“When I read the first draft of the first episode of the adaptation, my plan was to produce the show, maybe direct an episode,” Levy, 56, tells PEOPLE. (His production company, 21 Laps, also producesStranger Thingsand movies likeArrivaland theNight at the Museumfranchise.) “But after I read it, I knew I needed to do it all myself.”
He explains, “I loved the book, I loved the adaptation. And it connected to my prior work in that it is fundamentally — and unabashedly — emotional.”
Levy, who has recently made headlines for being inTaylor Swift’s inner circle,says he never expected to do a sweeping epic period piece likeAll the Light We Cannot See.
“It was just a very different kind of storytelling for me,” he says.
Aria Mia Loberti and Mark Ruffalo in Netflix’s ‘All the Light We Cannot See’.Timea Saghy/Netflix
Timea Saghy/Netflix
But he adds that even though his projects seem vastly different from one another, they have one thing in common: Heart.
“All of my things tend to have a pretty warm heart at its center,” he says “Which is how I like to live. My emotions, they’re on my sleeve, they’re on my skin, my face, my voice.” The dad to four girls jokes, “In the history of guys, there hasn’t been anyone better suited to having four daughters.”
Shawn Levy (center) with Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds at ‘The Adam Project’ premiere in 2022.Monica Schipper/Getty Images
Monica Schipper/Getty Images
All the Light We Cannot SeestarsMark Ruffalo,Hugh Laurie, Louis Hofmann and Aria Mia Loberti, and it adheres closely to the book, which was published in 2014 and spent 200 weeks on theNYTBestseller list, selling 15 million copies.
“I wanted to approach it like a long movie, in this case, a four-hour movie,” Levy says, of shooting in Saint-Malo, France, and Budapest.
He continues, “It looks unlike anything I’ve ever made. The performances have a very different tone than anything I’ve made. It’s a straight-up period drama.”
Aria Mia Loberti in Netflix’s ‘All the Light We Cannot See’.Katalin Vermes/Netflix
Levy notes that he never meant to be a big comedy director in the first place — not that he’s ungrateful for where his career has taken him.
He adds, “The fact that any of this has happened is a dream come true.”
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And how does he feel about being recognized more and more, now that he’s frequently seen walking around New York withhis friends Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds— and yes, in the private boxwith Taylor Swiftat the now infamous Chiefs-Jets game on Oct. 1?
“This ever-increasing recognizability thing is new,” he says with a laugh. “I think it gives my kids a small thrill though.”
All the Light We Cannot Seeis streaming on Netflix.
source: people.com
