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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!
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1Two very different films in this latest episode of film history podcast Film Stories. Firstly, it's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, an infamously difficult production that saw director Gareth Edwards fashion a war tale in the Star Wars universe - and then reshoots become Hollywood trade press fodder.
Coming off the back of two James Bond films meanwhile, director Lewis Gilbert reckoned he might be able to get interest in a film take on hit play Educating Rita back in the early 1980s. He got a short, sharp shock - but a dinner party offered him a very welcome stroke a luck.
Stories of both films are told in this episode. Please do the like and subscribe and leaving a nice review thing. Thank you!
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She's a comedian, writer, actor and film nerd, and Tiff Stevenson also is a go-to for hosting things on boats, it turns out! In this Film Stories special, she talks about her role in a film called Slotherhouse. A horror slasher movie, with a sloth in it.
As the pair discuss, it sounds like both an intriguing and terrible idea, yet it somehow works! It's one of the many movie discussions that come up in this chat...
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Regular episodes of Film Stories with Simon Brew resume for 2026, with two very different films in the spotlight.
First up there's Cameron Crowe's superb Almost Famous, a film he got the greenlight to make in the aftermath of Jerry Maguire's success. A hugely personal story, here's how it stumbled at the box office, but found new life.
Then, from the same brain that gave us Phone Booth comes Collateral. There aren't many film you could bill Chris Evans, Oscar-winner Kim Basinger and Jason Statham in, all from the director of Snakes On A Plane. How, then, did this one end up a treat?
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In this long chat about Song Sung Blue and his other film work too, writer/director Craig Brewer joins Simon Brew to chat about his film story.
The pair chat about what led to the Neil Diamond-inspired Song Sung Blue coming to life, as well as the influence of films such as The Commitments and Shadowlands. Plus how his late father had a dramatic impact on his career, a bit of Hustle & Flow, and - just before we're cut off - Rocky IV too!
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To celebrate Film Stories turning 500 episodes old (and then some!), a very special live recording took place in London in November 2025. Long-time Film Stories supporter Romesh Ranganathan joined Simon Brew on stage to go through his, er, 'storied' cinema career and talk movies.
This show is rated 15 for language. You probably could have guessed that.
A video version of this show is available on YouTube: www.youtube.com/filmstories
Please subscribe. Please leave a nice review. And thank you for all your help and support in getting us to episode 500!
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In a very special episode of Film Stories, writer/producer/showrunner/novelist Chris Chibnall joins Simon for a long chat about his work and career.
Topics covered? Glad you asked. They chat about Death At The White Hart, Chris' first novel, that's now available in paperback, and also heading towards televison. They talk about Agatha Christie's Seven Dials, heading to Netflix in January. And other topics? Old computer games, Jasper Carrott LPs, and a good chunk of Doctor Who as well...
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You want a Christmas movie? Look no further than Rocky IV, surely the raging highlight of the Rocky saga. Written and directed by Sylvester Stallone, and with montages coming out of its armpits, the movie was not without a few challenges (and injuries.) Not least: how do you follow up the relentlessness of Mr T's Clubber Lang from Rocky III?
The answer arrived in the sizeable shape of Dolph Lundgren, a one-time guest on this very show. But then, decades later, Sylvester Stallone decided that he had problems with Rocky IV. And a very different cut was born...
The stories are told in this very episode....
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Now in UK cinemas is the spoof movie Fackham Hall, which crosses the likes of Airplane! with Downton Abbey.
But how do you write a spoof movie? And what are the challenges? We've brought together 66.6% of the writing team The Dawson Brothers to tell us more, and explain why a CG house was required to make a sex scene involving pigs...
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There was originally a plan to bring the much-loved Christmas book The Polar Express to the big screen in live action, with Rob Reiner potentially directing. But eventually, the project ended up with Robert Zemeckis. Looking for something between live action and animation, a different kind of technology was to be used for the film - but would audiences respond to it? Especially when they tried to look the characters in the eye...
The second part of this episode is a return to the podcast for writer/producer/director James L Brooks, chatting about his new film, Ella McCay. Plus, getting films for grown-ups made, Mike Nichols, previewing his movies and a whole lot more.
Ella McCay is in UK cinemas from 12th December 2025.
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Dan Cadan may not be a name familiar to too many, but he's had quite the career. In this special Film Stories episode, he tells his tale of how the lad growing up in Huddersfield went on to work with Guy Ritchie (including writing a remake of The Wild Geese), Stephen Graham, Madonna and more.
Then, getting a film made, the sole UK release from the Fox International label, Walk Like A Panther. He takes us into the highs and lows of that, his letter about it to Kermode & Mayo, and what mischief he's up to now. Quite the story this...
