A very warm welcome to the Film Stories podcast to screenwriter (and producer!) Eric Roth. He joins Simon for a conversation that goes right back through his career: from working on a hit Airport movie, to thinking he picked the wrong ending for the thriller Suspect.
Things turned in the 1990s though with the success of Forrest Gump, and Roth reflects on tha ... Show More
Today
Kevin Costner's Horizon project and where it's up to, plus Andrew Stanton
In the late 1980s, Kevin Costner - pre-Dances With Wolves - first had the idea for what became the Horizon movie saga. A hugely-ambitious series of westerns, that he'd ultimately star in, co-write, and direct. By 2026, two films had been made, only one released, and around ten mi ... Show More
1h 11m
Feb 23
Eyes Wide Shut (1999) and Maybe Baby (2000) | The never-ending shoot, and Ben Elton's directorial debut
The plan was for Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman to spend around six months in the UK for the filming of Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut. Kubrick had been mulling the film for decades, and considering a couple of other projects, too. But the shoot of Eyes Wide Shut would ultimately ... Show More
1h 16m
Feb 20
What on earth is film 'testing'? | A podcast special, with Kevin Goetz
The art of movie testing isn't just about researching finished films. It's also testing the very concept of a movie, that can determine both whether it gets made, and what it gets made for. In a special episode of the podcast, a man who you may not have heard of joins Simon. Yet ... Show More
1h 3m
Jun 2021
Quentin Tarantino on ‘Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood’ ... the Book!
Quentin Tarantino is here! The writer-director had adapted his film 'Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood' into a novel, and on this episode he dives deep on everything: what's different from the movie, why he wrote a novelization in the first place, the movies he watched during qua ... Show More
2h 2m
Mar 2021
The Trial Of The Chicago 7 with Aaron Sorkin
Our guest this week is one of the most celebrated screenwriters in film and TV today. Aaron Sorkin is the storytelling titan behind The Social Network, Steve Jobs, The West Wing, Moneyball, A Few Good Men and Charlie Wilson’s War… the list goes on. Across a glittering three-decad ... Show More
40m 11s
Jul 2019
‘Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood’ Is Quentin Tarantino’s Most Sentimental Film Yet (SPOILERS) | Exit Survey
We gather to discuss Quentin Tarantino’s ninth—and allegedly penultimate—film, ‘Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood.’ We break down everything from Leonardo DiCaprio grappling with the end of his career in the leading role, to Brad Pitt’s quiet charisma, to the way historical accurac ... Show More
1h 12m
Jul 2020
Watchmen with David Hayter
<p>In 2009, David Hayter realised a decades-long dream: writing a movie adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ seminal graphic novel, Watchmen. Co-written by Alex Tse, Hayter’s Watchmen told the story of retired superheroes in an alternate 1980s America. It was a gripping, mo ... Show More
58m 45s
Dec 2021
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang with Shane Black
As the writer of movies like Lethal Weapon, The Nice Guys, The Long Kiss Goodnight and Iron Man 3, Shane Black is a true screenwriting auteur, known for his scripts' pulse-racing action, quippy dialogue and genre-skewing surprises. At the heart of his stories are usually two odd- ... Show More
1h 18m
Sep 2020
BlacKkKlansman with Charlie Wachtel and David Rabinowitz
<p>This week, we’re joined by David Rabinowitz and Charlie Wachtel, writers of 2018’s incredible BlacKkKlansman. Directed by the one and only Spike Lee, the film told the true-life tale of Ron Stallworth – a Black police detective working in 1970s Colorado, who attempted to infil ... Show More
1h 5m