Film Stories with Simon Brew
Film Stories with Simon Brew is a podcast that looks to dig into the stories behind popular movies.From troubled productions, to rights issues, to difficulties with release to films nearly falling apart, the podcast will be looking at the stories that don't always seem apparent when watching a movie! The podcast is hosted by Simon Brew, the founder of Den Of Geek. Support the podcast at www.patreon.com/simonbrew. Thank you!
Episodes
In a special episode of the Film Stories podcast, Simon is joined by actor Geraldine Viswanathan for a conversation about her most recent work, and her body of work.
That most recent film? Thunderbolts, which also happens to feature a guinea pig. That comes up in conversation. Films such as Bad Education and Blockers are also discussed, and how she goes about choosing her films as well.
Thunderbolts is in UK cinemas now.
Learn mo...
Mark as Played
April 28, 2025 • 61 mins
After a week off for Easter, the Film Stories podcast is back with more behind the scenes movie stories. It's going all gangster this time too, with the tale of how Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels had to scale down from a very expensive film to a very cheap one. And the moment when Tom Cruise lent it a helping hand too.
Then it's 1993's Alive, telling a difficult true story on film, and as it turns out, a story that involved a...
Mark as Played
April 17, 2025 • 50 mins
The release of Sinners in cinemas brings with it a special episode of Film Stories, where Delroy Lindo joins Simon for a chat about the film. They also talk about Delroy's career, his key collaborations, his approach to his work and more.
Along with Sinners, you get bits of Malcolm X, Da 5 Bloods, Ransom and Congo in the conversation. Delroy Lindo proves to be quite the interviewee...
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaph...
Mark as Played
April 14, 2025 • 57 mins
It's a film made for TV that takes the spotlight in this episode of Film Stories, as 1984's terrifying post-apocalyptic Threads moves into the limelight. A film made on a very tight budget, and shot in under three weeks, it was nearly derailed entirely by an American TV production around the same time. And when it did get made and was screened? Well, traffic wardens have never looked so chilling.
20th Century Fox meanwhile had pla...
Mark as Played
In a very special episode of the Film Stories podcast, Simon is joined by filmmaker Patricia Riggen, the director of the brand new action film G20. She talks about making the film, her collaboration with Viola Davis, and the problems she still faces on a movie set.
They also dig back into her film story, from her earlier career, to cemetery exploring for Guillermo del Toro, and a whole lot more...
Learn more about your ad choices....
Mark as Played
April 7, 2025 • 84 mins
There was a brief period in time when the movie Drive was set to star Hugh Jackman, and be backed by a Universal Studios budget. But when they fell through, the movie became an lower budget independent, and for the first time, Ryan Gosling was able to hand-pick a director. He made an unusual, yet very successful choice.
For the second half of this episode, director Christopher Landon joins Simon to chat about his latest film, Drop...
Mark as Played
March 31, 2025 • 57 mins
Dinner dinner dinner dinner! Etc. Announced just six months before it landed in cinemas, the much-loved 1966 production Batman: The Movie was a masterclass in moving fast. Shot while the first series of the Batman TV show was still playing, it was written in two weeks, filmed in a month, and premiering in Texas as a result of some help with a boat...
Also filmed in a month? Jason Reitman's 2011 feature Young Adult, starring Charli...
Mark as Played
March 24, 2025 • 60 mins
Two movies here where audiences went in expecting one thing, and might just have got another. 1991's The Fisher King though for a time was going to be a Disney movie, before the studio decided it was too dark. Directors such as Steven Spielberg and James Cameron were mentioned, before Terry Gilliam - coming off the back of a commercial flop - decided to break all three of his conditions for taking on a film.
Director Joe Carnahan ...
Mark as Played
In a very special episode of the Film Stories podcast, Simon is joined by Oscar-winning producer Irwin Winkler, for an hour-long chat about his career.
He was in town to talk about his latest film as producer, The Alto Knights. However, the stories take us right to the infancy of his producing career (including Elvis Presley!). Films covered in the chat include Rocky, Rocky IV, Raging Bull, Guilty By Suspicion, The Net, Goodfellas...
Mark as Played
March 17, 2025 • 60 mins
It had taken five years for Stanley Kubrick to go from 1975's Barry Lyndon to 1980's The Shining. The gap to Full Metal Jacket would be longer, but it'd mark the first in a three picture deal that Kubrick signed with Warner Bros. A deal that would never be completed.
