Actor Joseph Gordon Levitt Wants Your Michigan Pics for a New Project

Got some great photos of Michigan's great outdoors? Actor, writer, and director, Joseph Gordon-Levitt wants them!

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Michigan, hello!! Still looking for cool photos taken outdoors in Michigan for a new project. Anyone can be a part of this! Just find some good photos in your phone, then add them here: https://hitrecord.app.link/statephotos

So what is Gordon-Levitt working on? The project is called "America the Beautiful us" on HitRecord, an open online community for creative collaboration that Gordon-Levitt founded more than a decade ago with his late brother Daniel. The platform allows artists to work together on projects like poems, short films, books, music, and more.

According to IndieWire, it was partially frustration that inspired Gordon-Levitt to launch HitRecord in 2005. The former child actor (3rd Rock from the Sun, 10 Things I Hate About You) went off to college and after returning to Hollywood, found he wasn't landing roles.

Gordon-Levitt tells IndieWire,

I wanted to be creative, and no one was letting me... [So I thought] OK, I have to figure out something to do on my own.

He and his brother started creating online,

And this community started forming around what we were doing. And then it became all about this feedback loop between me and the community.

Eventually, the production company grew to be what HitRecord is today, counting short films that have played at Sundance and Emmy-winning TV shows among the projects originating on the platform.

So what is "America the Beautiful us" going to end up being? The project is described as a short documentary and the overview reads:

The United States will be celebrated by folks around the country who share what makes their part of America especially beautiful to them.

Contributors are also encouraged to share video from their home state and complete the sentence, "I'm proud to be from the state of _______ because _________." in writing or on video.

So far, only 61 pieces of content about Michigan have been submitted. C'mon, the Mitten State is definitely a picturesque place! With the Great Lakes, rivers, waterfalls, sand dunes, forests, wildlife, small towns, and bigger cities like Grand Rapids and Detroit -- I'm sure we've all got some good Michigan pics on our camera rolls! If you'd like to participate in the project, submit your content here!