Film Stories with Simon Brew

It's a pair of summer movies in this episode of Film Stories, both of which were affected by the pandemic, one of which would fare a lot better than the other. The journey to 2022's Top Gun: Maverick was over a decade long, a sequel that stopped and started more than once. Tom Cruise eventually agreed to make the film though, with filming underway in 2018: yet circumstances would mean it'd be many...

In this episode of Film Stories, a little bit of a Marvel misfire, and a film that was pitched by the owner of the company that made it. When Marvel first for into making films, it secured over $500m via a major loan to fund its plans. It was felt that a Hulk movie, The Incredible Hulk, was needed quickly to help pay things off. That and Iron Man thus went into production at the same time - and on...

In a special episode of the Film Stories podcast, Simon is chatting to director Joe Stephenson, and actor/producer Scott Chambers. It turns into quite a chat, only temporarily interrupted by a cup of coffee. Stephenson is the director of Doctor Jekyll, in which Chambers co-stars with Eddie Izzard. He talks about trying to get a sub-£1m film moving in the UK, and how it ended up getting a posh Lond...

This time in the Film Stories podcast, the fast turnaround of the first Knives Out movie, and a Hugh Grant-headlined comedy drama, where Four Weddings Hugh Grant was absolutely not required. Writer/director Rian Johnson has admitted in the past that he's not a fast writer. However, when an opportunity arose to bring a murder mystery whodunnit to the screen - long a passion project of Johnson's - h...

It's a Kevin Costner double bill in the latest episode of Film Stories - and whilst the films are very different, there is a link between them. 1987's No Way Out is actually a remake, something its director - Roger Donaldson - wasn't actually aware of. One of the very best thrillers of the 1980s - especially if you don't know its twists and turns - its release actually ended up being held back to...

Ah-ha! Two of the most acclaimed British directors of the 2010s take centre stage in this episode, albeit with very, very different films. Christopher Nolan originally envisaged his dreamy heist movie Inception as a low budget feature. But just after he'd made Insomnia, he got 80 pages into what he felt the film should be and hit a stumbling block. Two Batman movies and The Prestige later and he f...

In a special episode of the Film Stories podcast, director Oliver Parker joins Simon for a long chat about his latest film, and his career. The new film is The Great Escaper, starring Michael Caine and the late Glenda Jackson. They natter about how the film came to be, and the challenges involved in making the film. They also recall when Parker managed to get Othello down to just over two hours, a...

After an unscheduled week break (sorry!), the Film Stories podcast returns with the stories of two superb modern fantasy films. Guillermo del Toro's Oscar-winning The Shape Of Water owes a debt to a 1950s horror, and an original idea that came to someone in their teenage years. When it came time to make the film? The budget was always going to be tight, but del Toro faced two different funding opt...

R-rated movies from major studios. R-rated comic book movies from major studios. R-rated comic book movies that don't even mention the name of the umbrella franchise in the title. These were not the norm when Hugh Jackman and writer/director James Mangold somehow talked 20th Century Fox into what became Logan. Yet ironically, as the mainline X-Men franchise stumbled, it was the R-rated entries tha...

It's been over a decade since the debate first ignited: is Tom Cruise the right person to play the character of Jack Reacher? The answer came originally in the form of a 2012 movie, although the first big screen outing for Lee Child's famous character had been in development for well over a decade by that point. In the end, Werner Herzog was recruited too. But it was the choice of director that wo...

For the latest episode of the Film Stories podcast, a war movie, a boxing movie, and a few problems in the making of both. 1963's The Great Escape was a film that director John Sturges couldn't initially get off the ground, and he needed his success with The Magnificent Seven to make it happen. When it did? It wasn't the easiest of productions, with a lot of chopped down trees, and a star who wasn...

The podcast is fully back up and running again, and this time, we turn our attention to the return of Hannibal Lecter. 2001's Hannibal was the long-awaited return of Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter to the big screen, following 1991's The Silence Of The Lambs. But the original director didn't return. The original screenwriter didn't return. One of the two Oscar-winning stars didn't return. And a...

