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by Verbal Diorama
The award-winning indie film history podcast celebrating the history and legacy of movies you know, and movies you don't. Have you ever wondered how your favourite movies were made? Hosted by Em, Verbal Diorama is a movie podcast that takes you behind the scenes to discover the extraordinary stories of cast and crew who bring classic films, blockbuster films, and cult films to life. Movies are tough to make, and this podcast proves how amazing it is that they actually exist. From Hollywood classics to hidden gems, each episode explores the behind-the-scenes history, legacy, and untold filmmaking stories that make cinema history.
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- 3 days ago56 min
Twilight (2008)
You better hold on tight spider monkeys. It's the history and legacy of a teen cultural phenomenon of the late 2000s. The movie that made vampires sparkly, and teen heroines even more clumsy and awkward than regular teen girls.From the six months it took mother-of-three Stephenie Meyer to conceive, write and publish the novel Twilight, to a first, slightly botched attempt to get it made by MTV Films, to the actual making of the movie, directed by Catherine Hardwicke and written by Melissa Rosenberg; the experiences and voices of women were instrumental in getting Twilight made as faithfully to the original book as possible.But despite a passionate existing fanbase, and some hot new up and coming actors in the roles, that didn't mean the course of movie true love would run smoothly...Support Verbal DioramaLoved this episode? Here's how you can help:⭐ Leave a 5-star review on your podcast app💰 Join the Patreon for bonus content and early access☕ Send a tip to support the show📱 Share this episode with fellow film loversGet In TouchI would love to hear your thoughts on Twilight (2008)Twitter: @verbaldioramaInstagram: @verbaldioramaFacebook: @verbaldioramaLetterboxd: @verbaldioramaEmail: verbaldiorama [at] gmail [dot] comWebsite: verbaldiorama.comAbout Verbal DioramaEar Worthy 2024 Best Movie Podcast Winner | Golden Lobes 2025 Earworm Award Nominee | Ear Worthy 2025 Best Movie Podcast Nominee | Golden Lobes 2026 Earworm Award NomineeVerbal Diorama is hosted, produced, edited, researched, recorded and marketed by me, Em.Theme Music: Verbal Diorama Theme SongMusic by Chloe Enticott - Compositions by ChloeLyrics by Chloe Enticott (and me!)Production by Ellis Powell-Bevan of Ewenique StudioThank You to Our Patreon SupportersCurrent Patrons: Simon, Laurel, Derek, Cat, Andy, Mike, Luke, Michael, Scott, Brendan, Ian, Lisa, Sam, Jack, Stuart, Nicholas, Zo, Kev, Danny, Stu, Brett, Xenos, Sean, Ryno, Philip, Adam, Elaine, Aaron and Steve.Thank you for supporting Verbal Diorama.Mentioned in this episode:Please consider supporting this podcast on PatreonPatreonThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podscribe - https://podscribe.com/privacyOP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
- 1 weeks ago1h 2m
The Exorcist
Four years before Star Wars, and two before Jaws, came the story of a single mother in Washington, D.C., fighting to save her little girl from the devil, and it created its own cultural phenomenon. People waited in line for six or seven hours to see it, fainted in the cinemas, became physically ill, wept, and had to leave.Based on the bestselling book by William Peter Blatty, The Exorcist was groundbreaking in many ways.It exposed people around the world to the question of evil in a new and terrifying way. The inclusion of the Catholic church, and actual Jesuit priests, in the production also set a precedent.It changed cinema. It legitimized horror, becoming more than just a medium to scare people, but to actually make them think, and question their own faith, or lack thereof.Based on the real story of the exorcism of a fourteen-year-old boy in 1949, The Exorcist was a horror film without major stars, that had a tumultuous production, a director who legitimately scared his cast and crew, that had gone well over budget, and was allegedly cursed.This is the story of how The Exorcist became one of the rare horror movies that became part of the national conversation and consciousness.Support Verbal DioramaLoved this episode? Here's how you can help:⭐ Leave a 5-star review on your