After an unscheduled week break (sorry!), the Film Stories podcast returns with the stories of two superb modern fantasy films.

Guillermo del Toro's Oscar-winning The Shape Of Water owes a debt to a 1950s horror, and an original idea that came to someone in their teenage years. When it came time to make the film? The budget was always going to be tight, but del Toro faced two different funding options for two different ways to make the film.

Juan Antonio Bayona's A Monster Calls, meanwhile, had a relatively swift journey to the screen, although the push to work with practical effects wherever possible did have an impact on the making of the film. Casting proved a challenge, too...

Stories of both are told in this very episode...

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Find Simon on Twitter and Bluesky at @simonbrew, and the podcast can be found at @filmstories

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