Film Stories with Simon Brew

In this episode of Film Stories, a pair of films that enjoyed varying fortunes on their original cinema release - both of which are said to have unreleased alternate cuts.In the case of 1995's Batman Forever, reports of a longer version of the movie - said to be a lot darker - started surfacing a couple of years after the film's original release. Then came a DVD release added some striking deleted scenes - and director Joel Schumacher's 170-minute version of Batman Forever was starting to gather interest. Right up to 2023, when it actually screened...2019's Cats meanwhile was up against a ferocious schedule to be finished on time. But finished it was, albeit with an upgrade patch sent to cinemas days after its release (!). Then came the rumours: was there really a cut of the film where digital feline backsides were, well, really rather obvious?Stories of both are told in this episode... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a very special episode of Film Stories, Simon is joined by writer/director Billy Ray, to chat about his career and body of work. Simon quickly gets sidetracked by the fact that Billy started off by writing for The Jetsons, but soon they're into conversation about films as diverse as Captain Phillips, Shattered Glass, Breach, Color Of Night and Hart's War. They also chat about AI in the film business, and cover a few of the films that Billy had written which never made it to the screen. It's a bit of a packed hour, this, and there's much that's discussed... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1995, Kenneth Branagh - between the giant projects of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and his film version of Hamlet - made an utterly charming low budget comedy called In The Bleak Midwinter. He paid for the film himself, bringing together a bunch of actors to tell the story of, well, a bunch of actors. A company who happened to be putting on a Christmas Eve performance of Hamlet.In December 2023, after years of trying, we managed to bring them all together for a special screening of the film. And what you're going to hear in this podcast episode is the conversation afterwards. Bear in mind that they'd all sat and watched the film collectively for the first time in over 25 years just before this conversation took place!The evening was raising funds for Centrepoint, of which you can find more here: https://centrepoint.org.uk/support-us/donate?utm_source=jaagoogleads&utm_medium=ppc&utm_campaign=csarppc23&utm_content=&utm_term=&gclid=Cj0KCQiA4Y-sBhC6ARIsAGXF1g6ofP7eioHgWYRsjB-cDrmSTNDzeegNsuExmtsqt6Ot4jVhAO_4DL4aAipxEALw_wcB Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At the end of a busy year for movies, this episode of Film Stories is saluting some of the films that might just have passed a few people by.Simon, unusually, isn't by himself for this episode either, as the Film Stories magazine and website team each come along with their picks too. Chaos, as you might expect, is soon the order of the day. Although hopefully you might find a movie or two in all of this to add to your watchlist! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ah, It's A Wonderful Life. A Christmas classic, that managed to basically bankrupt the production company of its director, and also lose money at the box office. In fact, were it not for an admin error, there's a good chance it wouldn't be regarded as arguably the best Christmas movie of all time. One that was targeted for original release in January. Lots to chat about here.A fair amount to talk about with 2013's Saving Mr Banks too, a movie script that Disney reportedly nearly bought simply to stop anyone else making the film. After all, Walt Disney is a key character in the movie - and Disney had hardly been keen to make a Walt Disney biopic before. Had the project been developed in-house, it likely wouldn't have happened at all.Stories of both are told in this episode... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a special episode of the Film Stories podcast, Paul King (director/co-writer) and Simon Farnaby (co-writer) join Simon to talk about their latest movie: Wonka.The conversation covers the writing process, how they felt after The Bunny & The Bull struggled to find and audience, a bit of Paddington 2, and a tiny dab of The Phantom Of The Open. But also: the challenges of making a Willy Wonka prequel story..Complete with Paul King's phone going off, and Simon Farnaby trying to give Simon the giggles... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Writer/director George Miller steps into the spotlight for this episode of Film Stories, as we dig into a pair of his sequels.The hugely-acclaimed Mad Max: Fury Road arrived in 2015, but it had a heck of a journey to get that far. An abandoned attempt to get the film made in 2003, and then the whole production having to be put on ice for a year after weather conditions meant a change of location. And then there was the shoot itself, which came to an end without the beginning or final act of the film shot. It was quite a saga.1998's Babe: Pig In The City was a film pretty much taken for granted by its parent studio, Universal Pictures. It wasn't until a late preview screening that the studio discovered it hadn't quite got the sequel to 1995's Babe that it was after - and urgent last minute changes were called for. Stories of both movies are told in this episode... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a special episode of Film Stories, writer, director, producer and a whole lot more Reginald Hudlin joins Simon. They're talking as Hudlin's new film, Candy Cane Lane, arrives on Prime Video. And Christmas is very much part of the discussion.But they also cover a bit of Marshall, why Hudlin put together his own website with quite so much detail, the curiosity of film critics and a whole lot more.Candy Cane Lane is now playing on Prime Video. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A pair of late 1990s movies in this episode, both of which are remembered three decades later for differing reasons.In the case of 1999's Election, the Alexander Payne-directed movie remains one of the most scathing and cleverly dark high school movies of its era. Perhaps that's why Paramount Pictures at the time had problems with it, not least how on Earth do you market the film? 'Not well' was the eventual answer to that. Plus: would Tom Cruise really have been right for the Matthew Broderick role?Then there was 1998's surprise hit Sliding Doors, a film from a first time writer/director, who spent seven years trying to nail the script, suffering a nervous breakdown in the midst of the process. Turns out too that a Hollywood legend, Sydney Pollack, would turn into the movie's guardian angel. Stories of both are told in this episode... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a very special episode, Simon is joined by the Chief Creative Officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios, Jennifer Lee.Jennifer Lee has also co-written and executive produces Disney's centenary animated feature, Wish, so there's some chat about that. But also, about Lee's journey from being the person brought into the Wreck-It Ralph writing team on an eight week contract, through to writing and co-directing the two Frozen movies, then taking arguably the key job at the studio.The pair talk about all of this, about the reasons it took so long to make the film Wish, and a slight issue with a character in it who happens to be called Simon... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices