Verbal Diorama

Starting life as a skit for the VH1 Fashion awards, Derek Zoolander would become an international sensation, and be vying for his fourth consecutive VH1 Male Model of the Year. It's an impressive feat for a man as ridiculously good-looking as he is.

Inspired by the success of Austin Powers, the idea was to make a feature length movie out of Derek's life and successes, but filming during the 2000 Autumn fashion season in New York, and at the real VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards, meant they could only film during commercial breaks.

Luckily, Derek's fashion industry and celebrity friends were there to help, with Donatella Versace agreeing to co-star alongside Derek in that moment, and his life story, the movie Zoolander, would eventually be released in September 2001.

And nothing bad happened in September 2001... right?

I would love to hear your thoughts on Zoolander !

Verbal Diorama is now an award-winning podcast! I won the Best Movie Podcast in the inaugural Ear Worthy Independent Podcast Awards recently. I am beyond thrilled, and hugely grateful to the Ear Worthy team. It means so much to me to be recognised by a fellow indie outlet, and congratulations to all the other winners!

CONTACT....

• Twitter @verbaldiorama
• Instagram @verbaldiorama
• Facebook @verbaldiorama
• Letterboxd @verbaldiorama
• Email verbaldiorama [at] gmail [dot] com
• Website verbaldiorama.com

SUPPORT VERBAL DIORAMA....

Give this podcast a five-star Rate & Review

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ABOUT VERBAL DIORAMA

Verbal Diorama is hosted, produced, edited, researched, recorded and marketed by me, Em | This podcast is hosted by Captivate, try it yourself for free.

Theme Music: Verbal Diorama Theme Song. Music by Chloe Enticott - Compositions by Chloe. Lyrics by Chloe Enticott (and me!) Production by Ellis Powell-Bevan of Ewenique Studio

Patrons: Sade, Claudia, Simon, Laurel, Derek, Vern, Cat, Andy, Mike, Griff, Luke, Michael, Scott, Brendan, Lisa, Sam, Will, Jack, Dave, Chris, Stuart, Nicholas, Zo, Kev, Pete, Heather, Danny, Aly, Stu, Brett, Philip, Michele, Xenos, Sean, Ryno and Russell!

Cloverfield, or one of its many other names, was greenlit in a shroud of secrecy, and that secrecy continued throughout production.

Actors were auditioned without even being told what they were auditioning for, just that it was a new untitled J.J. Abrams project, and the Abrams name was enough to whet the appetites of not only the actors involved, but also the general public.

After a teaser trailer debuted alongside Transformers in the summer of 2007, fans were desperate to find out anything about this mysterious film, titled 1-18-08, with online theories suggesting it was a massive lion monster or a new Godzilla entry.

Websites for the movie started to weave a web of intrigue, with a whole backstory evolving, leading to one of the most effective viral internet marketing campaigns of the 2000s...

I would love to hear your thoughts on Cloverfield !

Verbal Diorama is now an award-winning podcast! I won the Best Movie Podcast in the inaugural Ear Worthy Independent Podcast Awards in July 2024. I am beyond thrilled, and hugely grateful to the Ear Worthy team. It means so much to me to be recognised by a fellow indie outlet, and congratulations to all the other winners!

CONTACT....

• Twitter @verbaldiorama
• Instagram @verbaldiorama
• Facebook @verbaldiorama
• Letterboxd @verbaldiorama
• Email verbaldiorama [at] gmail [dot] com
• Website verbaldiorama.com

SUPPORT VERBAL DIORAMA....

Give this podcast a five-star Rate & Review

Join the Patreon | Send a Tip | Buy Merch

ABOUT VERBAL DIORAMA

Verbal Diorama is hosted, produced, edited, researched, recorded and marketed by me, Em | This podcast is hosted by Captivate, try it yourself for free.

