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
July 14, 2025 • 61 mins
The behind the scenes stories of two movies, starting with Naked Gun 33 1/3, a movie that saw franchise director David Zucker opt to step back, and thirtysomething Peter Segal make his directorial debut. The problem? There was a comedy to make, and Segal was struggling to get a connection with his leading man, the late Leslie Nielsen.
2000's Cast Away meanwhile would be a movie that contributed to health problems Tom Hanks has put...
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July 10, 2025 • 41 mins
He's currently - at the time of recording - touring the UK with his Mr Swallow show, but Nick Mohammed is also one of the leads in Deep Cover, a really impressive UK film that's riding high on Prime Video.
In this Film Stories special, he talks to Simon about his ventures into movies, joining Slow Horses, the impact of Ted Lasso, and his love of magic...
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July 7, 2025 • 70 mins
Nearly 500 episodes in, and the Film Stories podcast finally arrives at a Godfather film. Specifically, The Godfather Part III, a fascinating project whose behind the scenes story went on for over a decade. The number of attempts to get the film made climbed into double figures, named such as Sylvester Stallone, Madonna and John Travolta were amongst those linked.
But also: writer/director Francis Ford Coppola was not keen to mak...
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July 4, 2025 • 58 mins
In a very special episode of the Film Stories podcast, director Ilya Naishuller joins Simon to talk about his new film, Heads Of State.
Thing is, they talk about a hell of a lot of other things too before they get there. Nunchuks, sausages, Hardcore Henry, grief, CG on a pint of bitter, Nobody, trying to work a clapperboard... quite a conversation this, with some fruity language included.
Heads Of State is now streaming on Prime ...
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1992's Aladdin is one of Disney's most successful animated films. There have been sequels. There's been a live action remake. A Broadway show. Yet on one point in 1991, a day known during the production as 'Black Friday', things went very wrong. And the creative team had less than 18 months to turn things around.
The story of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret Of The Ooze (1991) was one of haste, and a shoehorned-in rappe...
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June 23, 2025 • 67 mins
James Wan and Leigh Whannell knew they wanted to make a film. They knew they had barely any money. They knew they could afford one room, and a couple of actors. They figured they could keep costs down by chaining the actors up.
Made for around $1m in the end, the journey to 2004's Saw was a difficult one. And its behind the scenes story is told in this episode.
Plus, actor Domnhall Gleeson and director Michael Pearce then join Si...
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June 20, 2025 • 53 mins
In a special episode of the Film Stories podcast, Alex Garland joins us for a conversation about his latest project, and some of his other work too.
That latest work is 28 Years Later, which he's returned to write the script for. He talks through his desire to write something he didn't have to direct, and also, some of the threads of the story. Plus, there's a bit of Warfare and Devs in the conversation too.
Ryan Lambie is your i...
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June 16, 2025 • 68 mins
Christopher Nolan. A filmmaker long linked with James Bond. A man who loves his spy movies. A man who's got to the point where he can make pretty much any film he likes.
2020's Tenet remains arguably his most divisive, but talk of the film is also wrapped up in the lockdown year of 2020, and his split from long-term studio partner Warner Bros. We dig into the story here.
Then! Gina Gershon is co-starring with John Travolta again...
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June 12, 2025 • 52 mins
Chums, talk to producers. They have great stories. For this latest episode of Film Stories, Pixar's Mary Alice Drumm joins me for a long chat about her new film, Elio, and also a long chat about her career.
We go from Warner Bros Animation - Quest For Camelot, The Iron Giant! - through to Cinderella II, Curious George and a whole lot more. And then she lands at Pixar, and the story takes further turns.
Elio is in UK cinemas on 20...
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June 9, 2025 • 58 mins
In the 1970s and early 1980s, it was VHS vs Betamax. But in the 2000s, with companies keen to build on the success of DVD, a fresh movie format war sparked. In one corner? It was Blu-ray. In the other? HD DVD. The latter was best positioned to emerge victorious - but it all came to a head over a few days at the start of 2008.
