In a recent interview with Variety, Joseph Gordon-Levitt was ready to get his hands dirty during his appearance in Rian Johnson's Poker Face. In this week's episode of the series, titled "Escape from Shit Mountain," the actor plays Trey Mendez, a white collar criminal who finds himself arrested and confined to the comfort of his own home. Mendez will be the threat that Charlie (Natasha Lyonne) will have to deal with this time around, as the perceptive lead must prevent the criminal from escaping his house. Unfortunately, Charlie hasn't faced a danger even similar to that of Trey, raising the stakes for this episode's mystery.

This isn't the first time Gordon-Levitt has worked in one of Johnson's projects, as the actor was the lead star in Brick, which was the filmmakers' directorial debut. The actor also made a small cameo appearance when Johnson worked in the galaxy far, far away when he helmed Star Wars: The Last Jedi. In that adventure, Gordon-Levitt played a citizen of Canto Bight who is particularly enthusiastic about the parking rules of the planet. But, when it came to Poker Face, the actor was more than ready to play a dangerous antagonist. He even commented on his favorite "kill" to perform:

“I think I have to go with stabbing another person through the chest with a knife, I haven’t had a chance to do that before, the full-on Anthony Perkins-Hitchcock moment, raising the knife high above my head. The way we shot it to maximize the silhouette effect. It’s a ‘Doctor Caligari’ moment. It’s such a classic cinematic image, the stabbing, and I’d never done it before, so it’s appropriate that I ended up doing it on Rian’s show.”

Gordon-Levitt was clearly happy to be having the opportunity to be working with his long-time friend again, as the actor got to try new things during his guest appearance in Poker Face. He will be seen next in John Carney's Flora and Son, which is a musical comedy about a single mother (Eve Hewson) who is having trouble with her teenage son, Max, due to the boy's new fondness for stealing what doesn't belong to him. She contacts a music teacher (Gordon-Levitt) to see if online guitar lessons can help Max with his problems, allowing to find a passion that provides him with better skills.

Natasha Lyonne in Poker Face Episode 8
Image via Peacock

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What Is Poker Face About?

After exploring the "whodunnit" genre with Knives Out and its sequel, Glass Onion, Johnson decided to take a different approach to solving mysteries with Poker Face. The show follows Charlie Cale in a "mystery-of-the-week" format, where the very intelligent protagonist must solve cases that are mostly unrelated to one another. She used to work in a casino, but after being forced on the run, she gets entangled in the deaths of numerous strangers. What people around her never expect is Cale's ability to always notice when someone is lying. Since it's hard to hide the truth form her, the show's antagonists must find alternative methods to stop Charlie from getting in their way.

You can find the trailer for Poker Face, which is now streaming on Peacock, below: