The Empire Film Podcast

Did you know that Christopher Nolan has a new movie out this week? You would be forgiven for missing it, because we've seen absolutely no coverage of it anywhere. Ahem. Anyway, the film is Oppenheimer, the story of the tortured genius who shepherded the atomic bomb into existence, and on this week's episode Alex Godfrey talks to Nolan about that movie, avoiding the biopic label, David Bowie, and more. Our other guest is Irish documentarian Laura McGann, who talks to Chris Hewitt about her new movie, The Deepest Breath, which dives deep (literally) into the intoxicating but dangerous world of free diving. And with Chris off again this week, Helen O'Hara hosts and is joined by Alex, Ben Travis and Sophie Butcher to discuss the films that made them cry unexpectedly, the week's movie news and, in an epic reviews section, cast their eyes over Oppenheimer, Barbie, The Deepest Breath, and They Cloned Tyrone. That's some serious Benergy right there. Enjoy.

HANDS! CORNER! BEHIND! Those three words can mean only one thing: one of our favourite shows, FX's The Bear, is back for its second season, and that's an occasion so momentous that the Empire Podcast and Pilot TV Podcast teams have once again joined forces to wax lyrical about it (in association with Disney+). Join Chris Hewitt, James Dyer, and Kay 'The Bear' Ribeiro as they talk about what they loved about the first season of Christopher Storer's Emmy-nominated comedy-drama, look ahead to season 2 (all episodes are now streaming on Disney+, fact fans), and talk about food, music, and Taylor Swift tickets. Enjoy!

Light the fuse! This week sees the long-long-long-long-awaited release of Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One, Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie's epic latest addition to the action franchise, and Chris Hewitt chats to two of the IMF's finest, Simon 'Benji Dunn' Pegg and Rebecca 'Ilsa Faust' Ferguson, in a fun interview that touches upon how they coped with the film's incredibly long shoot. Then, with Chris off somewhere editing the first part of our Mission spoiler special chat with Christopher McQuarrie, Helen O'Hara hosts, welcoming James Dyer and Ben Travis into the podbooth to talk about multi-hyphenates, the actors' strike, a whole bunch of trailers, and Taylor Swift tickets. And they review Dead Reckoning Part One, Insidious: The Red Door, Birdbox: Barcelona, The Out-Laws, and more. It's a slam bam thank you ma'am episode. Enjoy!

This week's episode of the Empire Podcast sees things get elemental as Chris Hewitt has an engrossing chat with the stars of the new Pixar movie, Leah Lewis and Mamoudou Athie. Then things get a little sillier as he sits down with Hayley Atwell, who is a welcome addition to the Mission: Impossible franchise in Dead Reckoning Part One, which opens here on Monday. It's a spoiler-free interview, in which they talk about how Atwell got to grips with her character Grace, about her memories of shooting the first Captain America movie, and about her social media plans, but you might want to wait until you've seen Dead Reckoning Part One just in case. Either side of those, Chris is joined in the podbooth by Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and Jeremy Dylan, making a return to the fourth chair after an absence of a couple of years. Our intrepid quartet answer a question relating to Ethan Hunt, and discuss the movie news including Greta Gerwig directing a couple of Narnia movies, the Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny box office and, of course, the trailer for Dune Part II. And they also review Elemental, the Wham! documentary, Name Me Lawand, and Run Rabbit Run. Enjoy.

This week sees the return (for, sadly, the final time) of everyone's favourite adventurer, Henry Jones Jr., in Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny, and along with Harrison Ford and John Williams, producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall have been with Indy every step of the way from Raiders Of The Lost Ark (the movie on which they met, setting them on the path to getting married). And in this week's Empire Podcast, they sit down with Chris Hewitt for an extended chat that touches upon every single Indy movie. Yes, even that one. Then, in the podbooth, Chris is joined by Helen O'Hara and James Dyer, while Eddie Hamilton, editor of Top Gun: Maverick and the upcoming Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One, slides back into the fourth chair for a fun episode in which they discuss Eddie's experiences at the Oscars, James and Chris' experience at the equally prestigious PPA Awards, the order in which they will see Barbie and Oppenheimer, their favourite non-franchise Harrison Ford film, movie news including the casting of the new Superman and Lois Lane, and review Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny. Oh, and Chris grills Helen over her experiences at Glastonbury. It's a cracker of an episode, folks. It belongs in a museum. Enjoy.

