Don Jon (2013)
Trivia
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Spoilers (1)
Joseph Gordon-Levitt wrote the part specifically for Scarlett Johansson, and was really happy when Johansson agreed to star in the movie.
The sound effect used when Jon throws tissues into the garbage after watching porn is the same sound used when files are dragged to the "trash" utility on a Mac, the computer used by Jon.
The Facebook page for Barbara Sugarman (Scarlett Johansson) is real, and her friends are celebrities under false names.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt considered casting friend Channing Tatum as Don Jon, before taking the role himself. Had Tatum was cast, it would reunite him and Brie Larson after 21 Jump Street (2012).
The original cut, which was screened at Sundance in 2013, was given an NC-17 rating by the MPAA. Writer and director Joseph Gordon-Levitt cut some graphic porn footage that his character is watching throughout the movie from the final cut, which received an R rating. He chose to cut some of this footage since he didn't want people to think this movie was solely about porn after being confronted with sexually graphic footage.
The film's original title, as advertised when it was shown at the Sundance and Berlin film festivals, was "Don Jon's Addiction". Joseph Gordon-Levitt subsequently decided to change it because he felt that title put too much emphasis on the pornography storyline.
Despite appearing in several scenes, Brie Larson has only one line in one scene.
Emily Blunt and John Krasinski appear in a fake movie poster during the movie theater scene.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt's theatrical directorial debut.
Channing Tatum, Anne Hathaway, Meagan Good, and Cuba Gooding, Jr. all appear in cameo roles as the actors and actresses in the romantic comedies Barbara (Scarlett Johansson) loves.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Tony Danza appeared in Disney's Angels in the Outfield (1994), when Levitt was only twelve years old.
The Carl's, Jr./Hardee's commercial featured prominently in the film was a real ad that premiered during Super Bowl XLVII starring Danish model Nina Agdal.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt claims on the Howard Stern Show to have come up with the idea of Don Jon while high on marijuana.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt is good friends with his Havoc (2005) co-stars Channing Tatum and Anne Hathaway, who make cameos in this film as a couple in a romantic comedy that Don and Barbara (Scarlett Johansson) go see. He is also good friends with his Looper (2012) co-star Emily Blunt, who can been seen, alongside her husband John Krasinski, in a movie poster in the movie theater scene. He is also good friends with his Inception (2010) co-star Leonardo DiCaprio, who you can see on the poster to Titanic (1997) in Barbara's old bedroom.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character in Don Jon is made out to be an avid consumer of Swiffer cleaning products. This draws a parallel to the 2011 film 50/50, in which Gordon-Levitt's character also expresses a particular fondness of Swiffer products.
Some of the club-goers in the film are members of Joseph Gordon-Levitt's production company, HitRecord.
One of the posters at the theater features a still image of Russell Crowe from Gladiator (2000). It advertises the fictional movie "Holy Blood - Battle For Glory".
The only time you see Jon's sister is with the family, at the dining table or in church, and she's always on the phone. Not until 1:17 into the film does she speak -- and she doesn't say much. This was because the character Monica Martello didn't really exist in the original script. It was created by Joseph Gordon-Levitt during production according to actress Brie Larson's preferences.
When the poster of "Special Someone" can be seen a second time it does not show Anne Hathaway and Channing Tatum anymore. A modified poster of The Lucky One (2012) featuring Zac Efron and Taylor Schilling is used instead.
This is Julianne Moore's second film dealing with the subject of porn. She portrays a porn star in Boogie Nights (1997).
Brie Larson was originally supposed to play the role of one of the many girls Jon has a one night stand with. She turned down the role due to the amount of nudity it required. The role of Monica Martello was later created for her. Larson reportedly joked to Joseph Gordon-Levitt that she didn't want her character "to do much" in the movie. Keeping her request, Gordon-Levitt wrote only one line of dialogue for her.
The opening montage features visual clips, though no sound, from Benny Benassi's music video, "Satisfaction."
The blonde woman in yellow with the black thong that Jon climaxes to on his laptop is Alexis Texas. The scene is from 2009's Push 2 Play.
The movie poster of "Special Someone" shows Channing Tatum, but his name is shown as Conner Verreaux, who is actually a production assistant for this film.
In one of Jon's porn videos, the blonde standing in front of the refrigerator is porn star Kayden Kross.
The first football game Don Jon is watching while fighting with his dad (Tony Danza) about DVR/TiVo is an Arena League Football Game from 3-29-13. The San Jose SaberCats defeated the Orlando Predators 65-62.
Original cut of the film ran for 93 minutes on its Sundance premiere. When the film was given a wide release on September 2013, three minutes were cut from the film. Most of the removed materials were the porn videos Jon watches, some extended one night stand scenes and an extended first love scene between Barbara (Scarlet Johansson) and Jon.
The cast includes four Oscar winners: Julianne Moore, Brie Larson, Anne Hathaway, Cuba Gooding Jr., and one nominee: Scarlett Johansson.
A scene that was deleted showed Jon's sister Monica catching him watching porn. But unlike Jon's ex-girlfriend Barbara's strong reaction to it, she rather tells him it's okay to do so.
Brie Larson and Scarlett Johansson would both later reappear in Captain Marvel (2019) and Avengers: Endgame (2019).
In a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, Phoebe Cates, who played the character Linda Barret from "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" (1982), appears as one of Jon's important images. She is the second one shown, after the animation clip.
Nighttime college campus scenes were shot outside the old library at Los Angeles City College. The building was torn down in mid-2014, a year after this film was released.
