the older kind of media. That's also why I do a Twitter page, so that I can link to hitRECord.org.

Was there ever any studio intervention for a traditional happy ending?
JG-L: I don’t think there ever was, and I think that speaks to one of the many reasons why this movie turned out well, because the priorities were in order, the director [Marc Webb] was in charge, not a bunch of executives on a committee. Fox Searchlight who put out (500) Days of Summer also put out Slumdog Millionaire, The Wrestler, and Juno and Borat - all these great movies, and they get it. They get that if you make good movies, respectful and dignified movies, that they can meet with quite a bit of success. They're outstanding and I've never really felt that about a studio before, to be honest. I'm really impressed with them.

There are so many wonderful scenes in (500) Days of Summer. Do you have a favourite?
JG-L: The split-screen sequence with reality and expectations – I might cite that one. It really gets at the heart of the movie. Here’s a guy who’s built up all these expectations based on this music that he likes, and movies, and what he’s heard from friends and others, rather than engaging with reality and being present, he tries to project these expectations and deify this girl.

Are you a cynic or romantic at heart?
JG-L: I think a healthy balance of both is important, but I’d probably lean more towards the romantic side these days.

It’s such an inventive film, was all of that in the script, or was there anything that came out of improvisation?
JG-L: A lot of it really was in the script. I've got to say, this one actually looked a lot like how I expected it to look. It was really what I hoped it would look like, and what Mark the director described. He’s very savvy, technically, he’s shot so many videos, he knows how to gets what he wants. The surprise, of course, is that he’s also an extremely humanistic storyteller. He’s obsessed with story and character, and not just making it look right, which is a double-threat that’s rare in directors. You usually get one or the other, you get someone who knows how to tell a story but they don’t necessarily know about light and camera and rhythm, or you get someone who can make beautiful images but they can’t necessarily tell a great story. He does both and I think he’s going to be one of the filmmakers that our time is remembered for.