Theme Music: Verbal Diorama Theme Song. Music by Chloe Enticott - Compositions by Chloe. Lyrics by Chloe Enticott (and me!) Production by Ellis Powell-Bevan of Ewenique Studio

Patrons: Simon E, Sade, Claudia, Simon B, Laurel, Derek, Vern, Cat, Andy, Mike, Griff, Luke, Michael, Scott, Brendan, Lisa, Sam, Will, Jack, Dave, Chris, Stuart, Nicholas, Zo, Kev, Pete, Heather, Danny, Aly, Stu, Brett, Philip, Michele, Xenos, Sean, Ryno and Russell!

Remember when action movie heroes didn’t have to think and just beat up a load of bad guys? Jason Bourne heralded the change when The Bourne Identity came out in 2002, and heroes became as vulnerable as they could be dangerous.

It was a troubled production, led by Doug Liman, who fought for years to get the rights to the material, and get the movie made in his own chaotic and frenetic directorial style - a style that didn't sit well with the producers or the executives at Universal.

Liman didn't just want another generic action spy movie, but an art film that the studio could sell as an action movie, and his lead actor Matt Damon agreed. Damon wanted to play this every man hero - the All-American boy next door who could also take on several trained operatives at once.

The production was plagued with multiple delays, rewrites, reshoots and shots of Jägermeister.

Warner Bros had let the rights they originally hold revert back to the original author Robert Ludlum in 1999, so how did they end up in a lawsuit over lost royalties from The Bourne Identity, a movie not even made by them?

I would love to hear your thoughts on The Bourne Identity (2002) !

Verbal Diorama is now an award-winning podcast! I won the Best Movie Podcast in the inaugural Ear Worthy Independent Podcast Awards recently. I am beyond thrilled, and hugely grateful to the Ear Worthy team. It means so much to me to be recognised by a fellow indie outlet, and congratulations to all the other winners!

CONTACT....

• Twitter @verbaldiorama
• Instagram @verbaldiorama
• Facebook @verbaldiorama
• Letterboxd @verbaldiorama
• Email verbaldiorama [at] gmail [dot] com
• Website verbaldiorama.com

SUPPORT VERBAL DIORAMA....

Give this podcast a five-star Rate & Review

Join the Patreon | Send a Tip | Buy Merch

ABOUT VERBAL DIORAMA

Verbal Diorama is hosted, produced, edited, researched, recorded and marketed by me, Em | This podcast is hosted by Captivate, try it yourself for free.

Theme Music: Verbal Diorama Theme Song. Music by Chloe Enticott - Compositions by Chloe. Lyrics by Chloe Enticott (and me!) Production by Ellis Powell-Bevan of Ewenique Studio

Patrons: Simon E, Sade, Claudia, Simon B, Laurel, Derek, Vern, Cat, Andy, Mike, Griff, Luke, Michael, Scott, Brendan, Lisa, Sam, Will, Jack, Dave, Chris, Stuart, Nicholas, Zo, Kev, Pete, Heather, Danny, Aly, Stu, Brett, Philip, Michele, Xenos, Sean, Ryno and Russell!

Roland Emmerich is not known for being an auteur director, but he is known for his disaster movies; the most defining and well-known of which is Independence Day. A movie that was almost called Doomsday. Can you imagine celebrating our Doomsday every 4th of July?

A movie called Independence Day, released around Independence Day 1996, was never going to be anything other than a spectacle of American patriotism and the archetypal blockbuster. It was expensive, it was lucrative, and it was bombastic, and it could have only come out in the 90s. It would pay homage to The Day The Earth Stood Still, The War of the Worlds, and 70s disaster movies like The Towering Inferno, Airport and The Poseidon Adventure.

Emmerich and his writing partner Dean Devlin knew they wanted to make an alien invasion movie. Surely no one else was doing one at the same time?

Oh, hi, Tim Burton. Checkmate.

I would love to hear your thoughts on Independence Day !

CONTACT....

• Twitter @verbaldiorama
• Instagram @verbaldiorama
• Facebook @verbaldiorama
• Letterboxd @verbaldiorama
• Email verbaldiorama [at] gmail [dot] com
• Website verbaldiorama.com

SUPPORT VERBAL DIORAMA....

Give this podcast a five-star Rate & Review

Join the Patreon | Send a Tip | Buy Merch

ABOUT VERBAL DIORAMA

Verbal Diorama is hosted, produced, edited, researched, recorded and marketed by me, Em | This podcast is hosted by Captivate, try it yourself for free.

Theme Music: Verbal Diorama Theme Song. Music by Chloe Enticott - Compositions by Chloe. Lyrics by Chloe Enticott (and me!) Production by Ellis Powell-Bevan of Ewenique Studio

Patrons: Simon E, Sade, Claudia, Simon B, Laurel, Derek, Vern, Cat, Andy, Mike, Griff, Luke, Michael, Scott, Brendan, Lisa, Sam, Will, Jack, Dave, Chris, Stuart, Nicholas, Zo, Kev, Pete, Heather, Danny, Aly, Stu, Brett, Philip, Michele, Xenos, Sean, Ryno and Russell!

Last year, Super Mario Bros celebrated its 30th anniversary. It was a fairly muted celebration, but its acknowledgement for the most part came with the release of the new Super Mario Bros Movie, an Illumination animation starring Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy & Jack Black, with many websites also acknowledging the movie that came thirty years before.

It's well documented that this is a movie with problems, but what it really was, was the true definition of "creative differences". It would have a young directing team with previous experience of futuristic dystopia, an Academy Award-nominated producer, and would take inspiration from Batman and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Everyone involved agreed they wanted something different to the light, fluffy games, but at least eight different scripts would confuse the tone, switching between serious brotherly drama, to The Wizard of Oz style fantasy, to Blade Runner and Mad Max inspired action, to something more family-friendly.

The producers didn’t want to work with the directors, the directors were getting the blame for everything (and they continued to get the blame for thirty years), the writers were being told one thing by producers and another by the directors - no-one was talking to each other. Threats were being thrown around, the set was chaos, no-one knew what was going on, no-one knew what they were going to be filming.

But while the producers, directors and stars were at metaphorical war, literally everyone else was stepping up and going above and beyond on this movie, despite all the problems, including the terrific special effects teams, set designers and production designers.

What we ended up with was something brave, bold, innovative, pioneering and special; most definitely not the bob-omb everyone has been led to believe it is...

The entire Super Mario Bros: The Movie Archive - a comprehensive fan site detailing everything you could ever want to know about the making of Super Mario Bros. - can be found at smbmovie.com

I would love to hear your thoughts on Super Mario Bros. (1993) !

CONTACT....

• Twitter @verbaldiorama
• Instagram @verbaldiorama
• Facebook @verbaldiorama
• Letterboxd @verbaldiorama
• Email verbaldiorama [at] gmail [dot] com
• Website verbaldiorama.com

SUPPORT VERBAL DIORAMA....

Give this podcast a five-star Rate & Review

Join the Patreon | Send a Tip | Buy Merch

ABOUT VERBAL DIORAMA

Verbal Diorama is hosted, produced, edited, researched, recorded and marketed by me, Em | This podcast is hosted by Captivate, try it yourself for free.

Theme Music: Verbal Diorama Theme Song. Music by Chloe Enticott - Compositions by Chloe. Lyrics by Chloe Enticott (and me!) Production by Ellis Powell-Bevan of Ewenique Studio

Patrons: Simon E, Sade, Claudia, Simon B, Laurel, Derek, Vern, Cat, Andy, Mike, Griff, Luke, Michael, Scott, Brendan, Lisa, Sam, Will, Jack, Dave, Chris, Stuart, Nicholas, Zo, Kev, Pete, Heather, Danny, Aly, Stu, Brett, Philip, Michele, Xenos, Sean, Ryno and Russell!

