Jonathan Levine Quotes
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I watched 'Return Of The Living Dead.' That one's cool, man. I like that one.
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For me, I just value my friendships so much. I mean, I love my family, too, but my friends - I have a really special connection with my friends.
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I just think a lot of movies are too long. I want to know how to make my movie as tight as possible.
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I love Jamaica so much. I've been there so much, and I think it would be great if we could shoot a movie there.
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I feel like comedy is where I'm most at ease, but I also have an allergy to silly jokes.
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Do I wish I was Martin Scorsese? Yeah. But am I really proud of the movies I've made and really happy that I get to keep making them? Yes.
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In rehearsals, I like to create an honest environment that is kinda free and fun.
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'Warm Bodies' - I was contractually obligated to deliver a PG-13 movie. But, like, I wanted it to be PG-13 because it's for younger people, and I don't want them not to be able to see it. I mean, you have to kind of think about the marketplace as well.
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I like to branch out as much as I can, but I feel like the movies that are closest to my heart are 'The Wackness' and '50/50' - the ones that are dramedies that have that human element to them.
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I've been a huge fan of Hal Ashby forever. And I think that the distinctive thing about 'Coming Home' is the love story, and how - kind of emotionally real it is, and how these two characters allow each other to see their - kind of vulnerabilities. And it's great because it's a love story that's not really that cheesy, either.
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My first real television-watching experience was when I watched 'L.A. Law,' like, at 10 o'clock Thursday nights with my parents. They would let me stay up late.
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I have a lot of friends with bad taste in music - some might say that I have bad taste in music.
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I definitely think New York is a very, very vibrant, wonderful city, but I certainly, of course, can't help but miss a lot of the stuff that's no longer there.
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I was Paul Schrader's assistant for six months before I went to film school, and he's very much about knowing what's going to happen on every page before you even start writing dialogue - the entire plot and character arcs are mapped out.
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I was intimidated by Malkovich for, like, a couple of days, and then I wasn't. He's awesome. He's so cool. He was so wonderful to work with.
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It's rare that movies can sort of capture the tone of life; movies always feel like they have to be one thing or another.
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To be a director, you have to think you're the best. Ever since I went to film school, I imagined that you have to think deep down that you want to be Martin Scorsese or you want to be P.T. Anderson. Like, am I as good as those guys? Absolutely not. I feel like I keep learning, and I feel like I keep getting better.
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As a director, there's no natural career progression. So after 'The Wackness,' which was very personal to me, I was very, very picky about what I was going to do next, to the point where I think that I was almost too picky.
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There's so often - in filmmaking, you're backed into something that already has these set parameters, whether it's a sequel or a book that people love.
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I used to obsess on critical reactions to my films, and it's really not a healthy way to live your life, so my new take on it is simply, 'I hope people like it!' I'm not going to be looking at the tomato meter for at least a year! I was very lucky on '50/50' that most critics really liked it.
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I really hope everyone who saw 'Twilight' sees 'Warm Bodies,' but at the same time... I don't resent the comparison on a level of quality because I don't judge other movies like that. Now that I make movies, I see how hard it is to do everything. I pretty much love all movies.
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There are things that I can tell my friends that I just can't tell my family, just as far as how I'm feeling about things. My friends know me the best in a certain way. I just think old friends are really, really important.
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I grew up with Woody Allen and early Spike Lee movies in which New York was such a specific character. The city has a certain vibe and beat which really informs your entire existence.
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I really like using genre to tell a story about characters but also use it as a Trojan horse to tell social or cultural commentary. That's where the best stuff, especially in the zombie genre, comes out of.