Joseph Gordon-Levitt praises Jacinda Ardern's handling of COVID-19 after spending pandemic in NZ

Joseph Gordon-Levitt has heaped praise upon Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern for her handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, gushing about how "lucky" he feels to be living in New Zealand. 

The Inception star spoke to Jimmy Fallon about his new life in Aotearoa last week, in an interview that has recently caught the attention of Kiwis. 

Appearing via video call from Wellington where he has been living with his family since last year, Gordon-Levitt said he had just dropped his sons off at school. 

"Man it's good, I feel so lucky. I almost feel guilty talking about it sometimes. If you don't know, New Zealand is one of only two countries in the world that has contained the pandemic," he said. 

The Hollywood star said that he "had to hand it" to the people of New Zealand and the country's "amazing leader", Jacinda Ardern for how the pandemic was dealt with. 

"By the way, I don't think it's a coincidence that the country led by a woman handled it," he said. 

Gordon-Levitt said he came to Aotearoa for work, "luckily", having explained to The Talk in October that New Zealand was the only place he felt he could safely get a new project off the ground. 

"It's hard, obviously, so much of the world is going through such a hard time and people are getting sick and dying," he said. 

"Here we are [in New Zealand] and I get to go to work every day and not wear a mask, and drop my boy off at school, I feel really lucky."