Film Stories with Simon Brew

It was on the set of The Last Boy Scout that director Tony Scott first encountered an upcoming writer by the name of Quentin Tarantino. A few weeks later, Scott had a pair of Tarantino's scripts in his hand: True Romance and Reservoir Dogs. He would, of course, direct the former.

But still, as Simon explores in this new episode, Scott actually wasn't the original director of True Romance. Another director had a different cast ready to go. Furthermore, even when Tony Scott did come aboard, there was a 'debate' over the ending, a permissions problem with a piece of music he wanted to use, two leads whose romance was looking as true off screen and off, and a battle and a half over the movie's violence.

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After the success of Superman: The Movie and Superman II, producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind were quick to promote Superman III - or Superman vs Superman as they originally wanted to call it. But this time around, there'd be problems again, and no shortage of them. Christopher Reeve was rumoured to have had enough, Gene Hackman was outraged at the treatment of director Richard Donner on the previous movies, and a possible plot involving the character of Brainiac was nixed too.

The turning point? An appearance by Richard Pryor on a television show, that led to Superman III being a very different beast to the first two - and a film not without a childhood nightmare with it.

For the second part of this episode, Simon is joined by legendary actor James Spader. He's reprising his role of Ultron from Avengers: Age Of Ultron in Marvel's now-streaming VisionQuest series. And they get into a bit of Crash and Wolf as well...

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Oscar-winning producer Roy Conli is a veteran of Disney animation, having produced or being involved with the likes of Big Hero 6, Strange World, Treasure Planet, Tangled and more. Sporting the finest facial hair in Hollywood, he headed to London to present footage from Disney's upcoming animated feature Hexed.

He's appeared on the podcast before, and he's back for a special episode as he looks forward to Hexed, reflects on Strange World, and fails to repay Simon the £3 he owes him.

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If you didn't live through the Batmania surrounding 1989's Batman, it's hard to overstate just what a seismic shift it felt like in mainstream cinema. But also, it's easy to overlook as well that the journey of the film to the screen took a good decade, with lots of problems in landing its tone, a big backlash against its casting, and various directors taking a look.

The actual making of the film was then fraught, with a script that needed small tweaks then being overhauled. Then the mysterious $100,000 prop that needed to be written in, the late re-casting - and the marketing campaign that changed so much.

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The sale of Shane Black's The Last Boy Scout screenplay for a then-eyewatering $1.75m (and that wasn't even the highest bid!) set Hollywood alight. It also virtually guaranteed at the time that the film would get made.

When it did? The reunion of Bruce Willis and Joel Silver seemed like a good idea after their Die Hard successes. Tony Scott as director? That should work. They'll all get on like a house on fire, right? Er...

In the second part of this episode, writer, actor, director, comedian and Midlander Steve Oram joins Simon to chat about his role in the indie film Crushed, which is available on digital now. A bit of Sightseers sneaks in too.

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In a special episode of Film Stories, writer/director Brian Duffield chats to Simon about his brand new movie, Whalefall. Well, not just that. The pair also natter about The Muppets, about working in a clothing factory, just what happened with Jane Got A Gun, the story of Guillermo del Toro and Stephen King noticing No One Will Save You, and a whole lot more...!

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Oscar-winner Aaron Sorkin joins Simon for an elongated chat about The Social Reckoning, Facebook, compromised reviewers, and how the pair would overhaul the James Bond saga.

Plus! There's chatter about old film magazines, about making stories based on true people, plus Aaron Sorkin chats too about those times when Jerry Bruckheimer gives him a call...

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In a huge episode of Film Stories, Simon digs into the story of Daniel Craig's second adventure as James Bond, Quantum Of Solace. Originally set to come out just 18 months or so after 2006's Casino Royale, the speedy turnaround saw one director leave, a writer's strike curtail the script. Daniel Craig picking up a pen, and a handful of weeks to turn around a final cut.

Then, for the second part of this episode, indie director Brenda Lee chats about her new film, Fortune Cookies, and how she turned down the idea of getting it sent to Ang Lee to make it herself...

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Peter M Hoffman has had a very, very storied career. From working with Alexander Salkind on the original Superman movies, through to Cannon Films and Carolco, it was his tax specialism that saw him rise to prominence in Hollywood.

But his story took one hell of a turn, as he discusses in this special episode of Film Stories, and in his new book, Karmic Winds: Reflections From The 'Smartest Guy In Hollywood'...

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The road to The Inbetweeners Movie was a fairly swift one. Even while the hit British TV comedy was bringing in big ratings for E4, its creators - Iain Morris and Damon Beesley - were filing away ideas for an eventual movie.

When the opportunity came, time was not on its side: filming had to begun just six months before The Inbetweeners Movie was due in cinemas. It turns out too that if you're looking to shoot a movie set in the middle of summer, March isn't necessarily the best time to do it. Simon Brew tells the story...

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