Film Stories with Simon Brew

In a special episode of the Film Stories podcast, Simon chats to Patrick Doyle about his work composing film music. They cover his films with Kenneth Branagh - including their latest collaboration, Death On The Nile - and then dive into working with Brian De Palma on the film Carlito's Way. Plus, they go right back to Doyle's first film score too... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more...

In the new episode of Film Stories with Simon Brew, a pair of films that gave 20th Century Fox headaches. Tony Scott first planned to make Man On Fire in the 1980s. When he returned to the idea in the early 2000s, he switched the location to Mexico - and was heading into trouble. The plan with 1999's Office Space was for a low budget comedy. But then Fox decided it wanted a movie star involved - a...

In a special episode of the Film Stories podcast, Simon chats to actor Colm Meaney about his most recent film - Confession - and some of the highlights of his career. They touch on filming Confession, how Die Hard 2 changed Meaney's life, working with the late Alan Parker, the joys of Con Air and a whole lot more.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your...

In the new episode of Film Stories with Simon Brew, two films up against immovable release dates. Suicide Squad was part of Warner Bros's attempts to establish a universe of comic book movies - but struggles with a different movie led to late changes. Leap Of Faith was rushed forward when Paramount found itself without a Christmas release at all for the end of 1992. It left little margin for error...

In the new episode of Film Stories with Simon Brew, a pair of films that wanted to do things for real. The plan with Ronin was to not use CG unless as a last resort, and to do as much as possible for real. All with the help and support of French authorities. Knocked Up was a comedy that turned Seth Rogen into a movie star - but it went through a notable casting change, as well as post-production c...

In the new episode of Film Stories with Simon Brew, two hit movies that overcome notable obstacles. Wayne's World was filmed on a tight schedule, against a backdrop of sadness for Mike Myers. He'd threaten to leave the project at one point too, and the production was not a happy one. Moneyball meanwhile was all set to film a year earlier than it did, with a different directing and some alternate c...

In the new episode of Film Stories with Simon Brew, two glossy Hollywood movies, both boasting impressive casts. Remaking Ocean's Eleven had been in producer Jerry Weintraub's head for many years, but it was sending the script to director Steven Soderbergh and star George Clooney that started things in earnest. At the time Ocean's was released, work was also underway on a Gucci family movie. That...

In a special episode of the Film Stories podcast, Simon invites Ron's Gone Wrong and Arthur Christmas' Sarah Smith back, to chat about her work and career. Her story is an incredible one: from her early days on BBC shows, through to making the jump to Aardman, and then launching the UK's first major digital animation feature studio, Locksmith. There, she co-directed - along with J P Vine - the ter...

In the new episode of Film Stories with Simon Brew, two James Bond projects: one got made, one didn't. 2021's No Time To Die was, of course, beset by release delays and and problems. But even before then, it'd been a difficult James Bond movie to put together. After the success of 2002's Die Another Day, MGM and Eon wanted a spin-off movie for Halle Berry's Jinx character meanwhile. It got quite f...

In the new episode of Film Stories with Simon Brew, a pair of Christmas movies, both released in 2003. Bad Santa was beset by problems. Conceived by the Coen brothers, it had a difficult shoot, lost Bill Murray to another film, and then there were huge battles in post-production. Post-production was tricky on Love Actually too, as a first-time movie director tried to jigsaw together a final cut of...

In the new episode of Film Stories with Simon Brew, an Oscar-nominated one-off, and a hit comedy that was anything but a one-off. After Boogie Nights, writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson had a moment where he could make what he wanted, and get total creative control. It helped that he got Tom Cruise involved in Magnolia too. Police Academy was the film that launched regular templated sequels - bu...

In a special episode of the Film Stories podcast, British writer/director Johannes Roberts takes us though his career to date, and with some candour too. He talks about the new release Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City, and career-turners such as F, Storage 24 and 47 Meters Down. And he takes us through the lows as well, and the decade he spent trying to get films noticed. Plus: he's got a Ho...

In the new episode of Film Stories with Simon Brew, a comedy classic, and a blockbuster hit! Monty Python's Life Of Brian was days away from its cast and crew flying off for shooting when the rug was pulled from beneath it. And when it did finally get made, its problems were far from over. For The Perfect Storm meanwhile, Warner Bros wanted Mel Gibson and wasn't sure about Mark Wahlberg - plus Ste...

In a special episode of the Film Stories podcast, Simon is joined by writer/director Gil Kenan. They talk through Gil's career, from his early breakout success with Monster House to the commercial disappointment of City Of EmberI And the story is brought right up to date with his new film as director, A Boy Called Christmas, and as co-writer, Ghostbusters: Afterlife... Hosted on Acast. See acast.c...

In the new episode of Film Stories with Simon Brew, two films long in the planning - but with a fair few bumps on the way. Ridley Scott was eventually lured back to the Alien saga with 2012's Prometheus. Even then, he originally found a different director - and two different writers each took it further away from the original. The Wallace & Gromit film, The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit, was the start...

In the new episode of Film Stories with Simon Brew, two movies that film studios had reluctance over - for different reasons! Anchorman was a film that many passed on, and there were concerns that Will Ferrell was a big enough name to lead a studio comedy. Plus, the movie needed big changes in post-production. Red Notice was a huge movie star package that originally was sold to Universal and Legen...

In the new episode of Film Stories with Simon Brew, a pair of movies brought to life by big movie stars. Leonardo DiCaprio beat Brad Pitt to the rights to The Wolf Of Wolf Street. The film would eventually attract a too good to be true independent investor. And yikes, would it prove to be too good to be true. Fighting With My Family happened when Dwayne Johnson was in a London hotel room, and chan...

In the new episode of Film Stories with Simon Brew, a pair of hit movies, one made very quickly, one made under a veil of secrecy. Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey followed its predecessor by less than two years. It landed a young first time British director, the company behind it was in financial trouble, and there were reasons it could go so leftfield. 2019's Yesterday ended up on the slate of Richard...

In the new episode of Film Stories with Simon Brew, two hit movies, one that proved far more stressful to make than the other. It was the failure of Warner Bros' 1997 blockbusters that led to it gambling on Three Kings. The film's Gulf War subject matter already caused unease: and then came a very, very trouble production. Dodgeball meanwhile was a film virtually every studio passed on, as its wri...

In the new episode of Film Stories with Simon Brew, two difficult blockbuster productions. The Last Boy Scout brought together writer Shane Black, producer Joel Silver, director Tony Scott and star Bruce Willis. Four heavyweights, lots of arguments, and a film that needed saving in the edit. The Beach's problems came as much before filming meanwhile: the $50m film led to director Danny Boyle and a...

In a special episode of the Film Stories podcast, Simon traces the story of Locksmith Animation. Of how it came to life in 2014 with ambitions to make major animated films in the UK, and the seven year, very bumpy path to Ron's Gone Wrong. Simon is joined by four of the Locksmith team: Sarah Smith, Peter Baynham, JP Vine and Octavio E Rodriguez. Between them, they chart the challenges of different...

In the new episode of Film Stories with Simon Brew, how Apollo 13 originally had Kevin Costner in mind, and the thriller that came out of a collapsed Stephen King movie. Apollo 13 was made at a point where practical filmmaking was more logical than relying too much on visual effects. And for the cast, that meant 13 days of particularly intense filming. Breakdown came out of a film that didn't happ...

In the new episode of Film Stories with Simon Brew, two films that took 30 years between them to get made. Batman (1989) was announced twice before it finally got going. Rewrites continued throughout filming - with a $100,000 prop to fit in - and there was a bit of a casting backlash. Our Ladies could have been made much earlier: but co-writer/director Michael Caton-Jones dug in, and refused to Ho...

Here's a shorter, extra episode of Film Stories. This time, Simon is joined by Barbara Broccoli and Michael G WIlson, the producers of the James Bond films, to talk 007 and primarily the Daniel Craig era. This conversation was recorded as part of the press tour for No Time To Die, but the conversation goes a little broader than that. A full episode on No Time To Die will inevitably happen at some...

In the new episode of Film Stories with Simon Brew, a pair of horror movies of slightly different sizes. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was set to be the second in a loose trilogy of films. But producer Francis Ford Coppola and director/star Kenneth Branagh wouldn't quite see eye to eye. Frank Darabont's third big screen Stephen King adaptation meanwhile - The Mist - was uncompromising and took aroun...