By The Huffington Post News Editors
“Don Jon,” Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s debut as a writer and director, includes many shocking moments, but perhaps none more than the reemergence of Tony Danza. In a story about the way men and women objectify each other through the cultural lens of pornography and romantic comedies, it’s the 62-year-old Brooklyn native — playing Gordon-Levitt’s brusque, onscreen father — who steals his scenes with the fervor of a New Jersey dad devouring a plate of ziti and gravy.
“He said he wrote it with me in mind. That’s not bad. That’s pretty good,” Danza, who hasn’t appeared in a film since 2004’s “Crash,” told HuffPost Entertainment at the South By Southwest Film Festival this week. Ahead, Danza recalls why he thought Gordon-Levitt would make a good director, how being a prominent Italian shapes his career choices and why he thinks “Crash” won Best Picture.
It’s great to see you in a movie.