Wes Anderson's new film, Asteroid City, has so many incredible actors in it that we were able to send John Nugent to the Cannes Film Festival recently, steal three of them away for interview purposes, and put them back before anyone even noticed. So, in this week's episode of the (soon to be award-losing once again) Empire Podcast, you can hear that fun interview with old hands Adrien Brody, Bryan Cranston and Jeffrey Wright. Then, in the podbooth, Chris Hewitt is joined by James Dyer and Amon Warmann to finally drive a stake through the heart of the 'which director won a particular decade' question, introduce Amon to horror movie soundtracks, discuss the week's movie news, including an extended look at the repercussions of the weak openings for The Flash and Elemental, and review Asteroid City, No Hard Feelings, and Nimona. Oh, and chaos reigns. Enjoy.

The Wicker Man (the film, not the terrifying, flammable wooden figure) turns 50 this year, and to celebrate it's being re-released in UK cinemas for one day only, on June 21st. And to celebrate that, in this interview special Chris Hewitt sits down with the legendary Britt Ekland, who plays Willow in Robin Hardy and Anthony Shaffer's classic folk horror, and talks about her troubled relationship with the film and her treatment during/after it, how that relationship has healed over the years, becoming friends with Christopher Lee at the Empire Awards, and much, much more. It's a fun and frank interview that is a must for all fans of The Wicker Man, so whether you have come here of your own free will, whether you have the power of a king, whether you're a virgin, or whether you're a fool, enjoy.

Where do we get those wonderful guests? This week's Empire Podcast brings you the audio from our recent Empire VIP Club Q&A with the one, the only Michael Keaton, on the occasion of his return to the role of Batman in Andy Muschietti's The Flash. Hear Keaton talk to Alex Godfrey about why he signed on to play Batman for Tim Burton, coming up with that voice, and the fun he's having reteaming with Burton on Beetlejuice 2, and then sign up to the Empire VIP Club, why don't you, so you can experience events like this in person. Our other guest this week is the wonderful Alice Lowe, who talks to Mike Muncer about her Take That musical comedy, Greatest Days, and about what we can expect from her next film as a director, Timestalker. Then, in the podbooth, Chris Hewitt hosts and is joined by Helen O'Hara and James Dyer for a dissection of the week's movie news, reviews of The Flash, Extraction 2, Pretty Red Dress and Greatest Days, and come up with a brand new musical. Also, with inspiration failing to strike on the question front, they return to an old favourite and ask which director owned the Noughties. [Note: if your favourite director isn't mentioned, chances are they were, and we cut it out. That's our story, and we're sticking to it.] Enjoy! Follow us on the Twitters! @ChrisHewitt @JamesCDyer @HelenLOHara

25 years after it became (for quite a spell) the biggest film of all time at the UK box office, The Full Monty is back with an eight-part limited series, streaming now on Disney+. Writer Simon Beaufoy has reassembled the original cast for a show that goes The Full Monty on the current state of the nation, with Gaz (Robert Carlyle) and chums navigating their way through a series of misadventures that shine a spotlight on everything from the education system to the NHS. In this, the latest collaboration between the Empire Film Podcast and the Pilot TV Podcast, Chris Hewitt sits down with Robert Carlyle and fellow cast members Mark Addy (Dave), Lesley Sharp (Jean), and Steve Huison (Lomper) for candid chats about their return to Sheffield, the show's return, and their relief at being able to keep their clothes on this time. Then, in the podbooth, Chris is joined by Kay Ribeiro and James Dyer to talk about their memories of the original film, the phenomenon it became, and their thoughts about the new series. Oh, and Chris has a meltdown about the existence, or lack thereof, of a certain television commercial... Enjoy.

Another jam-packed edition of the freshly award-losing Empire Podcast this week, folks, with three separate interviews, and four incredible guests. First, Chevalier star Kelvin Harrison Jr. talks French accents and violins with Neel Bhatt (making his pod interview debut!). Then, Eva Longoria — director of Flamin' Hot and possessor of one of the best laughs in the business — sits down on Zoom with James White to talk about her feature film directorial debut. And then Chris Hewitt is visited in studio by Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts stars Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback, and gets one of them hopelessly addicted to M&S Phizzy Pigtails. Be warned: there are sounds of chewing during this interview, which we know puts some people off. Forewarned is forearmed and all that. Then, on either side of those interviews, Chris is joined by Helen O'Hara and James Dyer to discuss which film director owns the 90s, the week's movie news (such as it is), and review Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts, Chevalier, Flamin' Hot, and Guy Ritchie's The Covenant. Enjoy!