Joseph Gordon-Levitt creates custom playlists to prepare for every acting role

"Listening to some angry music before you shoot can really help if you're trying to be angry," says Gordon-Levitt.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt has found a unique way to combine his love for music and acting. 

During an appearance on ‘The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon’ earlier this week, the actor revealed his personal method for getting into character: creating playlists.

"Yeah, that's true," Gordon-Levitt admitted when Fallon asked if he always makes a playlist for each new character he plays. 

"Sometimes if you're trying to, I don't know, be angry or you're trying to be in love, it can really help if you listen to some angry music before you shoot, or you listen to some romantic music before you shoot."

When asked when he started this practice, the actor replied, "Oh, I've done that, I don't know, since before you could make... like before music was on phones. I would bring CDs to set." 

The 43-year-old star has been in the entertainment industry since his 1988 debut in the television movie ‘Stranger on My Land’.

The conversation naturally led to Gordon-Levitt's current project, ‘Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F’. Fallon inquired about the playlist for his new role, to which Gordon-Levitt humorously responded, "The playlist is only one song — 'Axel F.'" 

The house band played a riff from the iconic song, delighting Gordon-Levitt, who shared that it was one of the first "grown-up music" songs he learned on the piano.

‘Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F’, featuring Eddie Murphy and Kevin Bacon alongside Gordon-Levitt, begins streaming on Netflix on July 3.