THE JOURNAL
By his own admission, Mr Dan Levy is not a morning person. “It’s rough,” he laughs, half-apologetic, as our conversation begins at 10.00am. “I can’t hide it on my face.” To combat this aversion, he’s recently taken up early personal-training sessions and hikes near his home in Los Angeles. “It’s a boring way to start the day,” he says with a smile, “but I need something to snap me out of it.”
Levy’s unfiltered honesty is part of what has made his voice resonate in an industry often brimming with artifice and pretence. And then there’s also his unshakeable sense of self, which he applies to an eclectic roster of projects in front of and behind the camera. On the horizon is the drama At The Sea, in which he appears alongside Ms Amy Adams (a “pinch-me” moment, he shares of shooting it this summer, “just watching her was a masterclass in acting”), the animated The Smurfs Movie starring Rihanna and the live-action hybrid Animal Friends with Ms Aubrey Plaza and Mr Ryan Reynolds, set for release next year. And he is expanding his behind-the-scenes endeavours, too, through his company, Not A Real Production Company. A highlight of its upcoming slate is a documentary on Lilith Fair, the glass ceiling-smashing 1990s all-female music festival.
Though the 41-year-old Canadian actor, writer, director and producer has been in the public eye for nearly two decades, his star shot into the stratosphere in 2020 when Schitt’s Creek – the beloved sitcom he cocreated with his father, Mr Eugene Levy – swept the Emmys, winning nine awards in one night. It was a full-circle moment, then, when the pair cohosted this year’s ceremony back in September to great plaudits. The show took off during the global pandemic, when the story of the Rose family – going from extraordinary wealth to penniless overnight and finding happiness in unlikely places – struck a chord with millions.
The idea partly stemmed from Levy’s early years at MTV Canada, where he cohosted The After Show, a companion to the reality series The Hills, which followed the glamorous lives of young LA elites. The Real Housewives franchise was also in its nascence and Levy wanted to take this documentary-style portrayal of wealth and turn the audience’s collective awareness “on its head”, he says. “What if one of those families we knew so well lost all their money? Who would they become?”
After reading about small towns in Canada and the US being sold off, the story crystallised. “What if they ended up in a town they’d bought as a joke?”
The show was a family affair: Eugene played his on-screen dad, Johnny Rose, while his sister, Ms Sarah Levy, played the kind-hearted café owner Twyla Sands. Did Levy ever worry the dynamic on set might become too intense? “I think my dad was more nervous than I was,” he says. “I was the unproven one with this idea, saying, ‘Trust me, I have a story to tell’.
“Working with family can be tough because you can’t be as candid as you would in private. Any disagreements were resolved quickly because we both wanted the best for the show. Sometimes, it was just a matter of one of us not wanting to admit we were wrong, but when you have money and people’s jobs on the line, you make those concessions fast.”
Working with his father and costar Ms Catherine O’Hara has shaped how Levy approaches his craft. “They set such a high bar for decency and collaboration,” he says. “It’s rare to work in a creative environment where ego doesn’t undermine the joy of the experience. That shaped how I want to operate at work. I don’t perform well when I feel scared, intimidated or like someone is angry. So, first and foremost, I ask, ‘Can I work with this person? Will they bring out the best in those around them?’’’
“When you have a parent as successful as mine, there’s a strong desire to prove yourself”
Growing up in a showbusiness household, he had a wealth of career advice at his disposal; however, he preferred to go it alone. His mother is the writer Ms Deborah Divine and by the time Levy was a teenager, Eugene was already an adored onscreen dad among millennials for his role as Noah Levenstein in American Pie.
“When you have a parent as successful as mine, there’s a strong desire to prove yourself,” Levy says. “I wrote, produced and starred in my school plays throughout high school, and while my dad offered to help, I always declined. I wanted to test my own capabilities without his influence to see if I was truly cut out for this career. I got my first big break at MTV in Canada without ever mentioning who my dad was. Building that foundation independently instilled a confidence in me that helped counter criticism, especially since people sometimes jump to conclusions about nepotism. But I knew, from my work alone, that I could hold my own.”
His father did impart a crucial lesson, though: not letting work define you. “Dad doesn’t particularly love Hollywood,” Levy says. “He raised my sister and me in Toronto, away from the industry. Now, living in LA, I realise what a sacrifice that was. He chose family over Hollywood, and that taught me you can have a career and still keep your sense of self.”