After a longer than originally planned gap (due to a dodgy voice!), the Film Stories podcast returns from its summer snooze. And what better way to start than with not one T2, but a pair of them. First up? Terminator 2: Judgment Day, a film that cost its makers $15m just for the rights to. That, and enormous cheques to writer/director James Cameron, and leading man Arnold Schwarzenegger. All well...

In this episode of Film Stories with Simon Brew, two films that were - in the end - turned around to very tight deadlines. One slightly more expensive than the other! The challenge with 2015's Spectre was to follow up the most successful James Bond film of all time. Skyfall had grossed over $1bn: but its director, Sam Mendes, wasn't keen originally to return for Spectre. And when the film did get...

In this episode of Film Stories with Simon Brew, a hugely risky studio movie, and a bit of a breakthrough role for Daniel Craig. The Insider, from Michael Mann, was telling a story about a piece of modern history just years old when the movie was made. As such, there was a huge risk of litigation, and whichever studio took the movie on was opening itself to huge risks, with no obvious box office u...

In this episode of Film Stories with Simon Brew, we're digging into the story of a much-loved modern classic. Two films in 1990 arrived based around the story of real-life gangster Henry Hill. Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas though is something very special: Scorsese took a rare co-writing credit on the film, although at one stage, it was being suggested that Tom Cruise and Madonna take lead roles......

In a very special episode of Film Stories, Simon is joined by the co-writer and director of the latest – and last – Indiana Jones film, James Mangold. The pair spend some time chatting about Indiana Jones & The Dial Of Destiny, and also explore parts of the making of Cop Land and Heavy. There’s chat about Le Mans ’66 and Brummie accents, before a chunter too about Mangold’s hugely underappreciated...

In this episode of Film Stories with Simon Brew, a pair of films that might just have had a bit of overlap to them! Olympus Has Fallen began life many years before it got to the screen, but it had an added advantage over its rival in that it had a movie star in place - and Gerard Butler wanted to up the violence quotient a little too. Sony meanwhile was spending a lot more money on a rival project...

In this episode of Film Stories with Simon Brew, a pair of films that both hit problems with one of their lead roles... 2004's Spider-Man 2 is (rightly) regarded as one of the finest superhero films, and that's impressive in itself given the tight turnaround that Sony wanted on the film. However, just weeks before filming was about to begin, there was even sizeable doubt that its leading man would...

In this episode of Film Stories with Simon Brew, a massive hit sci-fi movie that came from smaller origins, and a baseball film that, well, hit problems. The story of I, Robot the movie - in theory based on the work of Isaac Asimov - started with an indie script that was set effectively in one room. But over time, the film escalated, at one stage attracting Arnold Schwarzenegger. Still, when it go...

A very special episode of Film Stories, with a very special guest: producer Barbara DeFina. She tells us what's she currently up to, and takes us through her early work with Sidney Lumet. Then, the many films she produced for Martin Scorsese, including the particular challenges of The Last Temptation Of Christ, Casino, and finding the right house for Cape Fear. There's a bit of Goodfellas in the c...

In this episode of Film Stories with Simon Brew, two relatively low budget films that both proved bigger hits than expected. For writer/director Zach Cregger, he was in 'director jail' following the commercial disappointment of his first couple of films. Still, he managed to get his new film, Barbarian, into place (with a bit of help from a spreadsheet). The problem? Funding fell away just days be...

In this episode of Film Stories with Simon Brew, the difficult journey back to Middle Earth, and the first animated film from DreamWorks. Following the success of the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, it seemed straightforward that at some point, The Hobbit would make it back to the screen. But the path there would prove far more difficult than originally thought, thanks to legal issues, financial issues...

In this episode of Film Stories with Simon Brew, the continued attempt to find box office life in the Terminator films, and a modestly-priced movie that demonstrated the power of a trailer. For the third attempt to make a new Terminator trilogy of movies, the plan this time was more straightforward: bring James Cameron back to the series, and give him a big chunk of creative power again. With Dead...

Hollywood royalty joins the Film Stories podcast for this special episode, as writer, producer and director James L Brooks. The starting point for the chat is a film that Brooks has produced, the long awaited screen adaptation of Judy Blume's Are You There God, It's Me Margaret. And then they get chatting about making movies, about the 1994 box office disappointment I'll Do Anything, a brief drive...