The Empire Film Podcast

This week's episode of the Empire Podcast is brought to you by the letter E, as Cynthia Erivo and Luke Evans join Chris Hewitt to talk about their new projects. First up, Erivo talks about her astonishing performance in Drift, which she also produced, and in particular one harrowing scene, and its impact upon her. It's an incredibly intense and honest interview and it can be found from 24:11 - 38:18 (approx). Then Evans returns to the pod after a long absence to talk about his role in Our Son, in which he plays a gay man going through a painful divorce, and playing The Crystal Maze with Daniel Levy. That's from 59:17 - 1:16:28 (again, approx.). Either side of those, Chris is joined in the podbooth by Helen O'Hara and James Dyer for an episode in which they tackle a vaguely-Easter-themed Mount Rushmore question, discuss the storm over Late Night With The Devil's brief use of A.I.-generated art, talk over the week's movie news, and review Kung Fu Panda 4, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, Our Son, Mothers' Instinct, and Drift. Enjoy.

Halloween isn't for another few months, but this week's Empire Podcast delivers a hat-trick of horrors nonetheless, as Chris Hewitt has spooky sitdowns on Zoom with the stars of three scary fillums that are all out this week. First, Sydney Sweeney, star and producer of nun-more-black horror, Immaculate, talks about sticking the landing and possession. [21:24 - 37:37 approx] Then, David Dastmalchian, star of stylish found footage shocker, Late Night With The Devil, dials in from his trailer in Toronto, where he's currently working, to talk that movie, The Dark Knight, life goals, Ant-Man And The Wasp and more. [55:16 - 1:15:44 approx.] And finally, a man who ain't afraid of no ghost (which is a double negative, the most terrifying thing of all), it's original Ghostbuster, Ernie Hudson, aka Winston Zeddemore, who has a chat about Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire that was shorter than usual due to Chris having issues with hotel wifi from Dublin. [1:44:32 - 1:54:43 approx.] Then, in the podbooth in London, Chris is joined by Helen O'Hara and James Dyer to tackle a listener question about the teaser trailer for Alien: Romulus, which then prompts further discussion of the week's deluge of trailers, including Furiosa, Star Wars: The Acolyte and more. The trio also discuss the rumours about the potential casting of the new James Bond, and in a bumper reviews section cast their eyes over Irish Wish, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, Road House, Robot Dreams, Immaculate, and Late Night With The Devil. This episode was recorded on Wednesday, in order to allow us to travel to Dublin for the penultimate show of our live tour, and as such we will be discussing the sad passing of the legendary M. Emmett Walsh next week. In the meantime, enjoy.

While we're waiting patiently for Joel and Ethan Coen to reunite as the filmmaking entity known as the Coen Brothers, can we interest you in the Coen Brother and Sister-in-Law? For Ethan Coen and his wife, Tricia Cooke, have teamed up to make the rambunctious road trip comedy, Drive Away Dolls, and on this week's episode they tell John Nugent about how they did it, and poke fun at his Star Wars toys. [25:34 - 40:09 approx.] We're also joined by another great filmmaker this week, as Phillip Noyce Zooms in for a chat with Chris Hewitt about life in the Hollywood system, and how his new movie, Pierce Brosnan thriller Fast Charlie, nearly fell apart at the first hurdle. [1:02:57 - 1:24:01 approx.] Then, in the studio, Chris is joined by Helen O'Hara and James Dyer for a fun episode in which they discuss their most recent favourite movies, the films of Ryan Gosling, the week's movie news (including much Oscar chat and Neve Campbell's return to the Scream series), and review Drive Away Dolls, Monster, and The New Boy. Enjoy!

This week's episode of the Empire Podcast sees Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara and James Dyer cram into the podbooth just minutes after returning to London from a live show in Norwich, which was part of the pod's March tour (tickets still available for Sheffield, Dublin, and Salford via empireonline.com/podtour!). And, despite their exhaustion, they throw themselves into a fun episode that involves a deep dive into the filmographies of every actor who's played The Doctor in Doctor Who, an in-depth discussion of the upcoming Oscars that takes up pretty much the entire movie news section, and reviews of Damsel, Ricky Stanicky, and Origin. Guest-wise, it's another belter, as Chris has lovely chats with the wonderful Robin Wright, star of Damsel and Helen's personal fave, The Princess Bride (25:02 - 39:43 approx.), before welcoming back the magnificent DeWanda Wise, star of this week's horror film, Imaginary (1:02:11 - 1:21:17 approx). Does Chris pluck up the nerve to sing Curtis Stigers' I Wonder Why, which he has repurposed with DeWanda Wise's name added because it fits the chorus PERFECTLY, to her face? Well, what do you think?

The new issue of Empire — on sale now at all good, evil and intergalactic newsagents — is something of a celebration of 25 years of the Star Wars prequels, George Lucas' trilogy of movies that began with The Phantom Menace in 1999 and concluded with Revenge Of The Sith, Order 66 and all that, in 2005. Since then, the prequels have generated more debate among Star Wars fans than pretty much anything else you care to name, something that is very much the case in this special podcast episode, as Chris Hewitt, Alex Godfrey and James Dyer talk through the magazine's world-beating coverage of the prequels, discuss their own complicated feelings about the movies (including, yes, Chris' own history with Attack Of The Clones), and bang the drum for the things they love about the trilogy. Does that mean there are plenty of terrible impressions of Boss Nass, Sebulba, the Emperor and more? Not as many as you'd imagine, thankfully. Enjoy. Peeeeeeeeeeeeace!