podcast app💰 Join the Patreon for bonus content and early access☕ Send a tip to support the show📱 Share this episode with fellow film loversGet In TouchI would love to hear your thoughts on The ExorcistTwitter: @verbaldioramaInstagram: @verbaldioramaFacebook: @verbaldioramaLetterboxd: @verbaldioramaEmail: verbaldiorama [at] gmail [dot] comWebsite: verbaldiorama.comAbout Verbal DioramaEar Worthy 2024 Best Movie Podcast Winner | Golden Lobes 2025 Earworm Award Nominee | Ear Worthy 2025 Best Movie Podcast Nominee | Golden Lobes 2026 Earworm Award NomineeVerbal Diorama is hosted, produced, edited, researched, recorded and marketed by me, Em.Theme Music: Verbal Diorama Theme SongMusic by Chloe Enticott - Compositions by ChloeLyrics by Chloe Enticott (and me!)Production by Ellis Powell-Bevan of Ewenique StudioThank You to Our Patreon SupportersCurrent Patrons: Simon, Laurel, Derek, Cat, Andy, Mike, Luke, Michael, Scott, Brendan, Ian, Lisa, Sam, Jack, Stuart, Nicholas, Zo, Kev, Danny, Stu, Brett, Xenos, Sean, Ryno, Philip, Adam, Elaine, Aaron and Steve.Thank you for supporting Verbal Diorama.Mentioned in this episode:Please consider supporting this podcast on PatreonPatreonThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podscribe - https://podscribe.com/privacyOP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
- 2 weeks ago44 min
Event Horizon
Infinite space. Infinite terror.From the depths of space, and the depths of hell (not sure which is more terrifying, to be honest!) comes a cosmic science fiction Lovecraftian horror, all about the existential dread of space, and that your imagination is scarier than anything you could ever see.1997 was the year if you were a doomed ship. The biggest was hit by an iceberg, quite famously. But as far as movies go, Event Horizon was far more doomed.Arguably one of Paul W.S. Anderson's best movies, starring the late, great Sam Neill and Laurence Fishburne, among a stellar supporting cast, Event Horizon looks and feels unlike any other science fiction movies of the 90s, and beyond, but it could have been even more graphic.After an extreme reaction from test audiences, Paramount were not happy with Paul W.S. Anderson’s original cut, demanding a sweeping edit to dial back the nastiness and the runtime be cut to around 90 minutes. Much of the extreme gore, sexual references and mutilation was removed, but gone too were a string of tension and story-building scenes.And thanks to a salt mine, we will likely never see a director's cut...Support Verbal DioramaLoved this episode? Here's how you can help:⭐ Leave a 5-star review on your podcast app💰 Join the Patreon for bonus content and early access☕ Send a tip to support the show📱 Share this episode with fellow film loversGet In TouchI would love to hear your thoughts on Event HorizonTwitter: @verbaldioramaInstagram: @verbaldioramaFacebook: @verbaldioramaLetterboxd: @verbaldioramaEmail: verbaldiorama [at] gmail [dot] comWebsite: verbaldiorama.comAbout Verbal DioramaEar Worthy 2024 Best Movie Podcast Winner | Golden Lobes 2025 Earworm Award Nominee | Ear Worthy 2025 Best Movie Podcast Nominee | Golden Lobes 2026 Earworm Award NomineeVerbal Diorama is hosted, produced, edited, researched, recorded and marketed by me, Em.Theme Music: Verbal Diorama Theme SongMusic by Chloe Enticott - Compositions by ChloeLyrics by Chloe Enticott (and me!)Production by Ellis Powell-Bevan of Ewenique StudioThank You to Our Patreon SupportersCurrent Patrons: Simon, Laurel, Derek, Cat, Andy, Mike, Luke, Michael, Scott, Brendan, Ian, Lisa, Sam, Jack, Stuart, Nicholas, Zo, Kev, Danny, Stu, Brett, Xenos, Sean, Ryno, Philip, Adam, Elaine, Aaron and Steve.Thank you for supporting Verbal Diorama.Mentioned in this episode:Please consider supporting this podcast on PatreonPatreonThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podscribe - https://podscribe.com/privacyOP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
- 3 weeks ago35 min
(From the Archive) Hellraiser (1987)
