Dan Levine

Dan Levine’s got his fingerprints all over some seriously cool movies. You’ve probably caught his name in the credits if you’re into sci-fi or action flicks. Take “Arrival” for starters—yeah, that mind-bending alien linguistics trip from 2016. It’s not your average spaceship-blowing-stuff-up movie, but more like, “Let’s talk to the aliens before panicking.” Amy Adams tries to crack the code of an alien language, and the whole thing spins your brain with questions about time, memory, and what it even means to communicate. Levine was one of the brains making sure all those big ideas actually worked on screen. Jump forward to “The Darkest Minds” in 2018, and you’ve got teens with superpowers in a world that’s basically thrown kids like them under the bus. It’s gritty, a little dystopian, and definitely not just another YA adaptation. Levine helped steer that, too, making sure the movie had more kick than cliché. Oh, and “Free Guy” in 2021? Totally different vibe. Ryan Reynolds as a clueless NPC who suddenly realizes he’s living inside a video game—just chaos, jokes, and a ton of heart. Levine had a hand in pulling all those wild elements together and somehow making it all make sense. The movie’s packed with pop-culture nods, wild action, and a surprising amount of sweetness for something set in a pixelated universe. So yeah, Dan Levine’s one of those behind-the-scenes types who keeps popping up whenever a film needs brains, guts, and a bit of a twist.