It’s another brand new Film Stories podcast! This week, Simon takes a look back at Rian Johnson’s Knives Out (2019) and About A Boy (2002).
This time in the Film Stories podcast, the fast turnaround of the first Knives Out movie, and a Hugh Grant-headlined comedy drama, where Four Weddings Hugh Grant was absolutely not required. Writer/director Rian Johnson has admitted in the past that he’s not a fast writer. However, when an opportunity arose to bring a murder mystery whodunnit to the screen – long a passion project of Johnson’s – he was going to have to move fast. Thanks to his Star Wars commitments, he and producer Ram Bergman had a 12 month window to write Knives Out, cast it, finance it, and shoot it. All in one calendar year. 2002’s About A Boy didn’t move quite that quickly, but this time the catalyst was a novel from Nick Hornby that got leaked to Hollywood early. A big bidding war led to a big cheque for the rights – but there’d be a change of director, a brief flirtation with Brad Pitt and a change of studio before it ultimately got made. Stories of both films are told in this episode.
This time in the Film Stories podcast, the fast turnaround of the first Knives Out movie, and a Hugh Grant-headlined comedy drama, where Four Weddings Hugh Grant was absolutely not required. Writer/director Rian Johnson has admitted in the past that he’s not a fast writer. However, when an opportunity arose to bring a murder mystery whodunnit to the screen – long a passion project of Johnson’s – he was going to have to move fast. Thanks to his Star Wars commitments, he and producer Ram Bergman had a 12 month window to write Knives Out, cast it, finance it, and shoot it. All in one calendar year. 2002’s About A Boy didn’t move quite that quickly, but this time the catalyst was a novel from Nick Hornby that got leaked to Hollywood early. A big bidding war led to a big cheque for the rights – but there’d be a change of director, a brief flirtation with Brad Pitt and a change of studio before it ultimately got made. Stories of both films are told in this episode.
Read more: The fake porn website from About A Boy still going strong in 2023
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