Film Stories with Simon Brew

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

The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) - from the 45th most popular film of 1992 to Xmas favourite

December 1, 2025 • 49 mins
Go down the box office charts for 1992, and you need to look a long way before you find The Muppet Christmas Carol. Directed by Brian Henson, the movie was in 45th place at the box office that year, with surprisingly few choosing to check it out on its initial cinema release. The film had come together following the death of Muppets creator Jim Henson, and there'd been some difficulty cracking what the next Muppet film should be. ...
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In conversation with Yvett Merino (producer) and Jared Bush (director, chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios)

November 28, 2025 • 46 mins
In a very special episode of the Film Stories podcast, Simon is joined by two of the team behind Disney's new animated movie, Zootropolis. There's producer Yvett Merino, an Oscar-winner for Encanto, who came to Zootropolis 2 hot off the heels of Moana 2. And then writer/director Jared Bush returns to the podcast, for what's becoming a very welcome annual check in with the chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios. ...
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The story of the unmade Die Hard 6, plus an update

November 24, 2025 • 37 mins
After the, cough, 'underwhelming' A Good Day To Die Hard in 2013, the assumption was that the Die Hard saga had run aground. But for a while, that wasn't the case, and by 2015, there was a plan hatched for one final movie in the series. Bruce Willis was set to return as John McClane, Len Wiseman - after Die Hard 4.0 - was coming back to direct. And this time, we were going to be told the origin story of John McClane too. The film...
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In conversation with Nathan Crowley - Wicked For Good, Coppola, Nolan, Spielberg, and monkeys

November 21, 2025 • 51 mins
In a special episode of the Film Stories podcast, Simon is joined by Oscar-winning production designer Nathan Crowley. He won his Oscar for Wicked, and you can now see his work in Wicked For Good on the big screen. This chat takes in those films, as well as Christopher Nolan's garage, nine seconds with Ridley Scott, early work with Francis Ford Coppola, and a whole lot more... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/...
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In conversation with Mark Kermode & Jenny Nelson | Recorded live in Birmingham

November 18, 2025 • 86 mins
In a special episode of the Film Stories podcast, Simon brought Mark Kermode and Jenny Nelson to his home town of Birmingham in the UK. There, Mark and Jenny were on stage to talk about movie music, as they talked about their new book, Mark Kermode's Surround Sound. You're getting the full, lively conversation here, complete with audience questions at the end. With huge thanks to the team at the Midlands Arts Centre in Birmingham....
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In conversation with Ruben Fleischer | Now You See Me Now You Don't, Gangster Squad, Venom and more

November 13, 2025 • 56 mins
Director Ruben Fleischer's latest film is the third in the Now You See Me franchise, entitled Now You See Me Now You Don't. A movie stuck in development for a fair amount of time, it's now in cinemas. In this Film Stories special, Reuben tells the story of how he got involved in the film, in a conversation that also takes in films such as Zombieland, Gangster Squad, Venom, a little bit of Uncharted, and a bit of HTML coding talk a...
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Episode 500 celebrations | A long conversation with Kevin Smith

November 10, 2025 • 77 mins
In the first of a small collection of episodes over the coming weeks to celebrate 500 episodes of Film Stories with Simon Brew, by popular demand it's a return for Mr Kevin Smith. It's a long conversation covering Dogma, The 4:30 Movie, Martin Scorsese's response to Clerks, Robert Redford, Yoga Hosers, Christopher Nolan, Film Stories, the year 2009 and a whole lot more. Thanks to everyone who has supported, in any way, this podc...
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In conversation with Nicholas Hytner | The Choral, The Madness Of King George, Nigel Hawthorne, Alan Bennett and more

November 7, 2025 • 48 mins
Nicholas Hytner is a legend of British (and Broadway) theatre, but on the quiet has amassed seven films as a director too. His latest is The Choral, reuniting him with writer Alan Bennett. Ralph Fiennes takes the lead. Simon chats to Nicholas about the film, Lady In The Van, The Madness Of King George, a bit of Mr Scorsese, Nigel Hawthorne, and even a dab of Demolition Man... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm...
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The Prestige (2006), plus Dan Trachtenberg on Predator: Badlands and more

November 3, 2025 • 80 mins
Christopher Nolan, for a brief moment in time, was set to make The Prestige just ahead of directing Batman Begins. But circumstances meant that by the time the window of time was right, the Batman reboot was already a hit. Nolan thus jumped into a movie that was modestly costed, and didn't involve having to travel the world to shoot. The author of the original book The Prestige? Well, he sounds like a guy with notes...! Then! Ryan...
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In conversation with Nia DaCosta | Hedda, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, Doctor Who, videogames & more

October 30, 2025 • 39 mins
Writer/director Nia DaCosta is the guest on this episode of Film Stories, with her latest film - Hedda - now available on Prime Video. She joins Simon to chat about the movie, and in a far-reaching chat, they also get into videogames, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, her love of genre, a bit of nerding out about Doctor Who, and a touch of The Marvels as well. And lighting! We chat lighting, too. Hedda is on Prime Video now. Learn...
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Raging Bull (1980), and Rebecca Miller on Mr Scorsese (2025)

