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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! "

Jonathan Levine

Great

Worry

You

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" As I continue to evolve as a filmmaker, I'm going to continue to do different stuff. "

" For whatever reason, the films I gravitate towards do have these strange sort of tonal balances to them... I kind of realized on '50/ 50' why I liked these blending of tones, because I think it's kind of what life is like: funny one minute, sad the next, scary the next. "

" 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. "

" I definitely think for up and coming filmmakers, people graduating from film school, people that want to do their own movies, horror movies are a great way to go. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" I like a pretty relaxed, fun set. Everyone knows they can bring whoever they want and hang out. "

Jonathan Levine

Pretty

Bring

" 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

Family

" Usually, the kills are almost Wile E. Coyote kind of things in horror movies. "

" 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. "

Jonathan Levine

Reality

Director

" 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. "

" I really don't like when you see improv scenes go on too long. It really bothers me, even if the jokes are good. "

" I have a cameo in every movie. In '50/50,' I'm in the back of the bus. "

" 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

Story

" I used to drive a convertible around L.A. a lot. "

" I think it's cyclical. Zombies have been around for ages, and vampires have run their course; we've had so many vampire movies. "

" Zombies have always had a lot of built-in social commentary. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" I love subverting expectations or playing with the sort of unspoken kind of connections that the audience has. "

" I just think a lot of movies are too long. I want to know how to make my movie as tight as possible. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 'Warm Bodies' was a more long-term thing; I had to write the script, who knew if it was every really going to happen, if I'd find the right actors, and so on, so I grabbed '50/50' because I just fell in love with it. "

" In rehearsals, I like to create an honest environment that is kinda free and fun. "

" 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. "