Joseph Gordon-Levitt has exactly the air about him that you’d expect — polite, well-dressed, and charming as heck. His latest film, Don Jon, which marks his debut as a writer and director, also stars Gordon-Levitt as a womanizing, body building, porn addict who begins a romantic relationship with a romantic, traditional, sexy young woman played by Scarlett Johansson. It’s a romantic comedy about unhealthy expectations, but Gordon-Levitt expects that it’ll resonate well with audiences. Along with a few other journalists, I sat down with the actor/writer/director (or “Joe” as he introduced himself) and asked about his experience making Don Jon…
What inspired you to choose this particular story for your directorial and writing debut?
Well, I’ve been working as an actor since I was young. Probably because of that, I’ve always paid a lot of attention to the way that TV and movies and all kinds of media affect how we see the world. I think, sometimes, the things we see in the media give us certain unrealistic expectations for life, and especially for love and sex and relationships. I wanted to tell a story about that. I thought a good way to do it would be to have a comedy about a boyfriend and a girlfriend where the guy watches too much pornography and the girl watches too many romantic Hollywood movies. They both have these unrealistic expectations and keep missing each other.
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