Stranger Things’ Shawn Levy on Why He Wanted to Direct All the Light We Cannot See: ‘Unabashedly Emotional’

Stranger Things director Shawn Levy breaks away from his usual genre with a new Netflix epic drama All the light we can’t see, adaptation of Anthony Doerr’s bestseller.

“When I read the first draft of the first episode of the adaptation, my plan was to produce the series, maybe direct an episode,” Levy, 56, tells PEOPLE. (His production company, 21 Laps, also produces Stranger Things and movies like Arrival and Night in the museum franchise.) “But after I read that, I knew I had to do it all myself.”

He explains: “I loved the book, I loved the adaptation. It’s related to my previous work in that it’s fundamentally – and unashamedly – emotional.”

Levy, who recently made headlines for being in Taylor Swift’s inner circle, says he never expected to create a sprawling epic piece like All the light we can’t see.

“It was a very different kind of storytelling for me,” he says.

‘All the Light We Cannot See’ Trailer Shows the Turmoil of World War II and the Hope Found in the Unlikeliest of Friendships

Aria Mia Loberti and Mark Ruffalo in Netflix’s ‘All the Light We Cannot See’.

Timea Saghy/Netflix

Levy started directing big family films like Night in the museum and Dozens cheaper, and then he turned to producing Stranger Things and the direction decisively not-family price like dead pool, as well as Free Guy and Project Adam with his good friend Ryan Reynolds.

But he adds that although his projects seem very different from each other, they have one thing in common: heart.

“All my stuff tends to have a pretty warm heart at its center,” he says “And that’s how I like to live. My emotions, they’re on my sleeve, they’re on my skin, my face, my voice.” The father of four girls jokes: “In the history of men, there was no one better suited to have four daughters.”

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Shawn Levy (center) with Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds at the premiere of ‘The Adam Project’ 2022.

Monica Schipper/Getty Images

All the light we can’t see starring Mark Ruffalo, Hugh Laurie, Louis Hofmann and Aria Mia Loberti, it closely follows the book which was published in 2014 and spent 200 weeks on NYT List of best-selling books, 15 million copies sold.

It tells the story of a blind French girl (Loberta) who takes refuge from World War II in her uncle’s seaside town in France after Paris is occupied by Nazi Germany. She eventually forms an unlikely bond with a reluctant German soldier named Werner (Hofmann.)

“I wanted to approach it as a long film, in this case, a four-hour film,” Levy says of shooting in Saint-Malo, France, and Budapest.

He continues, “It’s unlike anything I’ve ever done. The performances have a very different tone to anything I’ve done. It’s pure period drama.”

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Mia Loberti’s aria in Netflix’s ‘All the Light We Cannot See’. Katalin Vermes/Netflix

Levy notes that he never set out to be a great comedy director — not that he’s ungrateful for where his career has taken him.

“Obviously I liked it Back to future and Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark growing up. But you know what? I loved Kramer vs. Kramer. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Rain man. Dead Poets Society, Good Will Hunting. I love character-based storytelling. I just made it in comedy.”

He adds: “The fact that any of this happened is a dream come true.”

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And how does he feel about getting more recognition, now that he’s often spotted out and about in New York with his friends Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds — and yes, in a private box with Taylor Swift at the now-infamous Chiefs-Jets game on Oct. 1?

“This thing about increasing recognition is new,” he says with a laugh. “I think it gives my kids a bit of a thrill, though.”

All the light we can’t see streaming on Netflix.

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education