As a movie about movie making, Bowfinger leaves no stone unturned in its ruthless attempt to expose filmmaking in Hollywood, and just like this podcast, how difficult it is to get any movie actually made. Granted, it is slightly harder when your action hero doesn't know he's in it...

It mocks the range of cliched Hollywood personas, from the waning diva to naïve ingenue turned sexy starlet. It pokes fun at studio executives who seem to be primarily concerned with their vintage vehicles rather than their children or ex-wives, and shows Mexican immigrants as highly capable and intelligent people, who learn on the job, and become probably the most professional people in the whole crew.

Bowfinger is more than just a funny movie, although it definitely is that. It also makes astute observations about immigration, institutional racism, ageism, sexism and the cult of cults (definitely not Scientology).

Gotcha suckers!

I would love to hear your thoughts on Bowfinger !

CONTACT....

• Twitter @verbaldiorama
• Instagram @verbaldiorama
• Facebook @verbaldiorama
• Letterboxd @verbaldiorama
• Email verbaldiorama [at] gmail [dot] com
• Website verbaldiorama.com

SUPPORT VERBAL DIORAMA....

Give this podcast a five-star Rate & Review

Join the Patreon | Send a Tip | Buy Merch

ABOUT VERBAL DIORAMA

Verbal Diorama is hosted, produced, edited, researched, recorded and marketed by me, Em | This podcast is hosted by Captivate, try it yourself for free.

Theme Music: Verbal Diorama Theme Song. Music by Chloe Enticott - Compositions by Chloe. Lyrics by Chloe Enticott (and me!) Production by Ellis Powell-Bevan of Ewenique Studio

Patrons: Simon E, Sade, Claudia, Simon B, Laurel, Derek, Vern, Cat, Andy, Mike, Griff, Luke, Michael, Scott, Brendan, Lisa, Sam, Will, Jack, Dave, Chris, Stuart, Nicholas, Zo, Kev, Pete, Heather, Danny, Aly, Stu, Brett, Philip, Michele, Xenos, Sean, Ryno and Russell!

Star Trek ran for three seasons on NBC before being cancelled in 1969 due to low ratings. It was after this that the show went into syndication, that its popularity started growing, and it developed a cult following.

Due to the original series' popularity in syndication, Paramount Pictures began to consider making a Star Trek film as early as 1972 and by 1975, a film version of Star Trek was announced - Star Trek: Planet of the Titans (although that wasn't the only one!)

Star Trek: Planet of the Titans would become the TV series Star Trek Phase II.

Star Trek Phase II would be the basis for what would become Star Trek: The Motion Picture, but it would take a huge amount of both time and money to become what we got. With actors embroiled in lawsuits, constant script issues and a visual effects company that didn't deliver any visual effects, given all that transpired in the years leading up to Star Trek: The Motion Picture’s release in December 1979, it’s a miracle that the film was released at all, let alone coherent.

I would love to hear your thoughts on Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) !

CONTACT....

• Twitter @verbaldiorama
• Instagram @verbaldiorama
• Facebook @verbaldiorama
• Letterboxd @verbaldiorama
• Email verbaldiorama [at] gmail [dot] com
• Website verbaldiorama.com

SUPPORT VERBAL DIORAMA....

Give this podcast a five-star Rate & Review

Join the Patreon | Send a Tip | Buy Merch

ABOUT VERBAL DIORAMA

Verbal Diorama is hosted, produced, edited, researched, recorded and marketed by me, Em | This podcast is hosted by Captivate, try it yourself for free.

Theme Music: Verbal Diorama Theme Song. Music by Chloe Enticott - Compositions by Chloe. Lyrics by Chloe Enticott (and me!) Production by Ellis Powell-Bevan of Ewenique Studio

Patrons: Simon E, Sade, Claudia, Simon B, Laurel, Derek, Vern, Cat, Andy, Mike, Griff, Luke, Michael, Scott, Brendan, Lisa, Sam, Will, Jack, Dave, Chris, Stuart, Nicholas, Zo, Kev, Pete, Heather, Danny, Aly, Stu, Brett, Philip, Michele, Xenos, Sean, Ryno and Russell!

