Sam Levinson Quotes

Sam Levinson

Profession : Actor

Birth : January 8, 1985

I don't even like getting my picture taken because I feel terrible about the way I look. I'm so self-conscious about things.

Sam Levinson

I was never interested in acting on film or in television, but I was always more inclined to writing and directing, and the exploration of character.

Sam Levinson

I've always wanted to write, I've always wanted to direct. The conscious decision was always to not be an actor.

Sam Levinson

I don't want to make a comfortable film. I'm not interested in that. I'm not interested in answering people's questions; I'm interested in posing questions. I'm interested in sparking a conversation between two people about what something means. That's enough for me, as a writer and as a director.

Sam Levinson

I always wanted to write and direct films for as long as I can remember.

Sam Levinson

I feel very strongly as a writer and as a director it is not my job to crush the audience's imagination.

Sam Levinson

The way that I deal with actors as a director is I just talk to them forever before we even arrive on set.

Sam Levinson

To put it simply, I'm not interested in making comfortable films, and I don't want to crush the audience's imagination. I want them to feel like they might have missed something.

Sam Levinson

If you're working in close-ups, then an actor is only able to act with his head. I like an actor to act with their entire body.

Sam Levinson

If you keep your heart open you can meet people who change your life.

Sam Levinson

As a child I'm sure I was no different from any other human being struggling to navigate the difficulties and complexities of their childhood and adolescent years. I feel it's a time when all of us need an escape, a place where we can leave the world behind and just disappear. For me, it was film.

Sam Levinson

When we go to the cinema, we bring all of our preconceptions of actors with us.

Sam Levinson

For me, there's far too many close-ups in film. They're a television technique.

Sam Levinson

Sometimes you can just have a dialogue with an actor beforehand and shape the performance then, but other actors need more guidance on the set.

Sam Levinson

I can't wake up every day and not thank Sundance. They're a great beacon of light for any independent film. Just to have a film that you made shown on a screen for an audience in a theater is beyond me, so I owe them everything in the world.

Sam Levinson

I don't design stories to fit some political ideology. I design stories about characters who I love and care about, while trying to make sense of an increasingly mad and toxic and insane world.

Sam Levinson

Do I think that, when we're teaching a book at school, should we go through a myriad list of trigger warnings? No. But I understand why people desire it.

Sam Levinson

I remember John Waters's 'Pink Flamingos,' that was the film where I realized you could do anything you want - there were no boundaries.

Sam Levinson