This week's episode of the Empire Podcast is perfectly balanced, as all things should be. In the first half, Chris Hewitt sits down with ol' Thanos himself, aka the one and only Josh Brolin, for a wide-ranging conversation that takes in birthday parties, Brolin's growth as an actor, his aversion to compliments, and his return as the indefatigable Gurney Halleck in Denis Villeneuve's Dune Part Two, which opens this week (21:56 - 41:02 approx). Chris then ticks another one off his bucket list by having a fun Zoom chat with Adam Sandler, star of the new Netflix sci-fi drama Spaceman, and his co-star Paul Dano (56:14 - 1:10:38 approx). Either side of those, Helen O'Hara hosts from the podbooth this week, and she, James Dyer, Alex Godfrey and Sophie Butcher tackle a couple of listener questions, one involving Muppets; discuss what passes for the week's movie news (this pod was recorded slightly earlier than usual), and give Dune Part Two, Johan Renck's Spaceman, and Zelda Williams' Lisa Frankenstein the review treatment. And yes, James goes absolutely nuts for Dune. Sorry, Duuuuuuuuuuuune. Enjoy.

There can be only one thing more exciting than James Clavell’s Shōgun getting a brand new TV adaptation on Disney+, and that’s a special Pilot TV/Empire crossover podcast recorded to mark the occasion! Join Chris Hewitt, James Dyer and Nick de Semlyen as they get together to talk all things Japanese, Nick’s epic read of Clavell’s 1300 page book, and the pros and cons of ninja-themed restaurants. What’s more, James sits down with showrunners Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks to talk about bringing Edo-period Japan to life and the art of banging subtitles, plus he chats with star Cosmo Jarvis about taking on the role of ‘The Anjin’. Enjoy!

It's another jam-packed episode of the Empire Podcast this week, folks. Our guest cup certainly overfloweth, as Olly Richards sits down on Zoom with Memory stars Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard (21:17 - 37:40 approx.), Ian Freer talks Kurosawa, Columbo, German goalkeepers and Japanese toilets with the legendary director Wim Wenders (58:36 - 1:14:11 approx), and Dan Jolin gushes liberally all over City Of God in a 21st anniversary re-release chat with that film's director, Fernando Meirelles (1:30:51 - 1:48:04 approx). Either side of those, Chris Hewitt hosts and is joined in the podbooth by Helen O'Hara and James Dyer for a fun episode in which they discuss their best ever days as film fans, their favourite queer films, the week's movie news including the announcement of Sam Mendes' wildly ambitious Beatles biopics, and review Memory, Wim Wenders' Perfect Days, Wicked Little Letters, and American Star. Oh, and James and Helen try to remember the names of the Goonies, with predictably disastrous results. Enjoy.

This week's Empire Podcast brings you a double bill of wonderful actors, nattering away about their latest projects. How lovely. First up, Kingsley Ben-Adir talks to Amon Warmann about Bob Marley: One Love, the film that shines the spotlight on two pivotal years in the life of the legendary reggae singer, Bob Marley, and the madness of being part of Greta Gerwig's Barbie. (22-46.00 - 41:52.00) And Chris Hewitt has a lovely talk with Tahar Rahim, star of Madame Web, about finally saying yes to Hollywood, what he would do if he knew when he was going to die, and working with Ridley Scott on Napoleon. (1:08:18.00 - 1:23:07.00) Then, in the podbooth, Chris is joined by Helen O'Hara and James Dyer to discuss billion dollar movies that should have been nominated for Best Picture, the week's movie news including the revelation of the Fantastic Four casting and the Super Bowl trailers, and review Bob Marley: One Love, The Taste Of Things, Madame Web, and Jennifer Lopez' This Is Me... Now. Also, we bang on about our March tour, which starts in just two weeks. Tickets on sale now at empireonline.com/podtour. Enjoy!

Another week, another packed episode of the Empire Podcast, and once again we're joined by some cracking guests. First, Jeffrey Wright, the freshly Oscar-nominated star of American Fiction, joins Chris Hewitt to talk about that movie, his working practices, the film's unusual original title, and more. (30:37 - 48:53)Then Alex Godfrey sits down on Zoom with The Iron Claw director, Sean Durkin, and his star Zac Efron, for a chat about wrestling, big arms, and big hearts. (1:08:47 - 1:22:35, approx) And either side of those, Chris is joined in the podbooth by Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and John Nugent to discuss a whole host of stuff. They talk about the upcoming Empire Podcast tour (Birmingham! Norwich! Sheffield! Dublin! Manchester!), which has just gone on sale now, right some Oscar wrongs for the third and final time, this time tackling Best Director, discuss the week's movie news, including the sad death of Carl Weathers, and review The Iron Claw, Steve McQueen's Occupied City, and Orion And The Dark. Hope to see some of you at our live shows in March. In the meantime, enjoy!