In conversation with director Matt Shakman: The Fantastic Four, Dick Tracy, Gremlins 2, writing career-changing letters
In a special episode of the Film Stories podcast, Simon is joined by director Matt Shakman. They were chatting at the junket for The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which is now in cinemas. But this conversation went in lots of different directions.
For your eardrums here, we go into Dick Tracy, Gremlins 2, the Star Trek film that never was, and the career-changing letter he wrote when he was young. Quite the chat this, with a movie junket question that struck gold...
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The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach (1988)
The very future of the James Bond movie franchise was resting on The Spy Who Loved Me. Producer Albert R Broccoli was contending with the dissolution of his business partnership, a potential rival film, and an underperforming previous 007 film. Plus, questions about his leading man.
And it was a leading man causing conversations when it came to Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach. Where was Steve Guttenberg? Come to think of it, where was Bobcat Goldthwait? And could the enduring franchise survive?
The behind the scenes stories of both movies are told in this episode. Please note this is the last regular episode of Film Stories for a few weeks, while I take some summer downtime. Specials will follow...!
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Naked Gun 33 1/3 (1994) and Cast Away (2000)
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 up with since. It made a volleyball famous, and notably, it's a film that took so long to make, that director Robert Zemeckis shot and released another movie entirely in the midst of Cast Away's production schedule.
Stories of both films are told in this episode...
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In conversation with Nick Mohammed
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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The Godfather Part III (1990) and Clueless (1995)
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 make the movie.
Writer/director Amy Heckerling had an opposite problem with Clueless. She was keen to make the story, but for a while, she couldn't get anyone to stump up the bill. When they did? Well, Heckerling finally got some of the respect she deserved...
Stories of both are told in this episode...
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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!