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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The plan with the DC Comics character Black Adam was firstly to make him part of the Shazam movie, and then - when Dwayne Johnson signed up for $20m+ plus - to give him his own adventure. Johnson, it seemed, wanted lots of adventures - including a crossover he reportedly lobbied hard for.

In the case of 2014's Draft Day, here was a drama where the writing of draft one took a very hurried two weeks. But after initial interest, Paramount Pictures would drop the movie. Things suddenly looked really tricky - until the Black List came along to save the movie...

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Stories of both are told in this episode. Support our print film magazines at https://store.filmstories.co.uk. Thank you!

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Returning to the Film Stories podcast, writer/producer/director Steven Knight is in writing mode for his latest project, Maria. Directed by Pablo Larrain and written by Knight, in a wide-ranging conversation he discusses the unusual unHollywood relationship between the pair.

The chat also covers a rogue Christmas tree, a boiled egg, Birmingham Airport, and strange Google searches too...

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With Oliver Stone writing the script, Al Pacino starring and Brian De Palma behind the camera, perhaps it's no wonder that 1983's Scarface has enjoyed a long success. It was met with no shortage of problems during its production though: an unhappy shoot, a change of location, long overruns and the budget soaring. And then Al Pacino had to go to hospital. It's quite the film story.

The second half of this episode? Filmmaker Robert Eggers arrives for a long chat about Nosferatu, The Northman, The Witch and more.

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Chris Columbus and Robert Eggers aren't necessarily names you expect to see side by side, but the pair formed a creative force on the newly-released Nosferatu.

In a wide-ranging podcast special, Simon chats at length to Chris Columbus about his producing career primarily, but with films such as Only The Lonely, Home Alone, Stepmom, Bicentennial Man, Reckless and more making an appearance too...

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In a special episode of Film Stories, it's a guest filmmaker and a guest interviewer! This time, director Justin Kurzel is chatting about his latest movie, The Order, that's now playing in UK cinemas. Plus, there's a bit of chat about Snowtown and Assasin's Creed in there too.

Ryan Lambie of Film Stories is asking the questions, after a bit of babble from Simon at the start. And it's just the kind of longform, clickbait-free conversation we love to do...

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The return of Wallace & Gromit to our screens also coincides with a return visit for Nick Park to the Film Stories podcast. He's joined by his co-director too, Merlin Crossingham, as the pair chat about their new film, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl.

The conversation covers timescales, writing, studio notes... and a little bit of clingfilm...

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In a very special episode of Film Stories, Simon is joined by Andrew Davis, perhaps best known for directing films such as The Fugitive, Under Siege, Holes and more. Those movies certainly come up in the extensive conversation between the pair.

Davis has also, with Jeff Biggers, written his first novel, Disturbing The Bones, and there's a strong movie link to it as well. And the chat also takes in Stony Island, The Fugitive sequel, Steal Big Steal Little and a whole lot more...

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In the final regular Film Stories episode of 2024, we start with a 1989 movie that's gone on to become something of a Christmas favourite.

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation saw John Hughes writing again, and a first time director in Jeremiah Chechik. The former protected the latter from studio notes, and even a potential lack of snow turned into the opposite problem. Still: what happened to the UK cinema release?

Clint Eastwood's Juror #2 remains one of the more curious film stories of 2024. A movie made for a modest sum, that Warner Bros then gave the impression of simply not really wanting to release it.

Stories of both are told in this episode...

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It took some time for writer/director J C Chandor to break into the movie business. When he did, it was with the mini-budget Margin Call, a film that would snag him an Oscar nomination.

Since then, he's brought to the screen All Is Lost, A Most Violent Year, Triple Frontier and now Kraven The Hunter, arguably his highest profile feature to date. In this special episode, he talks through his new film, and a whole lot more...

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It's fairly well known that the role of Detective Harry Callahan was originally set to be played by Frank Sinatra, before he had to pull out as production neared. Yet when Clint Eastwood decided to accept, he had several versions of a script to choose from - and decided to put a call into someone he trusted: Don Siegel. The pair would go on to fashion a cinema classic.

The journey to 2002's Anita And Me meanwhile began with the publication of Meera Syal's semi-autobiographical novel in 1996. Work began to then turn it into a film - but the challenge of making an independent film in the UK, with two young, unknown leads? That'd be quite the test.

Stories of both are told in this episode.

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