Dan Gilroy had built up a career as a Hollywood screenwriter, but only moved to directing in his 50s. His...
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June 6, 2025 • 49 mins
In a special episode of the Film Stories podcast, Simon is joined by writer/director Dean DeBlois. He's the co-writer and co-director of the original How To Train Your Dragon and Lilo & Stitch films, and after writing and directing the second and third Dragon movies, he's now done the same with the live action remake.
Why did he do it? We get into that, as well as live action films that he's come close to making before. Plus, he t...
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June 2, 2025 • 75 mins
The legend of 1995's Waterworld suggests that it was a huge flop and a criticial disaster. The truth? It was neither. But it was one of the toughest Hollywood productions of the 1990s, and its story continued even after the arduous shoot was complete.
In this episode, Simon goes through the origins of the film as a low budget idea, right through to the emergence of a longer, alternate cut to the film: The Ulysses Cut.
The second ...
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May 30, 2025 • 53 mins
Multi-Oscar-winning editor, sound designer, writer and editor Walter Murch joins Simon for a very special episode of Film Stories. Walter's just released his latest book, Suddenly Something Clicked, and it's packed full of advice, plus stories from his extensive career.
In this long chat, the pair talk about the Droid Olympics, The Conversation, Francis Ford Coppola nearly poisoning him (!), and an unusual project with Mike Leig...
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May 26, 2025 • 56 mins
The summer of 1989 gave Warner Bros an enormous box office hit with Batman - but not far behind it came Lethal Weapon 2, a sequel turned around in a couple of years, and bringing back most of the key creatives.
Not writer Shane Black, though. His much darker idea for the sequel would be rejected, and the tone would duly shift. Plus, we'd get a lot more Joe Pesci as a result.
In the second half of this episode, Michael Cera joins...
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May 23, 2025 • 37 mins
Mia Threapleton, in her teens, was obsessed with Moonrise Kingdom, and wanted to work with Wes Anderson. Fast forward to now, and she's the standout of his new film, The Pheonician Scheme.
In this long interview, she talks about working with Wes, about how dyslexia affects how she processes a script, and why she keeps being stuck on trains when she gets important phone calls.
The Phoenician Scheme is in cinemas now.
Learn more ab...
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May 19, 2025 • 58 mins
The future of the Mission: Impossible movies was up in the air after the third film, with Paramount Pictures and Tom Cruise parting ways. It took some bridge building to get a fourth movie going, and even then, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol would bring with it changes. Plus, a contingency plan to replace Tom Cruise as the figurehead of the franchise going forward...
Pixar meanwhile, around the same time, was working on an ...
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In a very special episode of Film Stories, Simon is joined by writer, director, actor and comedian Bobcat Goldthwait, for a conversation about his film career.
In the wide-ranging chat, taking place as God Bless America arrives on the Studiocanal Presents streaming channel in the UK, Bobcat tells us about his approach, The Muppets, and why he writes reviews of cat biscuits on Amazon...
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May 12, 2025 • 66 mins
The behind the scenes stories of two films some time in the making come together in this episode, starting with 1993's Jurassic Park. A film made at a point when Steven Spielberg's box office touch was being questioned. A movie that, had a battle for the rights gone the other way, could have been made by one of Tim Burton, Joe Dante or Richard Donner.
As it was, Universal and Spielberg made the movie, and the Arnold Schwarzenegge...
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Director Martin Campbell is guest of honour in the latest episode of Film Stories. He's just directed his new film, Cleaner, starring Daisy Ridley, and he talks Simon through that, as well as the challenges of independent filmmaking.
Plus! The pair talk about some of Campbell's other directorial work, including Casino Royale, The Mask Of Zorro, No Escape, GoldenEye, Vertical Limit, and some of the other fruitier films on his early...
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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...
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