Celebs
Dan Levy Is Working on a Romcom That He May Star In
The actor also opened up about how his anxieties around being gay caused a condition that could have made him blind.
December 21 2020 11:56 AM EST
December 21 2020 6:56 AM EST
MikelleStreet
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The actor also opened up about how his anxieties around being gay caused a condition that could have made him blind.
Daniel Levy has had a big year. He wrapped up the final season of his much-lauded and much-watched show Schitt's Creek, he swept the Emmy Awards, he made it into People Magazine's Sexiest Men Alive issue, he pulled off a moving and insightful scene about coming out in Clea DuVall's Happiest Season ... the list goes on. All of this while being one of the most powerful showrunners in Hollywood according to The Hollywood Reporter. But that power is being put to work.
In a new feature for Bustle, Levy reveals that he is working on a few projects. Though it was previously reported that he had an "expansive slate" of originals for ABC Studios, now he's given a little insight into how many that could be. Apparently, according to Bustle, its "more than three but few enough that you could count them on both hands." Of those projects, there's one that has us stoked.
According to the site, Levy is in the early stages of working on a romantic comedy -- which quickly seems to be becoming his jush. That project could possibly cast him as the star, pushing him to even more levels of fame. But, hopefully, it won't bring with it all the stress and anxiety of Schitt's Creek.
As we all know, Levy was involved with almost every aspect of that project as co-creator, writer, actor, and even co-stylist. This meant for extremely long days -- getting picked up at 5 a.m. to go to set and writing until 2 a.m. some nights -- that occasionally caused debilitating anxiety. The anxiety became so much that occasionally the creative's next would seize up and he would be forced to wear a brace and receive chiropractic treatments between scenes. But this wasn't the first time he's felt major anxiety.
As a child, Levy got anxiety so bad that it caused iritis, inflammation of the eye. Doctors thought that at some point the condition would cause Levy to go blind.
"I think that came from a deep-rooted fear of knowing that I was gay and not being able to be free," Levy said. "By the time I got to high school, when your brain is starting to catch up to your physical impulses, it led to a very confusing time. Because on the one hand, you are now being introduced to things like self-awareness and anxiety. At the same time, you're becoming more and more savvy when it comes to hiding it." Theater ended up becoming a saving grace here.
Given these things, it's little surprise that some of Levy's most moving work is around sexuality and coming out -- there was the time David Rose came out to Stevie Budd, when Patrick Brewster came out to his parents, and when John breaks down the variety of coming out experiences to Abby. We can't wait to see how this manifests in his future projects.
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Mikelle is the former editorial director of digital for PrideMedia, guiding digital editorial and social across Out, The Advocate, Pride.com, Out Traveler, and Plus. After starting as a freelancer for Out in 2013, he joined the staff as Senior Editor working across print and digital in 2018. In early 2021 he became Out's digital director, marking a pivot to content that centered queer and trans stories and figures, exclusively. In September 2021, he was promoted to editorial director of PrideMedia. He has written cover stories on Ricky Martin, Miss Fame, Nyle DiMarco, Jeremy O. Harris, Law Roach, and Symone.
Mikelle is the former editorial director of digital for PrideMedia, guiding digital editorial and social across Out, The Advocate, Pride.com, Out Traveler, and Plus. After starting as a freelancer for Out in 2013, he joined the staff as Senior Editor working across print and digital in 2018. In early 2021 he became Out's digital director, marking a pivot to content that centered queer and trans stories and figures, exclusively. In September 2021, he was promoted to editorial director of PrideMedia. He has written cover stories on Ricky Martin, Miss Fame, Nyle DiMarco, Jeremy O. Harris, Law Roach, and Symone.