Serena Levy is Levy’s wife, and they have four kids. Levy first resided in New York by himself, while his wife and kids lived in Brentwood Park. However, the filmmaker got so enamored with East Coast life that he relocated his family to midtown Manhattan, where he lives next door to Ryan Reynolds. He got the chance to pitch to his hero, Steven Spielberg, in 2010, but the Canadian producer-director began suffering a panic attack immediately before the meeting. The director began hyperventilating as the situation worsened.
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Levy called his wife in Los Angeles as he circled the block in Midtown Manhattan where his pitch meeting was scheduled. Unfortunately, she was in the shower and couldn’t answer the phone, leaving just his 12-year-old daughter to talk him down from the brink. Levy informed the Wall Street Journal about what his daughter told him.
“‘Dad, it’s like you always tell us—you know what you have to do,’ she added. You’re prepared. ‘Go do it now.'”
It instantly soothed the director, and Levy obtained a position as an executive producer on Spielberg’s Real Steel owing to his daughter. Under Speilberg’s mentorship, he acquired several things, the most essential of which was to believe in himself.
Shawn Levy on Making Movies with His Wife and Daughters
Following Real Steel, the filmmaker returned with This Is Where I Leave You, a more mature and heartfelt film. Unlike Real Steel, which focused on dads and boys, This Is Where I Leave You focused on the whole family, from fathers and sons to brothers, sisters, and moms. The film was based on Jonathan Tropper’s 2009 book of the same name, and it followed four siblings who returned home after their father died.
He told Entertainment Weekly that while producing the film, he was thinking about his wife. “Serena was with me on that Christmas vacation five years ago when I read this book. She was with me when I almost made The Way, Way Back, as well as one or two other smaller films. She is well aware that this has been a difficult journey “said the director. He explained how the film touched his wife and how he wanted her to be proud of his efforts. According to Collider, the film was nicely produced and delightfully entertaining.
