Rian Johnson Shows Off His 'Looper' Time Machine To Ring In The New Year

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by Oliver Lyttelton
January 3, 2012 10:21 AM
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The benefit of having a time machine? You don't have to wait nine months to see Rian Johnson's "Looper." The third film from the director of "Brick" and "The Brothers Bloom" is a tough, twisty sci-fi noir (the script is one of our favorites of the last few years) and the director has assembled a hugely exciting cast, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt, Paul Dano, Jeff Daniels and more starring in the picture. But with the film wrapping early last year, and not set for release until September, the wait is becoming something close to interminable, particularly after ecstatic word leaked out of early screenings.

Set in the near future, where crime syndicates from the far future send back victims for killers, or Loopers, to dispose of in the past, all we've had to tide us over so far is a single image of Willis with some serious firepower. But the filmmaker has celebrated the new year with another little hint, posting a picture on the film's official Tumblr (via Bleeding Cool), of himself perched in the time machine that causes so much trouble.

It demonstrates some pretty nifty art direction (courtesy of "Contact" production designer Ed Verraux), without giving away too much, which is about what we want at this stage of the process. We can't say we agree with Bleeding Cool's assessment that it seems to be influenced by "Twelve Monkeys," but each to their own. Sony and FilmDistrict will release the film on September 28th, and we can't wait. Is it too much to hope for a SXSW premiere before then?