October 27, 2025 • 72 mins
It's a Martin Scorsese special episode of the Film Stories podcast, kicking off with the tale behind 1980's immense Raging Bull. This is the film the Scorsese for a long time didn't want to make, but Robert De Niro did. It was also the film that involved some trading off with Rocky II to get the money to make in the first place. And it'd involve De Niro going to extreme lengths to get his Oscar-winning performance right. Martin Sc...
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In conversation with Edward Berger | Ballad Of A Small Player, Conclave, and internet passwords

October 24, 2025 • 41 mins
Oscar-winner Edward Berger joins us for a very special episode of Film Stories with Simon Brew. The pair meet to chat about Edward's new release, Ballad Of A Small Player, starring Colin Farrell. And the chat also goes back to Edward's early years making films for German television, through to finding himself on the awards circuit with All Quiet On The Western Front and Conclave. As we'll discuss, not a bad journey for someone who...
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Scream (1996) and Skyline (2010)

October 20, 2025 • 69 mins
There was a bit of a bidding war when an upcoming writer called Kevin Williamson penned an idea called Scary Movie. It'd change its name to Scream a little way down the road, but having been inspired by a creepy night when he was housesitting, Williamson went with a lower offer, and the company most likely to actually make the film. The problem? Nobody wanted to direct Scream. At first, including the man who did. The brothers Str...
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In conversation with Phil Johnston - The Twits, Wreck-It Ralph, Cedar Rapids and more

October 17, 2025 • 36 mins
Quite the story, this. Phil Johnston, in a special episode of Film Stories, takes us through his own tale, and how it led to a nomination at the Academy Awards. He and Simon chat through the struggles to get The Twits - an adaptation of Roald Dahl's book - off the ground, and how for a few weeks it all looked like it'd fallen apart. Plus, how he landed at Disney with Wreck-It Ralph, how Ralph Breaks The Interest earned him an Osc...
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Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989) and Doctor Who (2010s unmade movie)

October 13, 2025 • 60 mins
There's a time travel theme to this latest episode of Film Stories with Simon Brew, starting with Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. Quite the story behind this, too. The distributor going bankrupt just as the movie was being finished, the year-long delay to its release, the audition that threw Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter together...? There's quite the story behind it all. In the early 2010s too, one interview ignited a whole conv...
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In conversation with David Zucker | Top Secret, Airplane, The Naked Gun, The Star Of Malta, books, and more

October 10, 2025 • 79 mins
In a very special episode of the Film Stories podcast, writer/producer/director David Zucker joins Simon for a conversation about his work. Amongst the films that come up in the chat? Airplane!, which is shortly getting as we'll hear an unusual director's cut, Top Secret!, the original The Naked Gun trilogy, My Big Fat Important Important (better known as An American Carol), Baseketball and more. Plus: a pair of books, bring ex...
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Top Gun (1986), plus Embeth Davidtz

October 6, 2025 • 75 mins
It started as a magazine article, and ended up as a global phenomenon. Yet the journey to 1986's Top Gun wasn't a straightforward one. You have cast members unsure if they wanted to commit and a studio that took a long time to decide it wanted the film. Then, director Tony Scott started shooting the movie in a way that, er, Paramount Pictures wasn't keen on. For the second half of this episode, it was a thrill to be joined by Embe...
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In conversation with Malcolm McDowell

October 2, 2025 • 35 mins
Now here's a man with a whole bunch of stories. Malcolm McDowell joins the Film Stories podcast for a special episode, where we go through his stories. The conversation takes us from ITV's Crossroads to his latest release - The Partisan - which is in cinemas now (and on digital from 27th October.) We find out where Burscough comes into his life, there are stories about Peter Sellers, a bit of Michael Caine, and his work on The Par...
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The Running Man (1987) and Wreck-It Ralph (2012)

September 29, 2025 • 61 mins
The first screen adaptation of The Running Man saw four different directors fired, the final director come in once filming had begun (while Arnold Schwarzenegger and his lycra were away from the set). Schwarzenegger would lament the final film, and Stephen King - who penned the original novel (as Richard Bachman) - wouldn't be hugely impressed either. But still: there's a reason it's still talked about today. In development for d...
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In conversation with Michael Kurinsky | Scoob: Holiday Haunt, The Beatles, Disney, Sony, Warner Bros and more

September 26, 2025 • 105 mins
Well, where do you start? Michael Kurinsky is a man whose built a career that saw him drawing enormous pictures of The Beatles, to a dream of working for Warner Bros, to years with Disney, years with Sony Pictures Animation, and then the jump to the place he was in awe of. His Warner Bros experience saw him working on the film Scoob!, and then he was offered his lifelong ambition: the director's chair. The film in question was S...
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