Joseph Gordon-Levitt looks just like a director in this picture.
Deadline reports that Joseph Gordon-Levitt will make his directorial debut with an untitled comedy that he also wrote. Oh, and he’ll star. With Scarlett Johansson.
The film is described as, “a sexy comedy about about a modern-day Don Juan, and his quest to become less of a “selfish dick.” Gordon-Levitt says this is what he came up with after many other failed attempts to complete a screenplay, including “one mammothy huge sprawling thing that encompasses my entire point of view of everything since I was 20 years old.” I think we all feel like we dodged a bullet when he shoved that in the proverbial drawer.
As for the acting, Gordon-Levitt says, ““I wrote myself a helluva role, one that people wouldn’t necessarily thought of me for.” In addition to Johansson, there’s another major female role to be cast.
Directing seems like an inevitable step for someone who’s been on the acting side as long as Gordon-Levitt. As always, any actor who’s been around enough good directors should be able to competently direct a modestly scaled script where the focus is on the acting rather than large set pieces or action. That’s not to say that an actor couldn’t make his or her debut with a big action picture, just that it’s a bigger risk. With a script that sounds like a pretty small sale romantic comedy, Gordon-Levitt should be okay. The script is a bigger worry. There’s a reason so many romantic comedies flop–they’re really hard to write.
Gordon-Levitt will be all over screens this year, with roles in “Premium Rush,” “The Dark Knight Rises,” “Looper,” and “Lincoln.” He was supposed to do a small role in Quentin Tarantino’s “Django Unchained,” but now might not be able to stay with that.
