In a special episode of the Film Stories podcast, Simon is joined by Restless Natives, Soapdish and One Fine Day director Michael Hoffman for a special episode.
They talk through his film career, from his unconventional start, to stopping in Robert Redford's house, a George Clooney basketball accident and the joy of films such as Soapdish.
Plus: the pressu ... Show More
Yesterday
Film Stories Live: with Mark Kermode in Cornwall
Up front, you can find Simon's tour dates at www.filmstories.co.uk/live. Simon Brew has been touring the UK with Film Stories in 2026, and in June 2026, he landed at the lovely Plaza Cinema in Truro. There, for an hour and half, he and Mark Kermode talked movies. And lots of them ... Show More
1h 38m
Jul 22
Carlito's Way, a film it took ten attempts to make
Brian De Palma's 1993 movie Carlito's Way was not a box office success. De Palma managed to predict the critical reaction to the film, reacted to studio notes saying it was too long by making it longer, and had to retool the finale action sequence very late in the day. Even getti ... Show More
59m 3s
Jul 13
Dances With Wolves (1990), plus its three different cuts...
Kevin Costner gambled hard on making a three hour western, a third of which wasn't in the English language. He turned down roles in The Hunt For Red October and Presumed Innocent to take the risk of making Dances With Wolves. And while history tells it as a masterstroke, in the m ... Show More
59m 39s
Apr 2024
#611 — Jordan Peele, Rufus Sewell & Philip Martin, Nell Tiger Free & Bill Nighy
This week's Empire Podcast has more guests than the Overlook Hotel, all chatting to Chris Hewitt about their new movies. First, producer Jordan Peele tells Chris why he was so taken by Dev Patel's directorial debut, Monkey Man, that he came on board to help it get a theatrical re ... Show More
2 h
Sep 2025
A Clint In The Eye (ft. guests Sam Riley; Hugh Bonneville & Allen Leech)
This week's episode of the Empire Podcast might just go ahead, make your day, as Chris Hewitt (having recovered from a colleague-inflicted mischief) invites Helen O'Hara and James Dyer into the podbooth for a discussion of the best films directed by Clint Eastwood. Amazingly, The ... Show More
1h 49m
May 2024
#616 — Josh O'Connor, Owen Teague, Freya Allan & Kevin Durand, Michael Lindsay-Hogg
Another guestapalooza on this week's Empire Podcast, folks! First up, Chris Hewitt has a lovely chat with Josh O'Connor — not about his talk-of-the-town tennis movie, Challengers, but his new film, Alice Rorhwacher's La Chimera, for which O'Connor learned Italian and, effectively ... Show More
1h 54m
Dec 2022
A 'Big Pic' Gift Guide: 10 Blu-rays Every Human Needs. Plus: Park Chan-wook!
Happy holidays! Actor Timothy Simons joins Sean for the ultimate gift: a conversation about how to build a Blu-ray collection—how to shop for them, what to play them on, the best ones to buy, whether it’s an addiction or not, and so much more (1:00). Then, filmmaker Park Chan-woo ... Show More
2h 1m
Oct 2021
Justin Long, Christian Long, and Justin Chon for 'Lady of the Manor' and 'Blue Bayou'
Tune in for a discussion about two great movies with three great guests - some of whom are actors who have now moved behind the camera!
In this episode, we talk about...
Why Justin Chon decided to star in his movie, even though he didn’t initially set out to.
How Justin Chon c ... Show More
45m 47s
Oct 2025
Vendrak The Vertical, Scáthach, And The Kamino Kid (ft. guests Benny Safdie, Malcolm McDowell, Harris Dickinson)
This week's Empire Podcast sees us welcome another hat-trick of wonderful guests, as Chris Hewitt has lovely chats with The Smashing Machine writer-director (and Happy Gilmore 2 villain), Benny Safdie, [24:13 - 40:39 approx] and bona fide acting legend, Malcolm McDowell, star of ... Show More
1h 55m
May 2021
#464 — Mike Rianda, Alexandre Aja, Darius Marder
This week's episode of the Empire Podcast is one of those jam-packed, bumper-sized affairs. Largely because we have three incredible directors guesting on the show. First up is Mike Rianda, whose animated marvel The Mitchells Vs The Machines, is one of our favourite movies of the ... Show More
2h 11m