After finishing Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, director Rian Johnson had a brief window of opportunity to make another movie, and decided to go back to an old idea from the mid 2000s, based on the Agatha Christie's murder mysteries and the Choose Your Own Adventure books he loved reading as a child.

Wait a minute - I read a tweet about a New Yorker article about this episode...

Taking cues from Alfred Hitchcock, he would devise Knives Out, a whodunit where you would find out who did it up front, but did they actually do it? The death of 85-year-old murder mystery author Harlan Thrombey the night of his birthday party appears to be suicide, but can we trust the Thrombey family's stories, recollections of the night, or their intentions for Harlan's million dollar inheritance? Or can we only trust Great Nana Wanetta?

It's a weird case from the start. A case with a hole in the centre. A doughnut.

Johnson's story of immigration, class and privilege didn't need to be this smart and fun. It also only cost $40 million... with this incredible ensemble cast and attention to detail; production and set design beyond words.

Rian Johnson. Hugh did this.

I would love to hear your thoughts on Knives Out !

CONTACT....

• Twitter @verbaldiorama
• Instagram @verbaldiorama
• Facebook @verbaldiorama
• Letterboxd @verbaldiorama
• Email verbaldiorama [at] gmail [dot] com
• Website verbaldiorama.com

SUPPORT VERBAL DIORAMA....

Give this podcast a five-star Rate & Review

Join the Patreon | Send a Tip | Buy Merch

ABOUT VERBAL DIORAMA

Verbal Diorama is hosted, produced, edited, researched, recorded and marketed by me, Em | This podcast is hosted by Captivate, try it yourself for free.

Theme Music: Verbal Diorama Theme Song. Music by Chloe Enticott - Compositions by Chloe. Lyrics by Chloe Enticott (and me!) Production by Ellis Powell-Bevan of Ewenique Studio

Patrons: Simon E, Sade, Claudia, Simon B, Laurel, Derek, Vern, Cat, Andy, Mike, Griff, Luke, Michael, Scott, Brendan, Lisa, Sam, Will, Jack, Dave, Chris, Stuart, Nicholas, Zo, Kev, Pete, Heather, Danny, Aly, Stu, Brett, Philip, Michele, Xenos, Sean, Ryno and Russell!

West Side Story's origins as a Tony award-winning stage musical based on Romeo and Juliet meant it was ripe for a film adaptation. Stage director and choreographer Jerome Robbins was set to co-direct with Oscar-winning director Robert Wise; it would be written for the screen by Ernest Lehman, retaining the beautiful score, songs and lyrics by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim.

Wise would direct the dramatic scenes, and Robbins the musical sequences, in a lavish, expensive adaptation, shot on 70mm film.

Robbins was a notorious perfectionist, often making the dancers vomit due to exhaustion and dehydration, injuries on set were rife, and his repeat takes meant the production ended up almost a month behind schedule. Those weren't the only issues, though; the actors playing Puerto Ricans were forced to wear brownface, and Natalie Wood, who played Maria, despised her co-star Richard Beymer, who played Tony.

Robbins was unceremoniously fired from the production, but his contribution would lead to him receiving a co-director credit, and an Oscar win.

West Side Story would win 10 out of the 11 Oscars it was nominated for, including Best Supporting Actress for Rita Moreno, the first Latina to win an Academy Award.

Moreno would return to West Side Story sixty years later, as an executive producer on Steven Spielberg's new lavish adaptation of the original stage musical, as well as starring in a new role as Valentina. Gone were the brownface and white actors playing Puerto Ricans. A contemporary story from the early 60s about bigotry and xenophobia, patriotism and cultural divides would become a period piece about bigotry and xenophobia, patriotism and cultural divides, and a long-time passion project for Spielberg.

