Joseph Gordon-Levitt Is ‘So Happy’ His ‘Good Friend’ Shailene Woodley Agreed to Go to Greece for His New Film (Exclusive)

“Killer Heat” will be released on Prime Video on September 26

Joseph Gordon-Levitt was thrilled to be working with Shailene Woodley again on their new murder mystery film.

Speaking recently with PEOPLE about his new Prime Video film, Killer heatGordon-Levitt, 43, said it was “such a pleasure” to reunite with Woodley, 32, on the new film, which comes out eight years after the pair starred in the 2016 biographical thriller. Snowden.

“When I called Shae, we hadn’t spoken in a few years,” Gordon-Levitt tells PEOPLE of recruiting Woodley for Killer heat. In SnowdenGordon-Levitt played lead character Edward Snowden, while Woodley played whistleblower and wife of former CIA contractor Lindsay Mills.

“You know when you have a really good friend and it’s been a long time, you immediately fall back into all the comforts and friendships that you had in the past, that’s how you know they’re a really good friend? That’s how it was with Shae,” Gordon-Levitt says of reuniting with Woodley for Killer heat.

“I was like, ‘Hey, do you want to go to Greece?’” he added. “And I’m so glad it worked out.”

Related: Shailene Woodley and Sam Claflin Got Seasick While Filming Adrift the boat became “essentially a bucket full of vomit”

In Killer heatGordon-Levitt plays a private investigator named Nick Bali, who travels to the Greek island of Crete to investigate the accidental death of a young man from a wealthy family on the island. Richard Madden plays both the victim Leo Vardakis and his identical twin Elias, while Woodley plays Elias’ wife Penelope, who hires Nick on a hunch that something suspicious has happened to her brother-in-law.

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“It’s funny because he’s such a sweetheart,” Gordon-Levitt adds of his other Madden co-star, whose dual performance provides much of the tension at the heart of the film. “And he plays this really evil character – two guys, and both of them, in their own way, are pretty damaged, evil characters. And Richard himself is kind of a teddy bear, a real sweetheart.”

Gordon-Levitt, Woodley and Madden directed the film, which is based on the novel by author Jo Nesbø. The jealous man — on location in Greece, where Gordon-Levitt said he felt “so lucky” to be able to work in such a beautiful setting on the island.

Related: Shailene Woodley Describes the ‘Really Deep’ Bond She Has With Ansel Elgort After Playing Both Siblings and Lovers

“I consider it a privilege. I feel so lucky,” he says. “I’ve been to so many different places and there are very few places more beautiful than the island of Crete. I had never been to Greece before I made this film, and it’s a cliché – the beauty of Greece – but it’s a cliché for a reason. It’s really beautiful!”

Killer heat begins streaming on Prime Video on September 26.

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