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
I'm always walking around with headphones on, creating my own soundtracks to whatever the day is. I think I have a poppy sensibility.
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 watched 'Return Of The Living Dead.' That one's cool, man. I like that one.
'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.
I feel like comedy is where I'm most at ease, but I also have an allergy to silly jokes.
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 don't often watch something I've done on TV. Usually, I'll change the channel and watch something else.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
To me, using music is creating a shorthand with an audience. And I love music so much.
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.
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.
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.
For me, the best high school movie is, like, 'Fast Times' and what Cameron Crowe is like.
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.
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 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.
In rehearsals, I like to create an honest environment that is kinda free and fun.
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.
I love subverting expectations or playing with the sort of unspoken kind of connections that the audience has.
I used to drive a convertible around L.A. a lot.
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.
Zombies have always had a lot of built-in social commentary.
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.
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.'
'Purple Rain' is probably the best soundtrack.
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.
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.
On '50/50,' even though it was 8 million dollars, it was all acting-intensive.
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.
As I continue to evolve as a filmmaker, I'm going to continue to do different stuff.
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 about 100 gigs of music, and I'm always going through thinking about what song I can match to a scene and all that.
After 'Mandy Lane,' I didn't really know what to do because I didn't know anyone who'd made a feature yet.
I really like it when movies take a song and use it to counterpoint a scene.
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!
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.
I have a lot of friends with bad taste in music - some might say that I have bad taste in music.
I think it's cyclical. Zombies have been around for ages, and vampires have run their course; we've had so many vampire movies.
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.
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.
