Film Stories with Simon Brew

Just as Tom Cruise embarked on his run of Mission: Impossible and Top Gun sequels, he slipped in one of bolder choices too: an R-rated crime caper, based on a true story. Originally called Mena before being retitled American Made, the shoot saw the writer, director and star of the film living in the same house.

It also saw wildly ambitious flying sequences, a tragic accident, a challenge when selling the film and a whole lot more....

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Sam Campbell - he of Taskmaster and Last One Laughing - has made a comedy series about films. In Make That Movie, he and his crew face a filmmaking challenge each episode. All six episodes are streaming now on 4.

Sam joins Simon Brew for a conversation about the show, but it doesn't take long for it to go off track. Banana, VHS tapes, old films,a samurai sword? It's quite the chat...
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Outside of the very well known rules, there's a whole load of other stuff about 1999's Fight Club.

There's the director who turned the book down, freely admitting they didn't get it. There's the moment when the budget was suddenly going to soar. There's the bit where the studio boss knew he was going to hit trouble for greenlighting the film (and boy, did he). And then there was a studio left with a film it didn't know how to market.

The story is told in this episode. Please subscribe, leave nice reviews, and try not to punch us hard in an after hours fighting establishment...
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Over 30 years since its original release, Strictly Ballroom - the debut feature from Baz Luhrmann - is back in cinemas with a 4K remaster. In a Film Stories special, Simon chats to its star - Paul Mercurio - about the making of the film, and looking back on it now.

Plus! Paul talks homebrew, cooking, and making Garry Marshall's S&M comedy, Exit To Eden...
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The original Jurassic Park movie was set to land a few years earlier than it did. Announce in 1990, director Steven Spielberg would move on to making Hook while some of the art team were moved to Death Becomes Her.

The reason for the delays? How on earth do you bring dinosaurs to life. Even when that was cracked, though, there was a moment during the shoot when real life peril outweighed dino danger.

Even when the film was done, there was the looming threat of Arnold Schwarzenegger's return to cinema with Last Action Hero. It wouldn't turn out to be much of a blockbuster battle...

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