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Go down the box office charts for 1992, and you need to look a long way before you find The Muppet Christmas Carol. Directed by Brian Henson, the movie was in 45th place at the box office that year, with surprisingly few choosing to check it out on its initial cinema release.
The film had come together following the death of Muppets creator Jim Henson, and there'd been some difficulty cracking what the next Muppet film should be. Even when they settled on an adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, there were a few different choices that were nearly made.
The story of the film is told in this episode...
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In a very special episode of the Film Stories podcast, Simon is joined by two of the team behind Disney's new animated movie, Zootropolis.
There's producer Yvett Merino, an Oscar-winner for Encanto, who came to Zootropolis 2 hot off the heels of Moana 2. And then writer/director Jared Bush returns to the podcast, for what's becoming a very welcome annual check in with the chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios.
The conversation covers the new Zootropolis/Zootopia film, a four minute sequence that got cut out of the film, a dog with a dodgy tummy, and a whole lot more...
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After the, cough, 'underwhelming' A Good Day To Die Hard in 2013, the assumption was that the Die Hard saga had run aground. But for a while, that wasn't the case, and by 2015, there was a plan hatched for one final movie in the series.
Bruce Willis was set to return as John McClane, Len Wiseman - after Die Hard 4.0 - was coming back to direct. And this time, we were going to be told the origin story of John McClane too.
The film was active for nearly half a decade. And this is the story of the Die Hard that never was.
Plus, a small update too on the Film Stories podcast...
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In a special episode of the Film Stories podcast, Simon is joined by Oscar-winning production designer Nathan Crowley. He won his Oscar for Wicked, and you can now see his work in Wicked For Good on the big screen.
This chat takes in those films, as well as Christopher Nolan's garage, nine seconds with Ridley Scott, early work with Francis Ford Coppola, and a whole lot more...
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In a special episode of the Film Stories podcast, Simon brought Mark Kermode and Jenny Nelson to his home town of Birmingham in the UK. There, Mark and Jenny were on stage to talk about movie music, as they talked about their new book, Mark Kermode's Surround Sound.
You're getting the full, lively conversation here, complete with audience questions at the end. With huge thanks to the team at the Midlands Arts Centre in Birmingham.
Mark Kermode's Surround Sound is available now, published by Picador. Please buy it from an independent bookshop if you can!
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Director Ruben Fleischer's latest film is the third in the Now You See Me franchise, entitled Now You See Me Now You Don't. A movie stuck in development for a fair amount of time, it's now in cinemas.
In this Film Stories special, Reuben tells the story of how he got involved in the film, in a conversation that also takes in films such as Zombieland, Gangster Squad, Venom, a little bit of Uncharted, and a bit of HTML coding talk as well...
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In the first of a small collection of episodes over the coming weeks to celebrate 500 episodes of Film Stories with Simon Brew, by popular demand it's a return for Mr Kevin Smith.
It's a long conversation covering Dogma, The 4:30 Movie, Martin Scorsese's response to Clerks, Robert Redford, Yoga Hosers, Christopher Nolan, Film Stories, the year 2009 and a whole lot more.
Thanks to everyone who has supported, in any way, this podcast over its 500 episodes. More episode 500s shortly...!
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Nicholas Hytner is a legend of British (and Broadway) theatre, but on the quiet has amassed seven films as a director too. His latest is The Choral, reuniting him with writer Alan Bennett. Ralph Fiennes takes the lead.
Simon chats to Nicholas about the film, Lady In The Van, The Madness Of King George, a bit of Mr Scorsese, Nigel Hawthorne, and even a dab of Demolition Man...
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Christopher Nolan, for a brief moment in time, was set to make The Prestige just ahead of directing Batman Begins. But circumstances meant that by the time the window of time was right, the Batman reboot was already a hit. Nolan thus jumped into a movie that was modestly costed, and didn't involve having to travel the world to shoot. The author of the original book The Prestige? Well, he sounds like a guy with notes...!
Then! Ryan Lambie had a long conversation with Predator: Badlands, Predator: Killer Of Killers and Prey writer/director Dan Trachtenberg. He talks about his new film, and bit of Weyland Yutani too...
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Writer/director Nia DaCosta is the guest on this episode of Film Stories, with her latest film - Hedda - now available on Prime Video.
She joins Simon to chat about the movie, and in a far-reaching chat, they also get into videogames, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, her love of genre, a bit of nerding out about Doctor Who, and a touch of The Marvels as well. And lighting! We chat lighting, too.
Hedda is on Prime Video now.
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Good enjoyable podcast with lots of interesting facts