Joseph Gordon-Levitt Placed Ads For ‘Don Jon’ On Popular Porn Sites

In Don Jon, Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as Jon, a Jersey Shore-inspired character who has a serious porn addiction who falls for Jersey girl Barbara (Scarlett Johansson), but he has some unrealistic expectations about relationships. The film, which was also written and direct by Gordon-Levitt, features plenty of porn montages, thanks to Jon’s porn proclivities. While the indie was made on a small budget, Relativity picked up the film at Sundance earlier this year, and now Don Jon has a large advertising and marketing budget to work with.

So, where did some of that new advertising money go?

To place ads for the movie on porn sites, of course!

A few days ago, a Redditor spotted a takeover ad for Don Jon on porn site Tube8, so when Gordon-Levitt did an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Reddit on Wednesday night, GoD alum Tom Cheredar jumped at the chance to ask the actor if part of the marketing budget was being used to place ads for the film on porn sites, to which the filmmaker replied, “Definitely.”

Here’s a screenshot of our question and answer on the Joseph Gordon-Levitt Reddit AMA:

[“Did you really use part of your marketing budget for DON JON to advertise on popular porn video sites?” via Reddit AMA.]

As you can see, Gordon-Levitt made sure to add that they were also placing ads for the film in other areas, like “chick flick” stuff (i.e., girly girl stuff) and the NFL (i.e., manly man stuff).

Here’s what Gordon-Levitt said about why he chose Scarlett Johansson as his leading lady for Don Jon:

First of all because she’s hilarious. See her on SNL? And she balances comedy and sincerity with a delicacy few actors can. Besides that, I thought she’d be a powerful presence in the movie because she’s an acute example of what the movie’s about. Scarlett is an extremely smart person, and a very talented artist. And yet most of what gets talked about is her looks. This part of our culture is what DON JON is poking fun at.

Judging by the film’s description and its trailer (both are here below), it seems like Gordon-Levitt really nails it with this dramady. While the porn addiction angle is being played up, you can tell Don Jon has a lot of heart and humor to it.

Don Jon, which also stars Julianne Moore, Glenne Headly, Brie Larson, and Tony Danza, opens in theaters on September 27.

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. (c) Relativity Media

Trailer

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