The actor, who plays a New York bike messenger in the fast-paced film, swerved to avoid a diplomat’s car and smashed into a taxi.
His injuries were one thing, but Gordon-Levitt was more upset by the fact the diplomat didn’t even stop to make sure the actor was OK.
He recalls, “We’re shooting in New York City and the United Nations is there and they have these diplomats in New York who have diplomat licence plates and basically can break the law and don’t have to follow traffic laws.
“This diplomat broke through our lock-up (set), past our cones and our cops and just double parked right in the middle of our shot… and so I ended up going through the rear windshield of a taxi cab… It was a hit and run; he just took off. They didn’t even stop and take responsibility.”
But the actor accepts the accident would not have happened if he had been paying attention: “Everyone was very safety conscious but it was a perfect storm… Part of it was my fault… I was going too fast. They put a camera on the back of the motorcycle; that’s how they shoot it, and I got a head of the motorcycle, which I shouldn’t have done.”
