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" I don't often watch something I've done on TV. Usually, I'll change the channel and watch something else. "
Jonathan Levine
Watch
Change
Done
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" I don't like being pigeonholed at all. It stemmed from after 'Mandy Lane': I was being offered all these horror movies. I love horror movies, but when I dreamed of being a director, it was always doing all sorts of things. "
Jonathan Levine
Horror
Doing
Always
" 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. "
Jonathan Levine
School
Start
Writing
" 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 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. "
Jonathan Levine
Early
City
New York
" After 'Mandy Lane,' I didn't really know what to do because I didn't know anyone who'd made a feature yet. "
Jonathan Levine
After
Really
Made
" 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 feel like comedy is where I'm most at ease, but I also have an allergy to silly jokes. "
Jonathan Levine
Like
Silly
Jokes
" 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. "
Jonathan Levine
I Can
Like
Movies
" '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. "
Jonathan Levine
People
You
Want
" Usually, the kills are almost Wile E. Coyote kind of things in horror movies. "
Jonathan Levine
Movies
Horror
Horror Movies
" For me, the best high school movie is, like, 'Fast Times' and what Cameron Crowe is like. "
Jonathan Levine
Fast
School
Me
" 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
" 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
" 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. "
Jonathan Levine
Old Friends
Me
Family
" 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 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
" 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
" I kind of viewed '50/ 50' and 'Warm Bodies' both as my next films after 'The Wackness.' In my head, I was just like, 'I'll try the big, fun, adventure-weird movie, and I'll do the small, heartfelt comedy-drama, and one of them will probably work out, and I'll get to work more.' "
Jonathan Levine
Head
Small
Try
" On '50/50,' even though it was 8 million dollars, it was all acting-intensive. "
Jonathan Levine
Though
Million Dollars
Million
" 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 really like it when movies take a song and use it to counterpoint a scene. "
Jonathan Levine
Scene
Like
Movies
" I've had a couple of family members deal with cancer, and I remember that moment where they're going into surgery, and you just have no idea what's going to happen, and it's really scary. "
Jonathan Levine
Moment
Scary
You
" I watched 'Return Of The Living Dead.' That one's cool, man. I like that one. "
Jonathan Levine
Dead
Return
Man
" I like zombie movies, and I like genre movies a lot. To watch. Less so to make, I think. But I grew up on that stuff. I would just grow up watching a lot of horror movies, a lot of slasher movies and then zombie movies. "
Jonathan Levine
Think
Grow
Grow Up
" As I continue to evolve as a filmmaker, I'm going to continue to do different stuff. "
Jonathan Levine
Going
Different
Evolve
" 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 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. "
Jonathan Levine
Awesome
Like
Work
" 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
" Zombies have always had a lot of built-in social commentary. "
Jonathan Levine
Zombies
Social
Lot
" 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