Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s directorial debut, Don Jon’s Addiction, premiered at Sundance at the start of the year to very promising early reviews. It was already one of my most anticipated films of the year, and its reception out in Park City only furthered that anticipation.
Taking to Facebook, Gordon-Levitt has announced that his feature debut behind the camera has undergone a slight title change, and will now simply be Don Jon. He gives a strong reasoning behind it to back it up, and whilst I really liked the original title, I can definitely see why the change is a good decision if people have been misinterpreting what it’s about before even watching it.
“Hey everybody,
So, as you might’ve heard already, I wrote and directed a movie last year, and it’s coming out later this year. Which is absolutely crazy, and I still kinda can’t believe it. Anyway, I’m posting this today to let you all know that I’m changing its title. It’s now called… DON JON. I decided to change it, first of all, because DON JON is just so short and simple, and if you know me, you know I’m a fan of brevity. Second of all, it felt to me like the old title, “Don Jon’s Addiction” was throwing some people off a bit from the point of the movie. People were assuming it was a film about porn addiction and sex addiction, which really isn’t true. That’d be sort of like saying “The Maltese Falcon” is a movie about a statue of a falcon. DON JON is a comedy about how men and women treat each other, and how the media we consume can create unrealistic expectations that we put on one another. That’s why the story centers around a relationship between a young man (played by me) who watches too much pornography and a young woman (played by Scarlett) who watches too many romantic Hollywood movies. It’s a topic I personally find fascinating and hilarious.
And while I have your attention, I figured I’d show you the first production still we’re releasing of Jon’s father, played by none other than Tough Tony Danza. More to show soon. We’re just starting to work on the trailer now. And I’m heading down to SxSW with Tony this weekend with the film, so I’ll see some of you in Austin!
thanks again..
J”
Along with the announcement comes a handful of new stills, giving us a look at Gordon-Levitt as the eponymous character, as well as Scarlett Johansson and Tony Danza.
Jon Martello (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a strong, handsome, good old fashioned guy. His buddies call him Don Jon due to his ability to “pull” a different woman every weekend, but even the finest fling doesn’t compare to the bliss he finds alone in front of the computer watching pornography. Barbara Sugarman (Scarlett Johansson) is a bright, beautiful, good old fashioned girl. Raised on romantic Hollywood movies, she’s determined to find her Prince Charming and ride off into the sunset. Wrestling with good old fashioned expectations of the opposite sex, Jon and Barbara struggle against a media culture full of false fantasies to try and find true intimacy in this unexpected comedy written and directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
Gordon-Levitt, Johansson, and Danza are joined by a great cast, headed up by Julianne Moore, Brie Larson, and Rob Brown.
Gordon-Levitt is directing from his own script, with past collaborator Ram Bergman (Brick, Looper) producing.
No word yet on an exact release slot, but we do know that the film will be released this summer in the US, with Relativity committing to a very big marketing campaign ahead of its release. And I’m keeping my fingers very tightly crossed that it will be coming across the Atlantic for a UK release this summer, too. Whilst we wait for the first trailer that Gordon-Levitt mentions he’s been working on, here are the new images from the film, now titled Don Jon.
