Joseph Gordon-Levitt Explains Why He is ‘So Grateful for’ His Household (Unique)

Joseph Gordon-Levitt all the time retains his household on the forefront of his thoughts.

Whereas talking with PEOPLE not too long ago about his new homicide thriller film Killer Warmth, Gordon-Levitt, 43, says that he’s undecided he would have linked with its story and characters nicely sufficient to take the movie on if he weren’t a husband and father.

“I’m fortunate sufficient to have a household of my very own that I am so grateful for,” the actor, who has been married to tech business entrepreneur Tasha McCauley since 2014, says. “And imagining what it might be prefer to be with out them simply makes me damage.”

In Killer Warmth, Gordon-Levitt portrays a personal detective named Nick Bali who’s employed to analyze the unintentional demise of a younger man from a wealthy household on the Greek island Crete. Bali’s estrangement from his personal spouse and kids is explored all through the film as he takes on the thriller in Greece, and the actor tells PEOPLE that the fictional character’s perspective caught with him.

“Regardless that that damage is imaginary, nicely, when you take that imaginary damage and also you begin diving deeper into it and including extra complexity to the situation, that is what it’s to play a personality like this,” he says. “I do not know if that I might have been capable of – I do not know that I might have been capable of resonate with it so strongly if I did not have a household of my very own.”

Gordon-Levitt doesn’t usually share details about his life with McCauley, with whom he shares three kids; he revealed in July that the couple had welcomed their daughter nearly two years earlier than. The couple’s sons, whose names have by no means been shared publicly, joined the household in August 2015 and June 2017, respectively.

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Whereas talking with PEOPLE about Killer Warmth, which additionally stars Shailene Woodley and Richard Madden, Gordon-Levitt famous that the small print of his character’s household for the film weren’t instantly tailored from Jo Nesbø’s The Jealousy Man, which the movie is predicated on.

“I believe [director Philippe Philippe Lacôte] heard me speaking about my household and noticed how a lot I cared about that and stated. ‘That is the sort of emotional grounding that this character wants,’ ” Gordon-Levitt says. ” ‘And with you enjoying this half, I really feel like what if this character had household?’ And the concept actually took maintain of all of us.”

Although Gordon-Levitt and McCauley sometimes maintain their lives personal, the actor wished his spouse nicely on her birthday very publicly throughout his June 19 look on The Tonight Present, throughout which he carried out a rendition of Taylor Swift‘s 2019 hit “Lover” in her honor. The couple will rejoice their tenth marriage ceremony anniversary on Dec. 20.

Killer Warmth begins streaming on Prime Video Sept. 26.