Joseph Gordon-Levitt eyes two action thrillers

Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt arrives for the premiere of the film ''Hesher'' during the 2010 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, January 22, 2010.

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who last starred as a lovelorn man in "(500) Days of Summer," is taking a turn into action territory.

The actor is in final negotiations to star in "Premium Rush," a Columbia chase thriller being directed by David Koepp. He also is in talks to topline "Looper," a sci-fi thriller that will reteam him with "Brick" director Rian Johnson.

In "Rush," Gordon-Levitt will play a New York bike messenger who picks up an envelope at Columbia University, only to be chased throughout the city by a dirty cop desperate to get his hands on it.

Koepp ("Spider-Man," "Angels & Demons"), one of Hollywood's most in-demand screenwriters, wrote the script with John Kamps.

Gordon-Levitt then could segue to "Looper," which is set during a future in which time travel has been invented, with operatives sent back to the present to assassinate criminals. Gordon-Levitt will play a man sent back to kill himself.

Johnson gave Gordon-Levitt one of his first major roles as the actor was coming off five years of "3rd Rock From the Sun." Gordon-Levitt's role in "Brick" represented a 180-degree turn from his NBC sitcom work.

Gordon-Levitt next appears in Christopher Nolan's sci-fi thriller "Inception" and stars in the indie drama "Hesher," which premiered this year at Sundance.