Film Stories with Simon Brew

In a special episode of the Film Stories podcast, we're delighted to welcome back Paul Feig for his third appearance. This time the starting point is Feig's new film Jackpot!, that's on Prime Video now. They also talk about the already-shot A Simple Favor 2, as well as legal stuff, Naked Gun 33 1/3, and if there's any chance on this planet of getting Spy 2.... Learn more about your ad choices. Vis...

In a special episode of the Film Stories podcast, Simon is joined by actor, producer, writer and fine human being Rob Delaney. The pair talk about Delaney's role in the smash hit Deadpool And Wolverine, while also touching on a moment in a restaurant, writing, movies, and the TV hit Catastrophe. Plus they natter too about Delaney's book A Heart That Works, and his amazing-sounding late son, Henry....

Episode 400! Crikey. And I'm thrilled to say that producer Gale Anne Hurd is helping with the celebrations, thanks to a huge chat about her life, her work, and The Terminator at 40. The first part of the episode, Simon goes through the story of The Terminator, and quite how its rights ended up so muddled going forward. But the bulk of episode 400 is over to Gale Anne Hurd, in a long conversation -...

In a special episode of the Film Stories podcast, Simon is joined by director Lee Isaac Chung, as they discuss the brand new blockbuster movie, Twisters. Lee talks about how he got the job in the first place, and just what time contrainsts he was up against. Plus, the depth of the casting in the film, the scale of the movie, and his work with filmmakers in Rwanda. A bit of Minari, too. Twisters is...

Sean Connery had vowed he was never going to return as James Bond after 1971's Diamonds Are Forever. Meanwhile, a man called Kevin McClory had agreed not to exercise his screen rights to the story of Thunderball until 1975. Yet the highest profile 'unofficial' Bond project would bring them both together, as Never Say Never Again did battle with the official 007 film Octopussy at the 1983 box offic...

In this very special episode of Film Stories, Neil Jordan is the guest, talking about his brand new memoir, Amnesiac, along with tales of his movie life. He and Simon chat about movies as varied as Angel, The Crying Game, Michael Collins, High Spirits, We're No Angels and Mona Lisa, in a far-reaching chat. Plus: Neil Jordan talks through approaching telling his own story, and why he chose to do it...

Damien Chazelle first started seriously considering a film about old Hollywood back in 2009, long before he made La La Land. And even when the writer/director had channelled his energies into that film, he still had Babylon in mind: a hugely ambitious, expensive, three hour film that needed an R-rating! In the case of Everybody's Talking About Jamie, the challenge with the hit stage show was bring...

In a very special episode of Film Stories, Baroness Beeban Kidron joins Simon for a chat about her career, her films, and her move to politics. They go from her early film Carry Greenham Home, from being one of the first British women to direct a movie with Vroom. Then a big turning point: Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, an acclaimed adaptation of Jeanette Winterson's book. The chat covers Kidron'...

Two movies from 1993 and the stories behind them here: both of which had their fair share of off-set drama. RoboCop 3 was supposed to be quickly followed by RoboCop 4, yet financial problems with parent company Orion Pictures led to a change of plan - not least when Orion went bankrupt. In the midst of this was an idea to make a RoboCop film with a PG-13 rating too. Boxing Helena originally attrac...

When Tim Burton's first film, Pee Wee's Big Adventure, proved a surprise hit for Warner Bros, the studio was keen to get a second picture off him. Yet Burton wasn't enamoured with the scripts he was being offered - until an unusual one landed on his desk. Just lacking a bit of an ending. Enter: Beetlejuice. Rye Lane was a much smaller production, a directorial debut for Raine Allen Miller. A Briti...

Originally set to be released by Disney in 2023, Jeff Nichols' new film - The Bikeriders - was dropped by the studio at the last minute, before finally landing a new home with Focus Features and Universal. Nichols joins us for a special podcast to discuss the film, with the conversation also taking in Take Shelter, Michael Shannon, and making a movie without too much money... The Bikeriders finall...

On the one hand in this episode, we've got a comic book movie that should in theory have launched further films. 2022's Morbius was designed to follow Venom into Sony's universe of Spider-Man spin-off characters. Yet so keen was the studio to join it up to the ongoing Spider-Man films, that problems ensued. And Jared Leto, in the lead role, was going method again. The Gift, the directorial debut o...

