Shows / Verbal Diorama
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…
Episodes
Verbal DioramaTwilight (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…
Verbal DioramaThe 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…
Verbal DioramaEvent 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…
Verbal Diorama(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…
Verbal DioramaShaun 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…
Verbal DioramaScary 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…
Verbal DioramaThe Empire Strikes Back (Star Wars: Episode V)
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…
Verbal DioramaAustin 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…
Verbal DioramaBack to the Future Part II
Back to the Future Part II wasn't really supposed to exist as its own film. The original Back to the Future's "TO BE CONTINUED" tag was actually a post-hoc…
Verbal Diorama(From the Archive) Back to the Future
Great scott! Where we’re going, we don’t need roads, and if my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 88 miles per hour, you're going to get the history…
Verbal DioramaChicago
Long before Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly had names, they had mugshots. In 1924, Chicago tabloids were consumed by Beulah Annan and Belva Gaertner, two unrelated…
Verbal DioramaTropic Thunder
In 2008, Ben Stiller made a war movie about people making a war movie, and in doing so, accidentally made one of the more prescient satires of 21st-century…
Verbal DioramaPulp Fiction
In 1994, a former video store clerk turned indie provocateur rearranged the crime film and, in the process, rearranged Hollywood itself. Pulp Fiction, Quentin…
Verbal DioramaThe Shawshank Redemption
The Shawshank Redemption is now the highest-rated film on IMDb's Top 250, a fixture of cable rotation, and shorthand for cinematic hope itself. But in 1994, it…
Verbal DioramaEmpire Records
Empire Records is like that one friend who everyone loves but didn't quite fit in with the popular crowd. It captured the essence of 90s youth culture, from…
Verbal DioramaStar Wars (Episode IV – A New Hope) (1977)
Star Wars opened on May 25th, 1977, in 32 American cinemas. The first cut had been a disaster. The director of photography and director were barely speaking…
Verbal Diorama(From The Archive) Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Rogue One was the first anthology movie announced post the Disney takeover of Lucasfilm in 2012; the year after Star Wars Episode VII The Force Awakens had…
Verbal DioramaHamilton (2020)
Happy 250th birthday to the United States of America! 250 years ago, you became independent from us Brits. We're the King George III in this relationship, and…
Verbal DioramaGodzilla (Gojira ゴジラ) (1954)
In the spring of 1954, a Japanese fishing vessel called the Lucky Dragon No. 5 sailed into the fallout zone of an American hydrogen bomb test at Bikini Atoll…
Verbal DioramaKing Kong (1933)
King Kong (1933) was the creation of Merian C. Cooper, one of Hollywood's most extraordinary and least remembered figures, and it arrived at a precise and…
Verbal DioramaThe Meg
Two decades in the making, The Meg showcases the sheer absurdity of a 75-foot prehistoric shark lurking in the ocean, and this Kaijune we acknowledge that…
Verbal DioramaThree Men and a Baby
When Three Men and a Baby opened on 25th November 1987, few could have predicted that a low-budget remake of a French comedy, shot in Toronto, starring two…
Verbal DioramaEver After: A Cinderella Story
Few films have done more to reimagine a fairy tale than Ever After: A Cinderella Story, Andy Tennant's 1998 period drama that stripped the magical elements…
Verbal DioramaDeep Impact vs. Armageddon
In the summer of 1998, Hollywood delivered two versions of the apocalypse within eight weeks of each other, and the story of how that happened is almost as…
Verbal DioramaDante's Peak vs. Volcano
In 1997, two movies decided to erupt onto cinema screens at the same time, literally and figuratively. The chaotic rivalry between Dante's Peak and Volcano is…
Verbal DioramaM3GAN
The final episode of AIpril, M3GAN arrived in January 2023 as a modest Blumhouse horror release, and promptly became one of the most talked-about horror…
Verbal DioramaHer (2013)
This AIpril, what is love, if not AI persevering? Spike Jonze's Her asks that question with such sincerity and precision that it never feels like a…
Verbal DioramaMinority Report
In 1992, a little-known Philip K. Dick short story was optioned as a sequel to Total Recall, with Arnold Schwarzenegger set to reprise his role. After a decade…
Verbal DioramaShort Circuit (1986)
In 1986, a clunky, tank-treaded robot, hungry for input, stole the hearts of cinema audiences worldwide. Short Circuit, the sci-fi comedy that gave us one of…
Verbal DioramaThe Hunger Games
It started with a late-night channel surf. Author Suzanne Collins, flipping between reality TV competitions and news footage from the Iraq War, watched the two…
Verbal DioramaSpice World
In 1994, five young women answered an ad in The Stage looking for "streetwise, outgoing, ambitious" singers. What happened next became one of the most…
Verbal DioramaPuss in Boots: The Last Wish
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish released in December 2022 as an unexpected masterpiece that caught audiences and critics completely off guard. What could have…
Verbal DioramaAll Dogs Go To Heaven
Even naughty dogs can have a huge impact on animation. In 1989, animator Don Bluth dared to go it alone, without the might of George Lucas and/or Steven…
Verbal DioramaThe Land Before Time
Even baby dinosaurs can have a huge impact on animation. In 1988, three Hollywood titans, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and Don Bluth, came together to…
Verbal DioramaAn American Tail
Even a little Jewish mouse can have a huge impact on animation. The 1986 Don Bluth animated classic An American Tail, a film that became the highest-grossing…
Verbal DioramaThe Princess and the Frog
In 2009, Disney released The Princess and the Frog, introducing Tiana as their first African-American Disney princess, paving the way for more diverse…
Verbal DioramaTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
From Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman's creation of mutated turtles wielding nunchucks, the history of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles starts with humble, and…
Verbal DioramaPaprika
Animation is often dismissed as children's entertainment, but Paprika proves it's a sophisticated art form, capable of exploring complex adult themes with…
Verbal DioramaKPop Demon Hunters
Verbal Diorama is a podcast all about How It's Done. It being movies, and to be honest, this one is as Golden as they come. I'm Free to Takedown the history…
Verbal DioramaMonsters, Inc.
