After graduating the University of Colorado in 1985, Levinsohn wrote a script for a spec mini-series. The strength of his pitch caught the attention of the De Laurentiis Company, who offered him in a job.
If I wasn't producing movies I'd be writing and engaged in still photography.
A lot of people are groaning at the Studios for producing the same material all the time. But the market-cycles are so frequent these days that you can keep doing the same material over and over again.
The best way I can describe what it's like being in a producing partnership is to liken it to marriage and children. ...When you make a film, it's like having a child...How many children can you have in a partnership before you need to move on?
With each year that passes and each new film that opens, it's harder and harder to be original.
Saving Private Ryan (1998): Mark had an office in the same complex as Tom Hanks and thought we should get the script to him. Tom read it and arranged a lunch and he said: 'This is great, I want to do it...So what do you think about Steven directing'? ... It was a difficult spot for us because we already had another director attached at Paramount, so we had to get ourselves unhinged.