9 Insane Times Movies Stupidly Hid Actors Behind Prosthetics

4. Joseph Gordon-Levitt - Looper

Looper Joe Joseph Gordon Levitt
TriStar Pictures/FilmDistrict

Perhaps one of the most needless uses of prosthetics on this list, Joseph Gordon-Levitt wasn't confined to the makeup chair for hours to transform him into a historical figure or a Marvel super-villain, but rather... Bruce Willis.

Looper is all about a hitman who kills people sent back through time from the future, with the twist being that one of his targets is actually himself. In order to make it more convincing that both Jospeh Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis were playing the same character, the filmmakers applied prosthetics to the former to make him look more like the latter.

In a way it makes sense, after all, everyone is fully aware of what Willis looked like when he was young considering he was one of the biggest action stars of the 20th Century, but the problem was the effects didn't actually make the resemblance any more convincing.

If anything, it only took you out the movie, and made Gordon-Levitt's performance feel all the more artificial.

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Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.