After the huge success of the original Gremlins, Warner Bros quickly wanted a sequel. The people who'd actually made Gremlins, not least director Joe Dante? The thought of making another was not in the slightest big appealing. Until, many years later, the studio made Dante an offer: if you make Gremlins 2, you can do pretty much whatever you want with it.

This is the story of how the ensuing film became one of the most boldest blockbuster sequels of all time.

Later in the same decade, Christopher Guest took a small company of actors down to Texas for a month. On a modest budget, he shot over 50 hours of footage, that'd take over a year to edit into a feature film. Even when the resultant movie, Waiting For Guffman, was finished, it took a long time to earn its reputation as a modern comedy classic...

Stories of both films are told in this episode.

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Mario Van Peebles was in London in early February along with his son, Mandela. And the pair stopped by for a long chat about their work, their latest film - Outlaw Posse - and a whole lot more.

In this chat, topics include Jaws: The Revenge, the role of a producer, Melvin Van Peebles, the hidden names in the end credits of Outlaw Posse, New Jack City and a whole lot more...

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Coming off the back of the film Payback, Oscar-winning writer/director Brian Helgeland feared he might be in movie jail. Thus, he got writing, and came up with A Knight's Tale, a film mixing jousting, modern music, Heath Ledger, and a naked Paul Bettany.

It took months to shoot in Europe. When it came to the music, David Bowie turned up. And then there's the tale of its sequel that never was.

King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword meanwhile was to be the first of six films, as originally pitched. Guy Ritchie came in to direct, and star Charlie Hunnam would admit that the film they started making wasn't the one they ended up with. Quite the story, though. Includes elephants and David Beckham.

Tales of both are told in this episode.

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In an extra episode of the Film Stories podcast, Simon is joined by director Tim Fehlbaum, as they discuss his new film, the Oscar-nominated September 5. As always, it's a far-ranging conversation, taking in Fehlbaum's earlier work, a name on the end credits of the film, and the attention to detail in making the movie.

Plus, a few thoughts on the technical similarities with Saturday Night as well.

September 5 is now out in UK cinemas.

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The path to 2007's Zodiac started when a then-19-year old managed to take out an option on a best-selling book. Then, a few years later, he inked a deal with Disney to make the movie. Fate took a few turns though, and it was the collapse of an $80m television series that would bring David Fincher to the eventual movie. Some people were expecting a film along the lines of Fincher's Seven though. They did not get it...

For the second half of this episode, Oscar-nominated director Brady Corbet then joins the podcast to talk about his film The Brutalist, the challenges of which have been well documented. Over a lengthy chat, he talks about the film, the question he's not asked, and - it says here - there's a bit about toilet roll too...

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In a special episode of Film Stories, Simon is joined for a long, clickbait-free chat by writer/director Nicholas Stoller.

Recorded at the junket for They're Cordially Invited, they explore how that film came together. But also, the conversation covers a whole bunch of other movies. There's Stoller's directing work on the likes of Neighbors/Bad Neighbours, Bros, Get Him To The Greek and The Five Year Engagement. Plus, his writing, on movies such as The Muppets and Captain Underpants.

You're Cordially Invited is on Prime Video now.

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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...

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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.

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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...

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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.

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