In the new episode of Film Stories with Simon Brew, a pair of films that worked from relatively low budgets and turned into sizeable hits. Taken (2008) was originally set to star Jeff Bridges, and eventual lead Liam Neeson suspected it might go straight to DVD. Plus, there were fears piracy had scuppered its US chances. With American Pie (1999), the film was written and sold in under two months - and the impact of it would be felt for much of the decade to follow. Stories of both are told in this episode. Find Simon on Twitter at @simonbrew, and the podcast can be found at @filmstoriespod. Support our work at www.patreon.com/simonbrew. Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.