We'll tear your soul apart....From the depths of hell comes body horror, an exploration of sexual desire, lust and gratification, and the pleasure pain theory, as hedonistic Frank Cotton solves the Lament Configuration and receives a gruesome demise, only to be accidentally resurrected.Hellraiser is unlike any other horror movie of its time, not just for its content, but for the risk New World took on a first-time writer-director, based on his own novella rooted in sadomasochism, with no major stars involved in the production.It was planned for a direct to video release, until executives realised how special and different this movie was... they invested more money, and it birthed not only a new resurrection scene for Frank Cotton, but also a horror icon in Pinhead.And who knew so much lube and condoms were necessary for horror movie making in the 1980s...Jesus weptThis episode was originally released on 19th October 2023Mentioned in this episode:From the ArchiveThere's no new episode this week, so I thought you might be interested in revisiting this slightly older, but no less brilliant episode. Just bear in mind, this episode is several years old, it may not sound quite as polished as newer episodes, and new information may have come to light in recent years with regards to the making of this movie (please see above for the original date of release) Please enjoy this time capsule of an episode. Thanks for listening!This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podscribe - https://podscribe.com/privacyOP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
- Oct 8, 202653 min
Shaun of the Dead
Shaun of the Dead is remembered now as a genre landmark; the film that made "rom zom com" a real category and launched the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, but its road to the big screen was anything but assured.Fresh from Spaced; a landmark cult British TV comedy about young people living, working and partying in North London (when that was something young people could afford to do!), Spaced was written by 20-somethings Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson about 20-somethings, directed by 20-something Edgar Wright, and after Season 1 Episode 3 "Art", an idea festered, like a gaping zombie wound, and they were dead set on doing a zombie movie.Despite the success of Spaced, it would be a difficult sell. Commissioned by Film4, but saved by WT2, Shaun of the Dead paid loving homage to the seminal zombie classics from George A. Romero, and all they wanted was for Romero to see the movie and give it his blessing...Support Verbal DioramaLoved this episode? Here's how you can help:⭐ Leave a 5-star review on your podcast app💰 Join the Patreon for bonus content and early access☕ Send a tip to support the show📱 Share this episode with fellow film loversGet In TouchI would love to hear your thoughts on Shaun of the DeadTwitter: @verbaldioramaInstagram: @verbaldioramaFacebook: @verbaldioramaLetterboxd: @verbaldioramaEmail: verbaldiorama [at] gmail [dot] comWebsite: verbaldiorama.comAbout Verbal DioramaEar Worthy 2024 Best Movie Podcast Winner | Golden Lobes 2025 Earworm Award Nominee | Ear Worthy 2025 Best Movie Podcast Nominee | Golden Lobes 2026 Earworm Award NomineeVerbal Diorama is hosted, produced, edited, researched, recorded and marketed by me, Em.Theme Music: Verbal Diorama Theme SongMusic by Chloe Enticott - Compositions by ChloeLyrics by Chloe Enticott (and me!)Production by Ellis Powell-Bevan of Ewenique StudioThank You to Our Patreon SupportersCurrent Patrons: Simon, Laurel, Derek, Cat, Andy, Mike, Luke, Michael, Scott, Brendan, Ian, Lisa, Sam, Jack, Stuart, Nicholas, Zo, Kev, Danny, Stu, Brett, Xenos, Sean, Ryno, Philip, Adam, Elaine, Aaron and Steve.Thank you for supporting Verbal Diorama.Mentioned in this episode:Please consider supporting this podcast on PatreonPatreonThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podscribe - https://podscribe.com/privacyOP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
- Oct 1, 202638 min
Scary Movie (2000)
Waaassssssuuuuupppppppppppppp!!In July 2000, a $19 million parody film outgrossed most of the slasher movies it was mocking, and in doing so, quietly ended the very genre it fed off. The late-90s teen horror boom, which included Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer had built its appeal on self-aware, meta-textual cleverness, characters who knew the rules of horror movies and still couldn't escape them. Scary Movie took that self-awareness and pushed it past the breaking point, turning Drew Barrymore's iconic Scream cold open into something closer to a Looney Tunes sketch.This episode traces how Shawn, and Marlon Wayans, along with their brother Keenen Ivory Wayans, took a script originally titled Last Summer I Screamed Because Halloween Fell on Friday the 13th, developed by writing collaborators Buddy Johnson and Phil Beauman as a more traditional slasher spoof, and reworked it into something rowdier, cruder, and more racially and sexually explicit than anything the genre's white-coded parody tradition (like Airplane! and The Naked Gun) had attempted before.But there was also a rival script, written at the same time, by Aaron Seltzer and Jason Friedberg, titled Scream if I Know What You Did Last Halloween...What are you waiting for, huh? What are you waiting for?!Support Verbal DioramaLoved this episode? Here's how you can help:⭐ Leave a 5-star review on your podcast app💰 Join the Patreon for bonus content and early access☕ Send a tip to support the show📱 Share this episode with fellow film loversGet In TouchI would love to hear your thoughts on Scary Movie (2000)Twitter: @verbaldioramaInstagram: @verbaldioramaFacebook: @verbaldioramaLetterboxd: @verbaldioramaEmail: verbaldiorama [at] gmail [dot] comWebsite: verbaldiorama.comAbout Verbal DioramaEar Worthy 2024 Best Movie Podcast Winner | Golden Lobes 2025 Earworm Award Nominee | Ear Worthy 2025 Best Movie Podcast Nominee | Golden Lobes 2026 Earworm Award NomineeVerbal Diorama is hosted, produced, edited, researched, recorded and marketed by me, Em.Theme Music: Verbal Diorama Theme SongMusic by Chloe Enticott - Compositions by ChloeLyrics by Chloe Enticott (and me!)Production by Ellis Powell-Bevan of Ewenique StudioThank You to Our Patreon SupportersCurrent Patrons: Simon, Laurel, Derek, Cat, Andy, Mike, Luke, Michael, Scott, Brendan, Ian, Lisa, Sam, Jack, Stuart, Nicholas, Zo, Kev, Danny, Stu, Brett, Xenos, Sean, Ryno, Philip, Adam, Elaine, Aaron and Steve.Thank you for supporting Verbal Diorama.Mentioned in this episode:Please consider supporting this podcast on PatreonPatreonThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podscribe - https://podscribe.com/privacyOP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
- Sep 24, 20261h 0m
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back
The Empire Strikes Back is often called the best film in the Star Wars saga, and it started with a decision that seems almost unthinkable in retrospect.George Lucas, creatively burnt out after directing the first film, chose not to direct the sequel at all. Instead he handed the reins to his old USC film professor Irvin Kershner, hired veteran pulp sci-fi writer Leigh Brackett to draft the screenplay, and set about building Lucasfilm and Industrial Light and Magic into more than one-hit studio products.Brackett's now-legendary first draft featured a very different Yoda, a very different Lando, and a twin sister for Luke that never made it to screen, but Lucas and a young Lawrence Kasdan reshaped the story into the darker, more ambiguous film we know, including the introduction of one of cinema's most famous twists.The Empire Strikes Back's production is as dramatic a story as anything in the film itself. Lucas bet his own solvency on financing the sequel independently, taking out a loan to keep Fox's creative hands off the project, only to watch the budget balloon during the shoot and the bank pull its financing mid-production.That gamble very nearly sank the film, but it ultimately paid off in ways that reshaped Lucasfilm's entire business model, particularly around merchandising rights, and ultimately a film that ends in defeat, with its heroes scattered, became the template for how blockbuster sequels are allowed to work.Support Verbal DioramaLoved this episode? Here's how you can help:⭐ Leave a 5-star review on your podcast app💰 Join the Patreon for bonus content and early access☕ Send a tip to support the show📱 Share this episode with fellow film loversGet In TouchI would love to hear your thoughts on Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes BackTwitter: @verbaldioramaInstagram: @verbaldioramaFacebook: @verbaldioramaLetterboxd: @verbaldioramaEmail: verbaldiorama [at] gmail [dot] comWebsite: verbaldiorama.comAbout Verbal DioramaEar Worthy 2024 Best Movie Podcast Winner | Golden Lobes 2025 Earworm Award Nominee | Ear Worthy 2025 Best Movie Podcast Nominee | Golden Lobes 2026 Earworm Award NomineeVerbal Diorama is hosted, produced, edited, researched, recorded and marketed by me, Em.Theme Music: Verbal Diorama Theme SongMusic by Chloe Enticott - Compositions by ChloeLyrics by Chloe Enticott (and me!)Production by Ellis Powell-Bevan of Ewenique StudioThank You to Our Patreon SupportersCurrent Patrons: Simon, Laurel, Derek, Cat, Andy, Mike, Luke, Michael, Scott, Brendan, Ian, Lisa, Sam, Jack, Stuart, Nicholas, Zo, Kev, Danny, Stu, Brett, Xenos, Sean, Ryno, Philip, Adam, Elaine, Aaron and Steve.Thank you for supporting Verbal Diorama.Mentioned in this episode:Please consider supporting this podcast on PatreonPatreonThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podscribe - https://podscribe.com/privacyOP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
- Sep 17, 202643 min
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
The original Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) wasn't a huge hit at cinemas. It found its real audience on home video and cable, building into a genuine phenomenon almost after the fact.That success put New Line in an unusual position for the sequel: expectations had shifted from "will this work" to "this will work and let's make it bigger and crazier". It meant Mike Myers going from playing two roles - Austin and Dr. Evil - to playing three, with Fat Bastard being literally the biggest villain he would ever play. The Academy was so impressed with the makeup for Fat Bastard, that they would nominate the makeup team for an Oscar. Get in my belly, indeed.Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me released 11th June 1999, on a $33 million budget and went on to gross $312 million worldwide, outgrossing the entire domestic theatrical lifetime of the original within its opening weekend alone. Very shagadelic, baby.Rather than ignore the impending Summer 1999 juggernaut that was Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, The Spy Who Shagged Me's marketing team embraced it, with a teaser trailer that insisted fans see Star Wars, and the result made the Austin Powers sequel the must-see comedy of the summer of 1999...Support Verbal DioramaLoved this episode? Here's how you can help:⭐ Leave a 5-star review on your podcast app💰 Join the Patreon for bonus content and early access☕ Send a tip to support the show📱 Share this episode with fellow film loversGet In TouchI would love to hear your thoughts on Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged MeTwitter: @verbaldioramaInstagram: @verbaldioramaFacebook: @verbaldioramaLetterboxd: @verbaldioramaEmail: verbaldiorama [at] gmail [dot] comWebsite: verbaldiorama.comAbout Verbal DioramaEar Worthy 2024 Best Movie Podcast Winner | Golden Lobes 2025 Earworm Award Nominee | Ear Worthy 2025 Best Movie Podcast Nominee | Golden Lobes 2026 Earworm Award NomineeVerbal Diorama is hosted, produced, edited, researched, recorded and marketed by me, Em.Theme Music: Verbal Diorama Theme SongMusic by Chloe Enticott - Compositions by ChloeLyrics by Chloe Enticott (and me!)Production by Ellis Powell-Bevan of Ewenique StudioThank You to Our Patreon SupportersCurrent Patrons: Simon, Laurel, Derek, Cat, Andy, Mike, Luke, Michael, Scott, Brendan, Ian, Lisa, Sam, Jack, Stuart, Nicholas, Zo, Kev, Danny, Stu, Brett, Xenos, Sean, Ryno, Philip, Adam, Elaine, Aaron and Steve.Thank you for supporting Verbal Diorama.Mentioned in this episode:Please consider supporting this podcast on PatreonPatreonThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podscribe - https://podscribe.com/privacyOP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
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About Verbal Diorama
The award-winning indie film history podcast celebrating the history and legacy of movies you know, and movies you don't. Have you ever wondered how your favourite movies were made? Hosted by Em, Verbal Diorama is a movie podcast that takes you behind the scenes to discover the extraordinary stories of cast and crew who bring classic films, blockbuster films, and cult films to life. Movies are tough to make, and this podcast proves how amazing it is that they actually exist. From Hollywood classics to hidden gems, each episode explores the behind-the-scenes history, legacy, and untold filmmaking stories that make cinema history.
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