Seldom, if ever, does a marquee name like Gordon-Levitt give much credence to the creative input of non-marquee names. This value system didn’t come from the ether, but rather from his mother, Jane Gordon, who ran for Congress in the ’70s as part of the Peace and Freedom Party, a feminist and socialist political group who, according to their mission statement, “represent the working class, those without capital in a capitalist society.” Gordon-Levitt, who was born in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, was brought up with these ideals. “I think that what I’m doing with hitRECord is influenced enormously by the fact that my parents were social peace activists in the ’60s and ’70s,” he says. “It’s not so much about ownership but about what we can accomplish as a community.”
