Joseph Gordon-Levitt could not make Don Jon without Johansson

Joseph Gordon-Levitt secured Scarlett Johansson as his love interest in new film Don Jon by flying to the set of The Avengers in New Mexico and telling her in person that he wouldn't make the film with anyone else.

The Dark Knight Rises star made his directorial debut with the acclaimed film, in which he plays a porn-loving serial dater who falls for Johansson's romantic dreamer, and he was bold enough to imagine her as his leading lady when he first started dreaming up the script.

He tells Men's Health magazine, "I didn't know Scarlett, but I spent more than a year with the image of her in my head playing this character. She couldn't not do this."

And Johansson admits she was hooked on the project after meeting with Gordon-Levitt in Alberquerque.

She recalls, "Joe's confidence in himself is what sold me. There was no wavering. He said, 'You're the only one I see in this role.' That kind of took my breath away. I was like, 'Yes! When? How?'"

And, having now worked with his dream girl, the actor/director admits he can understand her appeal to legions of lusty males.

He adds, "Scarlett is a gorgeous, gorgeous woman, but if you just compare purely physical features, plenty of girls are just as gorgeous. But she creates this extra something. It's in her walk, her eye contact. The total package is just off the charts."