Joseph Gordon-Levitt Reveals How He Convinced Anne Hathaway for $41M Rom-Com Cameo Starring Scarlett Johansson

Making his directorial debut, which comprised an out-of-the-box premise, wasn’t an easy task for Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Following the actor’s path of crafting 2013’s Don Jon came with its own sets of difficulties, as the satirical rom-com about a man being addicted to hardcore p*rnography wasn’t easy to get greenlight. However, getting some memorable cameos from several Hollywood A-listers wasn’t the challenging aspect for the Inception actor.

Apart from the cast, including the likes of Scarlett Johansson and Brie Larson, Gordon-Levitt was able to convince the likes of Anne Hathaway to do a cameo in the movie. The actor later opened up about how he was able to get cameos from several Hollywood A-listers.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Don Jon

Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s friendship with Anne Hathaway was the reason behind her cameo in Don Jon

While appearing in an episode of Vanity Fair’s Scenes Selection, Joseph Gordon-Levitt opened up about how he managed to include cameos from several Hollywood stars, including Anne Hathaway. He expressed that it wasn’t hard and considering that he was friends with all of them, especially Hathaway, with whom he previously worked on Nolan’s TDK trilogy, it wasn’t a hard task to pull off. The actor stated,
“We might as well point out my dear friends who did me the favor to appear in these movie posters. Emily and John and Chan and Annie. I spent probably way too much time coming up with these and had a lot of fun designing these movie posters. ‘So Hard So Fast 3D’ and ‘The Special Someone’ [Laughs] The one for the dudes and the one for the ladies”
However, getting funding for the unique rom-com was the difficult part for the actor and he commended Scarlett Johansson for the movie eventually getting made.

Don Jon (2013)

Joseph Gordon-Levitt deemed Scarlett Johansson the reason behind Don Jon getting made

Getting funding for his directorial debut, which tackled a sensitive topic wasn’t the easiest job to pull off for Joseph Gordon-Levitt. But despite the difficulties, Scarlett Johansson’s inclusion, who agreed to star in the film even before it got funding, helped the movie get greenlight. The Inception star explained that Johansson’s inclusion in The Avengers and his inclusion in The Dark Knight Rises helped in securing funding for the movie. He said,

“Because of Scarlett’s name, and because The Avengers was going to come out when she and I were attached to the script, that was it. I owe a great deal of credit to Scarlett, who got on board before anybody before we even had our financing. Her making that commitment was a huge part of us being able to do it.”

Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Scarlett Johansson
But despite enduring several problems on his way to crafting his directorial debut, Gordon-Levitt’s Don Jon did become a decent success and garnered around $41 million against its $7.5 million budget.