Full Metal Jacket was, though, but the making of it was exhausting and exhaustive. And a disused gasworks was just part of the problem.
Much-loved novelist Judy Blum...
Mark as Played
March 10, 2025 • 69 mins
For Star Wars spin-off Solo: A Star Wars Story, it wasn't supposed to be like this. Infamously, 90 days into photography, parent company Lucasfilm opted for a director change. Out when Christopher Miller and Phil Lord, and in came Ron Howard. And Howard had less than year to retool the movie, and shoot a whole lot of new footage.
It remains one of the most infamous Film Stories of the 2010s.
For the second half of the episode, Si...
Mark as Played
March 3, 2025 • 57 mins
2016 was a turning point in the world of the X-Men movies. After the big success of 2014's X-Men: Days Of Future Past, 20th Century Fox spent big on X-Men: Apocalypse, and big things were expected of it. On the other hand, it had taken a gamble with a different X-Men-related project, Deadpool. Things would not go the way that the studio had originally expected.
The story of Scent Of A Woman meanwhile is wrapped up in the push for ...
Mark as Played
February 24, 2025 • 54 mins
The path to the 26th James Bond film is one already filled with quite the story. Unmade at the point this episode is released in 2025, James Bond 26 has looked in limbo since the release of No Time To Die in 2021. There's no new 007, no script, no director...and it's an impasse that's cost $1bn to resolve.
More conventionally, Long Shot did actually get made, released in 2019. Still, a romantic comedy with movie stars was going to...
Mark as Played
February 17, 2025 • 62 mins
After the huge success of the original Gremlins, Warner Bros quickly wanted a sequel. The people who'd actually made Gremlins, not least director Joe Dante? The thought of making another was not in the slightest big appealing. Until, many years later, the studio made Dante an offer: if you make Gremlins 2, you can do pretty much whatever you want with it.
This is the story of how the ensuing film became one of the most boldest blo...
Mark as Played
February 14, 2025 • 53 mins
Mario Van Peebles was in London in early February along with his son, Mandela. And the pair stopped by for a long chat about their work, their latest film - Outlaw Posse - and a whole lot more.
In this chat, topics include Jaws: The Revenge, the role of a producer, Melvin Van Peebles, the hidden names in the end credits of Outlaw Posse, New Jack City and a whole lot more...
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adch...
Mark as Played
February 10, 2025 • 59 mins
Coming off the back of the film Payback, Oscar-winning writer/director Brian Helgeland feared he might be in movie jail. Thus, he got writing, and came up with A Knight's Tale, a film mixing jousting, modern music, Heath Ledger, and a naked Paul Bettany.
It took months to shoot in Europe. When it came to the music, David Bowie turned up. And then there's the tale of its sequel that never was.
King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword mea...
Mark as Played
February 6, 2025 • 31 mins
In an extra episode of the Film Stories podcast, Simon is joined by director Tim Fehlbaum, as they discuss his new film, the Oscar-nominated September 5. As always, it's a far-ranging conversation, taking in Fehlbaum's earlier work, a name on the end credits of the film, and the attention to detail in making the movie.
Plus, a few thoughts on the technical similarities with Saturday Night as well.
September 5 is now out in UK cin...
Mark as Played
February 3, 2025 • 70 mins
The path to 2007's Zodiac started when a then-19-year old managed to take out an option on a best-selling book. Then, a few years later, he inked a deal with Disney to make the movie. Fate took a few turns though, and it was the collapse of an $80m television series that would bring David Fincher to the eventual movie. Some people were expecting a film along the lines of Fincher's Seven though. They did not get it...
For the secon...
Mark as Played
In a special episode of Film Stories, Simon is joined for a long, clickbait-free chat by writer/director Nicholas Stoller.
Recorded at the junket for They're Cordially Invited, they explore how that film came together. But also, the conversation covers a whole bunch of other movies. There's Stoller's directing work on the likes of Neighbors/Bad Neighbours, Bros, Get Him To The Greek and The Five Year Engagement. Plus, his writing,...
Mark as Played
January 27, 2025 • 67 mins
Acclaimed as one of the finest films of the 2000s, Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood was - at one stage - a movie people weren't keen to pay for. The movie though has an unlikely link to the book Fast Food Nation, and Anderson dropped a different idea to go with it.
Then, there was the small matter of the first two weeks of filming having to be pretty much re-done from scratch.
The second half of the episode is a career...
Mark as Played
Popular Podcasts
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.