In a special episode of the Film Stories podcast, director and co-writer Gil Kenan joins to talk about his latest movie, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.
He tells Simon about being one of four people to direct a Ghostbusters movie, and the one moment where it hit him how monumental that was. Plus, how filming got underway one year before release, the practicalit ... Show More
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
Jul 7
Howard The Duck (1986) and the first Marvel movie, plus Terri White
I hear you, folks! Do more Marvel films? Gotcha! Let's go back to 1986, and Howard The Duck, the stunning-ish George Lucas-produced film of the subversive comic book character. Howard The Duck would become notable on its release, but its production alone would have been worth the ... Show More
1h 22m
Sep 2023
Ghostbusters (1984) | Ep. 25 - Part 1
It began as a Dan Aykroyd script so vast and strange it would have been impossible to film. Luke, Westy, and Matt begin the story of how it became one of the great comedies.In Part 1 we cover the film's opening, director Ivan Reitman, the cast, and the second act — including Bill ... Show More
1h 9m
Aug 2024
The Michael Keaton Movie Mount Rushmore
With ‘Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice’ on the horizon, Sean and Amanda enlist the help of Michael Keaton superfan and ‘Blank Check’ cohost Griffin Newman to carve out the Michael Keaton movie Mount Rushmore: an ode to a career with incredible peaks and long, fallow stretches (1:00). The ... Show More
2h 25m
Apr 2022
Nightmare with Director Phil Sgriccia (S1EP14)
The Director of this episode, Phil Sgriccia, returns to the podcast. Hear stories about getting the sets to feel authentic, how Phil uses real magic to create the special effects, and find out what a "cut out car" is. Rich and Phil connect over all the rules for how directors sho ... Show More
54m 11s