Magnolia (1999) and Police Academy (1984)

In the new episode of Film Stories with Simon Brew, an Oscar-nominated one-off, and a hit comedy that was anything but a one-off.

After Boogie Nights, writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson had a moment where he could make what he wanted, and get total creative control. It helped that he got Tom Cruise involved in Magnolia too.

Police Academy was the film that launched regular templated sequels - but there was a genuine fear that the original film wasn't going to be lowbrow enough to succeed.

Stories of both are told in this episode.

Find Simon on Twitter at @simonbrew, and the podcast can be found at @filmstoriespod.

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