Listen: Joseph Gordon-Levitt on Sex, Scar-Jo and ‘Star Wars’ Sequels

Right now as you listen to this, Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s directorial debut, Don Jon, is enjoying its second big premiere at the South by Southwest Film Festival after crushing audiences with its style, humor and fantastic performances back at the Sundance Film Festival in January. Complete with thick New Jersey accents, gym workouts, loud family arguments, angry gum chewing and plenty of porn, Don Jon (formerly Don Jon’s Addiction) humanizes the Jersey Shore type by burying itself beneath the muscles and hair gel with a story about learning how to connect with another human being.

“I wanted to make a movie about how men and women objectify each other and how that impacts our love lives, and especially how the media plays into that,” Gordon-Levitt told us when we sat down prior to the film’s big SXSW premiere. “That was sort of the seed of the idea. I wanted it to be about a guy who watches too much pornography and a girl who watches too many romantic comedies.”

Don Jon is funny and heartwarming — and features one of Scarlett Johansson’s best performances as a controlling Jersey bombshell  — but why set it in this world and why go “full Jersey” with it? Below, Gordon-Levitt describes his creative process on the film, explains how Jersey Shore did not influence it in any way, and confirms what, exactly, will need to be cut from the sex-heavy movie so that it can arrive in theaters with an R rating.

Also, definitely make sure you stick around for the end when we ask Gordon-Levitt about his future roles, whether he’ll be in Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar and if he’d be up for possibly starring in one of those Star Wars sequels.

MORE —> Listen: Reviewing Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Don Jon’s Addiction as a Character from the Movie