Shawn Levy Quotations

Certainly in my appetite for more challenges, it's very much alive. I love comedy and it comes to me in a natural way.

If it was going to be unique, if you're going to make a robot movie in 2011... it had to be different, and it had to be about more than its machines and more than its action.

I don't know if it's that my own childhood felt brief, or I grew up too fast, or I was pushing myself too much at a young age, but I do feel like I am clinging to a certain childlike quality in myself, as a result of a childhood that was sometimes complicated.

To connect with the characters, you need to connect with the world. If the world feels vaguely familiar, I believe the characters will feel relatable.

It's no coincidence that 'Night at the Museum' completely blew the lid off my career. I finally got a handle on tone.

When you do a drama, you are challenged to trust your inner voice much more. Because when you put a comedy in front of even a 25-person screening, you know whether it's working or not. The barometer is overt.

I never set out to build some behemoth comedy career. My taste in movies is far more eclectic than that so my aspirations as a filmmaker are far more eclectic than that.

I live my life pretty emotionally, for better and for worse. I'm pretty thin-skinned and transparent. I lead with my heart, and I wanted to make a movie that did the same.

Whatever it takes, the job of the director is to be the leader and to get your actors where they need to go. That's a philosophy that I have.

In all my movies, there's always a kind of heartfelt element, to be able to do a drama and to be able to spend more time in the emotional stuff with no pressure to get back to the funny that's very liberating for me.