Film Stories with Simon Brew

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 conversation about a possible Doctor Who movie, around the era when Matt Smith was in the TARDIS. In theory, this would have been made in America, seperate to the TV show that was being put together in Wales. Things, er, went awry... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 excluded from the latest The Naked Gun film, trees, The Star Of Malta and a whole lot more. You can find David Zucker on social media at @TheDavidZucker, and you can find MasterCrash Comedy at www.mastercrash.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Embeth Davidtz. Primarily known for her acting work - and Matilda comes up! - she chats about writing and directing Don't Let's Go To The Dogs Tonight, and the six year journey to get it to the screen. Plus, a bit on fonts, too... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Partisan too... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 decades at Walt Disney Animation Studios, meanwhile, was an animated feature surrounding videogaming. Yet it took three attempts to get there, and some pretty complex negotiations too... Stories of both are told in this episode... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Scoob! Holiday Haunt. The film was weeks away from completion when Michael saw a trade press article: his film was being effectively deleted, so Warner Bros could claim a tax rebate. Here, he tells his story. The longform version. It's not always easy, but it's a man whose career has some incredible stories in it, and a career moment nobody should have to go through... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Shawshank Redemption, just starring Tom Cruise and Harrison Ford in the lead roles? It might just have happened, if writer/director Frank Darabont hadn't turned down a life-changing offer to let someone else direct the film. Instead, he dug in, and put together - across a testing production - a film that's gone on to be very highly regarded. Even after it flopped at the box office. The late Robert Redford meanwhile was 77 years old when he came to make the film All Is Lost. It involved him stuck in the water for hours on end, left him with hearing loss, and in the midst of a film that benefitted heavily from an abandoned Disney blockbuster. Stories of both films are told in this episode... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A lot of the story of Quentin Tarantino's debut movie, Reservoir Dogs, is very well known. The tale of a man working in a video store writing scripts, and becoming Hollywood's hottest filmmaker in a matter of years. But still: there are also tales of sticky blood. Of casting fly-bys. And of a ban that actually was nothing of the sort. The second film story in this episode? The DIVX disc, a format that launched pretty much alongside DVD, with Disney, Fox, Paramount and Universal all backing it. So what happened, and why did it end up being listed as one of the worst consumer product launches of all time? Tales are told in this very episode... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Twilight and The Hunger Games set the bar high for young adult movie adaptations in late 2000s/early 2010s, and when Veronica Roth's Divergent series of books came onto the market, a deal was soon struck. The plan? A trilogy of movies, which soon expanded to four films. The challenge? Making them to hit an annual release slot, against a backdrop of overlapping schedules and keeping the audience interested. Things would not go to plan. Kristen Stewart meanwhile would take a day in the midst of the schedule for 2009's Adventureland to basically audition for the first Twilight film. But Greg Mottola's sort-of-autobiographical comedy drama would be release afterTwilight - and it was a production that faced the peril of making winter in a theme park look like summer. Stories of both are told in this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this special episode of Film Stories, Samara Weaving, Jimmy Warden and - yes! - Muriel the dog join Simon for a chat. Jimmy has written/directed the film Borderline, which arrives in the UK on demand in September 2025. Samara Weaving stars in the film, and the pair talk about the movie, a weird Junior jigsaw, getting permission from Arnold Schwarzenegger and Celine Dion, a bit of Bill & Ted, and a whole lot more. Please leave a nice review and subscribe. Stuff like that really helps independent podcasts. Thank you! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices