In this episode of Film Stories with Simon Brew, two hit films come under the microscope - but one of them nearly fell apart days before filming was due to begin.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would become for a long time the most successful independent film of all time in terms of box office returns. Yet none of the major studio would commit to the film, and it'd take a late deal to save the movie.

Timecop had a much clearer path the big screen, and this was Jean-Claude Van Damme trying to emulate the success of Arnold Schwarzenegger and cross over into the mainstream. Just don't ask him about the plans for a sequel...

Stories of both are told in this episode.

Find Simon on Twitter at @simonbrew, and the podcast can be found at @filmstoriespod.

Support this podcast: www.patreon.com/simonbrew.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices