The Empire Film Podcast

This week's (belated, so sorry about that) Empire Podcast is our first live show in aaaaaaaaages, as we headed to Kings Place earlier in the week to record, at long last, our 450th episode, in front of a socially-distanced, diligently-masked but deeply supportive crowd. How long had it been since we were meant to record it? Well, this episode also doubles as our 475th episode, which should give you some idea. (25 weeks, in case it wasn't clear.) But it was absolutely worth the wait, as Edgar Wright, director of new music documentary The Sparks Brothers, popped his live show cherry and brought his chums Sparks along for the ride; while David Thewlis, the actor-turned-author, showed up to talk about his new novel, Shooting Martha. And on either side of that, Chris Hewitt is joined by Helen O'Hara, James Dyer and, for the last time, our soon to be former Editor-In-Chief, Terri White, for a typically raucous live show, featuring movie news chat, reviews of The Suicide Squad, Limbo, The Sparks Brothers, and Jungle Cruise, an extended audience Q&A, a Three Fact Structure for the ages, and an actual ghost. Thanks for everything, Terri. It's been a blast.

It's another triple whammy of tremendous guestitude on this week's Empire Podcast, as we're visited by three of our favourite actresses. First up, Chris Hewitt and Vanessa Kirby have a meeting of sleep-addled minds on an early morning Zoom call as they discuss Vanessa's new movie, The World To Come, and her plans to outdo Tom Cruise with an epic motorcycle stunt. Then, Dan Jolin chats with Vicky Krieps, star of M. Night Shyamalan's Old, about how working on a beach isn't all that. And finally, Chris comes face to face with Olga Kurylenko, special surprise star of a recent comic book-based blockbuster, about how she managed to get a big role in one of the biggest films of the year without even her mum knowing. This one is spoiler-filled, and is right at the end of the show, so if you haven't seen [FILM IN QUESTION], you won't have to hurriedly skip on. For the rest of you, enjoy. Then, Chris is joined in the virtual podbooth by Helen O'Hara, James Dyer and the aforementioned Dan Jolin (albeit briefly) for discussions of the hottest, sweatiest movies, dissections of the week's movie news (which mainly means James and Helen banging on about Dune, again), and reviews of Werewolves Within, Old, The World To Come, and Riders Of Justice, the latest movie to prove that you don't have to be Mads Mikkelsen to work here. But it helps. Enjoy.

There's an old saying in EmpirePodcastland: while the Chris is away, the Three Colleagues Of Such Lethal Cunning will bang on about fantasy books, basketball, fantasy books, Star Trek, and even more fantasy books. Which is precisely what happens this week. With Chris Hewitt elsewhere, Helen O'Hara steps into the hosting chair and, along with Amon Warmann and James Dyer, bangs on about fantasy books, basketball, fantasy books, Star Trek, and even more fantasy books. They do also talk about movies, answering a listener question about going on holiday with horror characters, discussing the week's movie news, and reviewing Fear Street Part 3: 1666, Summer Of Soul (...Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised), and The Forever Purge. While John Nugent drops by to dribble his opinions on Space Jam: A New Legacy into the goal-basket. And, just in case you thought you'd managed to escape that infernal Hewitt, he pops up to interview both our guests this week: ace composer, and possessor of the driest sense of humour in the land, David Arnold, who tells Chris all about his new composition for the Royal Albert Hall's 150th birthday celebrations; and Sam Richardson, the wonderfully funny and all-round just gosh darn nice star of Werewolves Within. Enjoy.

With the eleventh and final season of The Walking Dead just around the corner, we’re getting all kinds of excited to see how the groundbreaking, landmark AMC show brings the whole bloody affair to a close. But first, we figured it would be time to look back at the previous ten seasons, which are now available to stream on STAR on Disney+. And so the Empire Podcast and Pilot TV Podcast teams have decided to join forces with STAR on Disney+ to bring you this very special episode in which Chris Hewitt, James Dyer and Beth Webb go through the show season-by-season, talking about their favourite characters, moments and, yes, deaths. Lots of deaths. So many deaths. Well, it is The Walking Dead, after all. As a result, this is liberally stuffed with spoilers, so tread carefully if you don't want to know how [REDACTED] goes out. And [REDACTED]. Oh, and [REDACTED] for good measure. So, whether you’re a Rick Grimes megafan, or you’re heavily invested in Carol’s progression from meek survivor to Queen Of The Zombie Apocalypse; whether you think Negan deserves a second chance, or you can’t get enough of Michonne; and whether or not you’ll riot if Daryl dies, this is the podcast for you. So sit back, relax, and enjoy The Walking Dead, an Empire + Pilot TV podcast special with STAR on Disney+.

OK, full disclosure. If you saw the name 'William Shatner' in the episode title and thought, 'yes! I bet the Empire Podcast asked him loads of questions about Star Trek and Columbo and Airplane! II: The Sequel and Boston Legal and generally being awesome!', then we should tell you that while that was the plan, sometimes plans can go awry. So yes, William Shatner is this week's guest on the Empire Podcast. And yes, Chris Hewitt had a lovely time talking to a living legend. And yes, they even talk about films every now and again, including Shatner's latest, Senior Moment. But by and large, it's a rollercoaster ride of an interview that mainly focuses on the various injuries that Shatner has suffered in his life, and his appetite for derring-do and excitement, even at the age of 90. We had a blast. We hope you will too, and forgive the lack of Trekkery. Elsewhere in this episode, with Helen O'Hara popping in briefly from her swanky one-room Cannes Film Festival sweatbox, James Dyer and Ben Travis join Chris for film-related fun. They talk about the week's movie news, they discuss which movie sets they regret not being able to visit thanks to Covid, and they review Black Widow and the first two parts of Netflix's horror trilogy, Fear Street. And they also talk about the football for a bit which, given James' antipathy towards the beautiful game, goes about as well as you might expect. Enjoy. It's coming home. Podcast's coming home.

On this week's Empire Podcast, it's finally time to get freaky as Christopher Landon's excellent body-swap slasher movie, Freaky, hits UK cinemas. And what better way to celebrate than by listening to Chris Hewitt's chat with that movie's stars, Vince Vaughn and Kathryn Newton, in which they come up with other horror movie mash-ups? Annie Halloween, anyone? Then, in the virtual podbooth, Chris is joined by Helen O'Hara and James Dyer for a fun episode in which they talk about their favourite performances in legacy sequels, discuss the week's movie news, from Transformers casting to the start of shooting on the Black Panther sequel, and review Thomas Vinterberg's Another Round, Freaky, and The Tomorrow War. And you won't be surprised to learn that they lose the run of themselves over Timothy Olyphant. Again. Enjoy.

This week, Fast 9 (the name may change, depending on where you live) is finally unleashed in cinemas after a delay of over a year. So that loud noise you may have heard during the last couple of weeks was almost certainly Fast & Furious megafan Ben Travis yelling, "MAGNET PLANE!". So when the chance came up to talk to Fast 9 star, Nathalie Emmanuel, we had no choice but to send Ben, and the two have a fun chat about fast cars, furious family, and Emmanuel's role in the upcoming Army Of The Dead prequel, Army Of Thieves. Then, in the virtual podbooth, Ben joins Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, and James Dyer for an episode in which The Three Fact Structure is Fast & Furious-centric (although not at first), the listener question makes us all nostalgic for the year 1989, the team talks about the week's movie news, from new Transformers films to Snow White casting news, and they review Fast 9, Supernova, Sweat, and Kevin Hart's Fatherhood. And we ask the biggest question of them all: just who is Sonof Dalton? Enjoy.

In the second half of this week's genuinely bumper-sized, jam-packed Empire Podcast, the great Jimmy Smits jumps onto SquadCast with Ben Travis and Chris Hewitt, talking to them about his role in Jon M. Chu's adaptation of In The Heights, his New York heritage, and his skill with a lightsaber. Which you may even be able to hear. And, with Godzilla Vs Kong hitting DVD, Blu-ray and 4K this week, we bring you the opening ten minutes of our spoiler special chat with the film's director, Adam Wingard. Either side of those, Chris and Ben are joined by Helen O'Hara and James Dyer to discuss the week's movie news, including an epic chat about Greenland: Migration that you might want to skip if you haven't seen Greenland, and review In The Heights, Ben Wheatley's In The Earth, Pixar's Luca, Paul W.S. Anderson's Monster Hunter, and Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard. Phew! Enjoy.

Because this week's episode of the Empire Podcast has more guests than Glastonbury, we've taken the rare step of dividing it into two parts. In the first part, Milla Jovovich tells Helen O'Hara all about reteaming with her Resident Evil director, and husband, Paul W.S. Anderson, on the sci-fi actioner, Monster Hunter. And then Chris Hewitt catches up with Reece Shearsmith, and they have a good old natter about working in the middle of a pandemic, Bob Monkhouse, and Reece's terrifying turn in Ben Wheatley's new movie, In The Earth. Then Chris is joined in the virtual podbooth by Helen, James Dyer, and Ben Travis for a one heck of a half-episode that takes in The Three Fact Structure (ghosts! fountains! weddings!), and this week's listener question, while the pod-team struggles heroically not to get bogged down in a discussion of the week's big talking point: Batman's prowess in a certain branch of the sexual arts. Do they succeed in that heroic struggle? What do you think? Enjoy.

There are no fewer than *five* guests on this week's show as David Schwimmer and Nick Mohammed stop by to talk about the second series of Intelligence, while Florian Zeller and Sir Anthony Hopkins put down their Oscars to tell us all about The Father (an interview during which Chris and Sir Anthony stage an impromptu Edge-off). And John Krasinski talks all things A Quiet Place Part II in a sneak look at our spoiler special interview. All that plus the usual move news and nonsense as Helen (who's in the driving seat while Chris spends the week lying on a beach earning 20%), James and Ben attempt to bring some chaos to the order of this week's films.