Levy credits his friends – most of whom are outside the entertainment industry – for keeping him grounded. “They’re supportive, but they don’t care about what I do, and it’s refreshing,” he says.
Recently, Levy has set up a home in London and is planning to spend more time there. “I love getting out of LA whenever possible,” he says. “London has this inspiring energy, and the acting community there focuses on employment rather than fame, I find that aligns with my Canadian sensibilities.”
After six seasons of Schitt’s Creek, Levy felt compelled to stretch his creative muscles and to tell a new story. “The entertainment industry can really put people in boxes. Once you’re seen as one thing, you’re often defined that way for the rest of your career. So, there was this rebellious spirit in me that wanted to show I could do more than comedy, as a writer and an actor.”
His 2023 directorial debut, Good Grief, the Netflix film that he also wrote, produced and starred in, was not only about mourning (Levy played a man grieving the death of his husband), but highlights friendships often overlooked in favour of romantic relationships.
“I can’t be overly concerned with what people think. My priority is to protect creativity”
“I’ve been single for a long time, and there aren’t many love stories centred on friendship, their importance and how they become familial in your thirties and forties,” he says. “My friendships have a certain romantic quality; I love my friends dearly, and they’ve saved me in many ways. I think that resonates with viewers.”
Romantic comedies might be viewed as more bankable, but Levy insists that artistic vision should always take precedence over commerce. “I can’t be overly concerned with what people think or whether a project will shoot to number one. That might not be the best business decision, but my priority is to protect creativity,” he explains. “I’ve seen other people let commercial interests warp original ideas. It risks losing its essence and ends up not resonating with anyone.”
While Schitt’s Creek and Good Grief tell vastly different stories, they share parallels, particularly in their depictions of queer life. In Schitt’s Creek, Levy created a platform for his character David Rose to explore his pansexuality before embarking on his epic love story with Patrick (Mr Noah Reid) in season three.
“There can be a natural hesitation from networks to make things more digestible for a broader audience, but I believe in challenging viewers,” Levy says. “You don’t need to spoon-feed an experience – just show it as it is and people catch up. If you don’t understand someone’s relationship, that’s OK, just watch the story and try to build a bridge. I refuse to dilute queer stories to make them more accessible because, at their core, they’re the same stories. They just look different from the predominantly straight love stories we’re used to.”
“You have to make things yourself if you’re not seeing the stories you want”
Levy’s sartorial style has evolved alongside his onscreen career. During his MTV years, there were, in his words, “a lot of mistakes”. Now, working with the likes of designer Mr Jonathan Anderson of LOEWE, he finds inspiration in a playful, mischievous and boundary-pushing aesthetic.
“Jonathan is one of the most curious people I know and is endlessly in search of beauty in all forms,” Levy says. “He had my attention from the early days of JW Anderson, back then menswear was dull – it was all conventional suits and crew-neck sweaters. What he was proposing was unlike anything happening at the time.”
This year, Levy wore LOEWE on the Met Gala red carpet for the second time and starred opposite Aubrey Plaza in the Spanish house’s satirical short Decades Of Confusion, which pokes fun at the pronunciation of its name. “Humour is a huge part of both mine and Jonathan’s work,” Levy says. “We don’t take ourselves too seriously.”
His genuine commitment to the work is undeniable though. Levy attended the original, ground-breaking Lilith Fair festival in 1997 and has brought Ms Ally Pankiw on to direct the documentary, which promises interviews with the festival's founder Ms Sarah McLachlan as well as Mses Sheryl Crow, Erykah Badu and Olivia Rodrigo.
“To understand what these women were facing is really shocking; radio stations weren’t playing more than one female artist back-to-back because they didn’t think there was a market,” he says. “It feels like the right time to tell the story and reintroduce Lilith Fair, especially to younger audiences who might not even know it existed.”
Levy established Not A Real Production Company in 2022 to cement his creative autonomy. “You have to make things yourself if you’re not seeing the stories you want. I’m lucky to have some influence, and I want to use it not only for my projects, but also to support talented friends who might not be getting the opportunities they deserve.
“Once you’re inside the machine,” he says, “you’ve got to work to keep the experience authentic.”