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" For me, it's always more interesting to look at things when you don't really have a horse in the race, so to speak. "
Jonathan Levine
Me
Look
Speak
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" I think people will always want to go see a movie, whether it's a comedy and you want to see it and laugh with people, or whatever. "
Jonathan Levine
You
Comedy
Want
" I like a pretty relaxed, fun set. Everyone knows they can bring whoever they want and hang out. "
Jonathan Levine
Pretty
Bring
Like
" To me, using music is creating a shorthand with an audience. And I love music so much. "
Jonathan Levine
Love
Me
Music
" As I continue to evolve as a filmmaker, I'm going to continue to do different stuff. "
Jonathan Levine
Going
Different
Evolve
" 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. "
Jonathan Levine
Love
Set
Book
" Genre is a really great shorthand you can have with an audience. In the same way you can use music to create a connection with an audience, it brings so much of their knowledge of what genre really is to the table. You have a shortcut to connect with them. I really like that. "
Jonathan Levine
Great
Music
You
" The way 'Coming Home' uses music in general is incredible, but the final song that really kind of crescendos all of the emotion that the whole movie has kind of been building to is this song called 'Once I Was' by Tim Buckley. "
Jonathan Levine
Coming Home
Music
Building
" I think I'm always conscious of not letting things fit into a specific box. Being a filmmaker and trying to chart a career, you never want anyone to be able to pigeonhole you into one specific thing. "
Jonathan Levine
Always
Trying
Want
" I really don't like when you see improv scenes go on too long. It really bothers me, even if the jokes are good. "
Jonathan Levine
You
See
Good
" 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. "
Jonathan Levine
Horse
Like
Story
" If you know how to shoot a scene, then you know how to shoot an action scene. If you've seen an action movie, and you watched it, and you paid attention to how scenes are constructed and where the camera is and how the camera moves, then you know how to do it. "
Jonathan Levine
Action
You
Know
" 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. "
Jonathan Levine
Deep
Good
You
" For me, the best high school movie is, like, 'Fast Times' and what Cameron Crowe is like. "
Jonathan Levine
Fast
School
Me
" I used to drive a convertible around L.A. a lot. "
Jonathan Levine
Around
Drive
Lot
" I always look at myself as kind of a work in progress. I hope that's not always the case. But for me, every film is a learning experience. "
Jonathan Levine
Learning
Work
Myself
" 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. "
Jonathan Levine
Kind
Home
Think
" Right after 'The Wackness' came out, it was a really exciting time, and then it was a bit disappointing when it came out. Even though not that many people saw it, I was still getting offered some movies. I was thinking that people would just stop calling me since it didn't do very well at the box office. "
Jonathan Levine
Me
Movies
People
" I'm a writer and director. And the movie I've seen a million times is 'Coming Home,' directed by Hal Ashby and starring Jon Voight, Jane Fonda and Bruce Dern. "
Jonathan Levine
Writer
Home
Hal
" 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. "
Jonathan Levine
New York
New
Think
" 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. "
Jonathan Levine
Proud
Happy
I Wish
" I think that's the great thing about zombies, is, you know, going back to even 'Night of the Living Dead,' they've always been a tool for kind of holding up a mirror to us and showing us something about ourselves that we might not otherwise know. "
Jonathan Levine
You
Think
Mirror
" 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. "
Jonathan Levine
Career
Think
Personal
" I love subverting expectations or playing with the sort of unspoken kind of connections that the audience has. "
Jonathan Levine
Connections
Expectations
Kind
" That's the great thing about being a director. You have your list of things you have to worry about and things you don't have to worry about. If you can hire someone or cast someone who equates to not having to worry about, it's great! "
Jonathan Levine
Great
Worry
You
" Any time I hear certain songs I put in a movie, I have to not listen to them anymore because I associate them with that movie. They take on that association rather than the association I had when I first heard them. So it's kinda bittersweet to put a song in a movie, honestly. "
Jonathan Levine
Time
Song
Listen
" I think Giuliani started a trend that Bloomberg continued with rampant gentrification, and I think it's tough because why would any city choose not to do that? "
Jonathan Levine
Started
Tough
City
" I have a lot of friends with bad taste in music - some might say that I have bad taste in music. "
Jonathan Levine
Say
Some
Taste
" I learned some big lessons on my first film, a horror film which was never released in the U.S., even though we sold it to Harvey Weinstein for a lot of money. "
Jonathan Levine
Never
Big
Film
" 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. "
Jonathan Levine
Movies
Capture
Always
" I have about 100 gigs of music, and I'm always going through thinking about what song I can match to a scene and all that. "
Jonathan Levine
Song
Thinking
Music