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" On '50/50,' even though it was 8 million dollars, it was all acting-intensive. "
Jonathan Levine
Though
Million Dollars
Million
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" As a director, your expectation and reality don't always match up, and I think that that's... I think it's a little jarring. "
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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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" 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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" 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. "
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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 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. "
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" For me, the best high school movie is, like, 'Fast Times' and what Cameron Crowe is like. "
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" I have a cameo in every movie. In '50/50,' I'm in the back of the bus. "
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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 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 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. "
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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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" 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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Family
Value
Mean
" After 'Mandy Lane,' I didn't really know what to do because I didn't know anyone who'd made a feature yet. "
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After
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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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" 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. "
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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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" 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. "
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Action
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Know
" 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. "
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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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" I think it's cyclical. Zombies have been around for ages, and vampires have run their course; we've had so many vampire movies. "
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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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Hope
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" 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. "
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" 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! "
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Great
Worry
You
" '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 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.' "
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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 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 subverting expectations or playing with the sort of unspoken kind of connections that the audience has. "
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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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