Filed by KOSU News in Art & Life.
February 3, 2013

The weekends on All Things Considered series Movies I’ve Seen A Million Times features filmmakers, actors, writers and directors talking about the movies that they never get tired of watching.

The movie that writer-director Jonathan Levine, whose credits include The Wackness, 50/50 and Warm Bodies — currently playing in theaters — could watch a million times is Hal Ashby’s Coming Home.

Interview Highlights

On why Coming Home is one of his favorite Hal Ashby films

“I’ve been a huge fan of Hal Ashby forever, and I think the distinctive thing about Coming Home is the love story, and how kind of emotionally real it is, and how these two characters just fit each other, and, you know, allow each other to see their kind of vulnerabilities. And it’s great because it’s a love story that is not really that cheesy either. It’s a love story that really makes you think about what it means to be in love.”

On why he loves the last song used in the movie

“The way Coming Home uses music in general is incredible, but the final song that really kind of crescendos all of the emotion that the whole movie has kind of been building to is this song called “Once I Was” by Tim Buckley. Jon Voight, who’s giving a speech at a high school about kind of the downside going to war, he gives this amazing, amazing speech that like, no matter how many times I watch it, and I try not to cry, it just gets you.”

On the movie’s ending

“I don’t really want to give away the ending, but it’s just this incredibly powerful, emotional moment and then it just goes to black and it just leaves you kind of devastated. Not necessarily sad, you’re just spent, but so thankful for having been through this experience with these characters.” [Copyright 2013 NPR]