Its release would be postponed by the Covid-19 pandemic, but while it would lead to a box office disappointment, it would also lead to the first Afro-Latina, and first queer woman of colour, to win an Academy Award; for the same role that Rita Moreno played sixty years prior...

I would love to hear your thoughts on West Side Story (1961) & West Side Story (2021) !

CONTACT....

• Twitter @verbaldiorama
• Instagram @verbaldiorama
• Facebook @verbaldiorama
• Letterboxd @verbaldiorama
• Email verbaldiorama [at] gmail [dot] com
• Website verbaldiorama.com

SUPPORT VERBAL DIORAMA....

Give this podcast a five-star Rate & Review

Join the Patreon | Send a Tip | Buy Merch

ABOUT VERBAL DIORAMA

Verbal Diorama is hosted, produced, edited, researched, recorded and marketed by me, Em | This podcast is hosted by Captivate, try it yourself for free.

Theme Music: Verbal Diorama Theme Song. Music by Chloe Enticott - Compositions by Chloe. Lyrics by Chloe Enticott (and me!) Production by Ellis Powell-Bevan of Ewenique Studio

Patrons: Simon E, Sade, Claudia, Simon B, Laurel, Derek, Vern, Cat, Andy, Mike, Griff, Luke, Michael, Scott, Brendan, Lisa, Sam, Will, Jack, Dave, Chris, Stuart, Nicholas, Zo, Kev, Pete, Heather, Danny, Aly, Stu, Brett, Philip, Michele, Xenos, Sean, Ryno and Russell!

The Italian Job (1969) is the epitome of what would become Cool Britannia. It celebrates its 55th anniversary this year, and has lost none of its Britishness. In fact, for the quintessentially British cult classic, they had to have the cool car of the 1960s youth - the Mini - for the quintessential British heist.

Setting the film in Turin also gave them the bonus of having access to Fiat's locations and vehicles. Fiat and the city of Turin were incredibly welcoming to the production, despite all the chaos caused by filming. Fiat would also offer a huge cash incentive to swap the British Leyland Minis for Fiat 500s. Obviously that never happened!

While it would flop in the US, The Italian Job remains an icon of cinema in the UK, and although Paramount insisted the movie was in debt, they were still keen to remake it in 2003...

The Italian Job (2003) would show a character watching The Italian Job, while having characters named after characters from The Italian Job, and referencing "The Italian Job" as the inspiration for their own heist that's remarkably similar to The Italian Job's Italian Job, without being an Italian Job that's actually set in an Italian city. You'd think its writing team had never seen the original before... and you'd be correct!

This version of The Italian Job would have its own pioneering stunts though, including the creation of the first ever electric powered BMW MINIs...

I would love to hear your thoughts on The Italian Job (1969) & The Italian Job (2003) !

CONTACT....

• Twitter @verbaldiorama
• Instagram @verbaldiorama
• Facebook @verbaldiorama
• Letterboxd @verbaldiorama
• Email verbaldiorama [at] gmail [dot] com
• Website verbaldiorama.com

SUPPORT VERBAL DIORAMA....

Give this podcast a five-star Rate & Review

Join the Patreon | Send a Tip | Buy Merch

ABOUT VERBAL DIORAMA

Verbal Diorama is hosted, produced, edited, researched, recorded and marketed by me, Em | This podcast is hosted by Captivate, try it yourself for free.

Theme Music: Verbal Diorama Theme Song. Music by Chloe Enticott - Compositions by Chloe. Lyrics by Chloe Enticott (and me!) Production by Ellis Powell-Bevan of Ewenique Studio

Patrons: Simon E, Sade, Claudia, Simon B, Laurel, Derek, Vern, Cat, Andy, Mike, Griff, Luke, Michael, Scott, Brendan, Lisa, Sam, Will, Jack, Dave, Chris, Stuart, Nicholas, Zo, Kev, Pete, Heather, Danny, Aly, Stu, Brett, Philip, Michele, Xenos, Sean, Ryno & Russell!

Special Thanks to: Ben Marchini