Gordon-Levitt finds a leading lady for Premium Rush

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is currently in New York City training with a bicycle for his upcoming starring role in the Sony Pictures thriller PREMIUM RUSH. He’ll star as a bike messenger who’s delivering a package than a crooked cop is desperate to get his hands on. But what’s an action movie without a proper love interest? Now Gordon-Levitt has a lady in Dania Ramirez who has signed on to star as the female lead in the film.

The question I’d have is what role is she playing? There are two options: One is VANESSA, a successful banker that’s the former girlfriend of our protagonist WILEE (I’m still not sure how that’s supposed to be pronounced) and the other is NIMA, a young college student who’s the future love interest. The former is an important but rather simple in terms of character (she hands out information) while the latter winds up getting involved with a lot of the action sequences. I’d lean toward NIMA but she’s described as a “young ASIAN woman” and that she’s Asian plays a large part into the story (unless their changing the ethnicity of a number of other characters).

Regardless, I’m happy for Ramirez who seemed to be having a tough time shaking questionable characters in two fanboy franchises: Callisto in X-MEN: THE LAST STAND and Maya from “Heroes.” Nevertheless, she’s a Jersey girl so I’ve to support the homegrown talent (Bon Jovi and “Jersey Shore” not withstanding).

Filming on PREMIUM RUSH is set to begin next month in New York City with writer David Keopp also directing.