In this episode of Film Stories with Simon Brew, a pair of films released within a few months of each other, that had one or two things in common.

The Silence Of The Lambs was originally earmarked by Gene Hackman for his directorial debut, and a deal was struck for the book rights. But the story's violence was putting people off, and there was a bit of a rights hurdle that had to be negotiated too.

Things with Toy Soldiers were lower profile, but still: at one stage this low-ish budget action film was being adapted with Midnight Cowboy director John Schlesinger in mind - and then the company backing the project decided to drop out.

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.

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