Film Stories with Simon Brew

• There Will Be Blood (2007), plus Mike Leigh

  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-spanning chat with filmmaker Mike Leigh, that takes in his new movie - Hard Truths, landing in UK cinemas on 31st January 2025 - but also goes back some 60 years to the start of his famous process... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• In conversation with Barry Sonnenfeld: Coen Brothers, The Addams Family, Get Shorty, books, wearing two watches, a whole lot more

  With his brilliant new book - Best Possible Place, Worst Possible Time - Barry Sonnenfeld joins Film Stories for a long, funny and candid conversation about his work. The chat covers his director of photograpy days for the Coen Brothers, shooting the last two weeks of Goodfellas, and then moving onto directing. From his debut with The Addams Family, to the challenges of Get Shorty with Gene Hackman and John Travola, and a whole lot more. Quite the chat, this. A little bit of fruity language too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• The Producers (1967) and Fierce Creatures (1997)

  When it comes to making your feature directorial debut, The Producers isn't a bad way to get off the mark! But Mel Brooks' now much-loved comedy faced a bumpy path to the screen, not least the struggle to write it in the first place. That, and the kind of subject matter that Hollywood studios didn't have much desire to go near. Plus, it turned out that the fate of the film owed a bit of a debt to Peter Sellers. After the success of A Fish Called Wanda meanwhile, the question was asked: would John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Palin and Kevin Kline come back for a sequel? Well, not quite: and despite Fierce Creatures being billed as an 'equal not a sequel', the comedy had a very, very difficult production. Stories of both are told in this episode... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• In conversation with Leigh Whannell - Wolf Man, Invisible Man, Upgrade, Police Academy

  Joining the Film Stories podcast for a special episode, writer/director Leigh Whannell chats to Simon and Maria about his latest film, Wolf Man. It's had a bit of a journey to the screen, and Whannell explores that in this longform chat. Also: the small release date change that might have proven pivotal to The Invisible Man, the prescience of Upgrade, a segue into Police Academy 3, and his short-lived career as a film critic. Note this episode was recorded just before the passing of David Lynch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• Black Adam (2022) and Draft Day (2014)

  The plan with the DC Comics character Black Adam was firstly to make him part of the Shazam movie, and then - when Dwayne Johnson signed up for $20m+ plus - to give him his own adventure. Johnson, it seemed, wanted lots of adventures - including a crossover he reportedly lobbied hard for. In the case of 2014's Draft Day, here was a drama where the writing of draft one took a very hurried two weeks. But after initial interest, Paramount Pictures would drop the movie. Things suddenly looked really tricky - until the Black List came along to save the movie... --- Stories of both are told in this episode. Support our print film magazines at https://store.filmstories.co.uk. Thank you! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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