After enjoying success with the TV series Servant, for which she wrote and directed several episodes, Ishana Night Shyamalan was on the lookout for a story to turn into her feature directorial debut. The tale she found involved a pet store, a creepy forest, a trip to Ireland and some people watching. And in this Film Stories podcast special, she tells us about why she made The Watched (or The Watc...

Sam Mendes didn't want to make another James Bond film after completing 2015's Spectre. As we discover in this episode, he had another film lined up that he backed away form. He decided to gamble on 1917, a movie that he had a plan to shoot in a really rather unconventional way. When Gone Girl hit, meanwhile, Hollywood went looking for more books that it felt might be along the same lines. It didn...

After the release of 2008's Indiana Jones & The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull, Harrison Ford declared that he'd be happy to make Indiana Jones 5, as long as it didn't take another 20 years. It wasn't that far off before we got Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny. And in the interim, two of the three key creatives had changes roles. Steve Martin should have got Oscar recognition for 1984's All Of...

Two films in this episode that for different reasons needed a fair amount of time to come to the screen. Dungeons And Dragons: Honor Among Thieves didn't turn up until 2023, yet for many years, there was a rights battle over which studio could make a D&D movie. Even when the rights were sorted, challenges still lay ahead. With The Phantom Of The Opera meanwhile, the plan had originally been to hav...

In a special episode of the podcast, Fiona Shaw CBE is the guest, as she joins to chat about her career, and her latest movie, IF. Topics of conversation in this chat? The problem with her bathroom, plus working on films such as Super Mario Bros and The Avengers. Then there's her time working with Terrence Malick, her work with Brian De Palma, and a very special film too that's on the horizon for...

The Halloween franchise was at a crossroads after Rob Zombie's 2009 movie, Halloween II. There was only one logical thing to do next: er, Halloween 3D, which was set for the early 2010s. The first in a line of false starts, that'd eventually take us to 2018's wildly-successful reboot/reimagining. Some reshoot work on that was done for the ending too, and the ending of Rocky V (1990) was an area of...

With his new film, Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes, now out in cinemas, director Wes Ball joins the Film Stories podcast for a long chat about the new film, and his career to date. From his early shorts, to his fast work on Celebrity Apprentice (and boy, is there a story there), we then move through to The Maze Runner, The Mouse Guard, and right the way through to Apes... --- EXCLUSIVE NordVPN D...

It's taken nearly 400 episodes, but a Star Wars film finally takes centre stage. It's 2019's saga-ending The Rise Of Skywalker, a film that was announced in 2012, and went through, well, 'changes' over the ensuing years. The planned remake of Road House actually started life roughly around the same time, and there were a couple of false starts. But when it was finally ready to go, filming seemed t...

In a special episode, Drew Pearce joins us for a chat about his journey from making British TV show No Heroics through to writing the brand new blockbuster The Fall Guy. Key moments? Getting stuck in Los Angeles thanks to an Icelandic volcano, landing the job of writing Iron Man 3, working out what his hourly rate was for penning a $1bn blockbuster, the last-minute call for Hobbs & Shaw and a whol...

Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin had been asked questions many times about making a sequel to their 1996 smash hit Independence Day. Several times they came close to doing so over the years, including an ambitious plan to shoot two films back to back at one stage. Yet when it came time to move forward, the big question they faced: would Will Smith want to return? And could 20th Century Fox afford h...

A film that's not yet happened - at the time of recording! - takes centre stage in this Film Stories episode. In 2019, Quentin Tarantino released his apparently penultimate film as director - Once Upon A Time In Hollywood - but five years on, it's no clearer what his final film will be. It doesn't look like it's going to be The Movie Critic, as had been suggested.... One film that did happen? How...

In this special episode of Film Stories, Dan Stevens joins Simon to talk about his latest film, Abigail. They talk about the making of the film, the sort-of crossover with Cocaine Bear, and why it needed to be shot in a certain order. Plus, they also touch on drinking receptables, Colossal, choosing roles, and a whole lot more... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Two risky films take centre stage in this episode of Film Stories, starting with Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan. A 170-minute film released in the midst of a summer jammed with over 100 films to choose from in cinema. Who would have thought it'd prevail at the box office? Spielberg for one wasn't too worried: but also, he came to it directly after making The Lost World: Jurassic Park and A...