They scare, because they care. But do they? Do they really? Animation Season 2026 kicks off with Pixar's fourth feature, turning 25 years old this year, the…
Verbal DioramaSanta Claus: The Movie
Santa Claus: The Movie was an ambitious holiday spectacular that was supposed to save the Salkinds' crumbling film empire. Fresh off the disappointing…
Verbal DioramaScrooged
Scrooged, a modern 80s retelling of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" stars Bill Murray as a cynical, mean-spirited TV executive who finally learns the true…
Verbal DioramaJingle All the Way
In his chaotic quest for a Turbo Man doll, Howard Langston goes to extremes to find the toy on Christmas Eve. It's the stuff of Christmas slapstick comedy…
Verbal DioramaMen in Black
The Men in Black phenomenon started as rumours of a government agency, where strange men wearing black suits would visit witnesses of UFO sightings, and coerce…
Verbal Diorama(500) Days of Summer
(500) Days of Summer arrived at a pivotal moment for romantic comedies. While the genre had dominated the box office throughout the early 2000s with reliable…
Verbal DioramaI Am Legend (2007)
From a doomed Arnold Schwarzenegger/Ridley Scott collaboration to Will Smith's blockbuster hit, the journey of I Am Legend to the screen is as dramatic as the…
Verbal DioramaAustin Powers: International Man of Mystery
Yeah, baby, yeah! We've been cryogenically frozen and thawed out in 1997 to explore the groovy phenomenon that was Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery…
Verbal DioramaEvil Dead II
Happy Halloween! Evil Dead II was not the sequel to The Evil Dead that Sam Raimi intended. With a bigger budget, and more experience, he essentially remade the…
Verbal DioramaThe Evil Dead (1981)
Before 20-year-old Sam Raimi could make The Evil Dead, he had to convince investors that three friends from Michigan could pull off a horror masterpiece. Enter…
Verbal DioramaHocus Pocus
Hocus Pocus represents something special in cinema: proof that a film's legacy isn't written on opening weekend. It's a testament to how the right movie can…
Verbal DioramaWes Craven's New Nightmare
Before Scream made meta-horror mainstream, Wes Craven created something truly unique: a horror film where the actors played themselves, filmed in the real New…
Verbal DioramaCandyman (1992)
How did a British ghost story set in a Liverpool council estate became America's most haunting urban legend? In 1992, director Bernard Rose transformed Clive…
Verbal DioramaThe Devil's Advocate (1997)
What happens when you mix Keanu Reeves, a scenery-chewing Al Pacino, and a Faustian bargain? Andrew Neiderman's novel was originally going to be adapted in the…
Verbal DioramaThe Usual Suspects
Verbal Diorama meets Verbal Kint in a neo-noir crime thriller, based somewhat on a true story, from the mind of Oscar-winning screenwriter Christopher…
Verbal DioramaShowgirls
30 years on, the tide is turning for Showgirls. Showgirls is remembered for its outlandish dialogue, the over-the-top performances, culminating in controversy…
Verbal DioramaPride and Prejudice (1995) (ft. Kim & Alice from Fetch the Smelling Salts)
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a person in possession of a birthday must be in want of a celebration. However little known the feelings or views…
Verbal DioramaBarbie
Hi Barbies, hi Kens! Podcast Barbie hosts this very special pink, plastic fantastic episode on the history and legacy of Barbie - the doll and the movie! From…
Verbal DioramaRed Sonja (1985)
Red Sonja is based on Red Sonja, which is, in turn, partially based on Red Sonya. The Red Sonya interpretation is credited as such for this movie, however it's…
Verbal DioramaBlack Widow (2021)
Natasha Romanoff. Daughter. Sister. Avenger. Natasha made her Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in Iron Man 2 as a mysterious S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, quickly…
Verbal DioramaBatman & Robin
From batnips to ice-themed villains and the not-so-subtle campiness, Joel Schumacher's neon-soaked superhero spectacle dives deep into the wacky world of…