The Empire Film Podcast

Josh Hartnett was born in America, but now lives in England. Emily Mortimer was born in England, but now lives in America. That's not why we asked them both to guest on this week's Empire Podcast. That's just an incidental fact with which you can amuse your friends and dazzle your enemies. But they do both guest on this week's show, talking to Chris Hewitt about Target Number One, getting a bottle of wine from Sofia Coppola, and writing (Josh), and Relic, retaining your accent after years of living/working abroad, and writing (Emily). Word of warning: the Emily Mortimer interview delves deep into the subject of death, so tread carefully. Timings are Hartnett: 34:03-51:57 and Mortimer: 1:15:53-1:37:15 Elsewhere, Chris is then joined in the virtual podbooth by Helen O'Hara and James Dyer to discuss the death of Sean Connery, the ideal filmgoing experience, a bunch of horror film news, review About Endlessness, Target Number One, and Luxor, and somehow, despite the fact that there are only two colleagues of such lethal cunning, deliver another instalment of the Three Fact Structure. Enjoy.

As luck, or the devilish machinations of our dark lord Beelzebub, would have it, this week's episode of the Empire Podcast is, if you count all our specials and one-offs, our 666th. It's all for you Damien etc. etc. And, as it lands one day before Halloween, it's a suitably spooky ep, as Chris Hewitt has a chat with fast-rising British actor Sope Dirisu, star of the fabulous Netflix horror movie, His House. They also talk about Sope's breakout year, his role in Gangs Of London, his former life as an economist, and Thierry Henry. Our other guests this week are Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart, the co-directors of the wonderful Irish animated film, Wolfwalkers, and they talk to Amon Warmann about that, about the state of animation, and about Batman. Well, of course. Then, in the virtual podbooth, Chris is joined by Amon, Helen O'Hara and Beth Webb to answer a ton of your Halloween-themed questions, drop the shortest Three Fact Structure to date, discuss the week's movie news and, in a bumper reviews section, cast a critical eye over His House, The Witches, Relic, Mogul Mowgli, Shirley and Wolfwalkers. Oh, and Helen ruins everything with her potty mouth. Enjoy.

Is Olivia Cooke a psychopath? What, exactly, does her mum keep on a corkboard in her Manchester home? Where did her Irish accent come from for her new film, Pixie? These burning questions, and more, are explored by the British actor as she guests on this week's episode, having a fun chat with Chris Hewitt about all this, her love for Spielberg's Hook, and much more. It starts at 00:45:08.333, ends at 01:08:38.450. Then, in the virtual podbooth, Chris is joined by Helen O'Hara, Ben Travis, and James Dyer for a fun episode (we would say that, wouldn't we?) in which they discuss directors who use the same ensembles, chat about the week's movie news including the revelation that the never-ending Fast & Furious franchise is ending and THAT Die Hard-related commercial, and review Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm, Ben Wheatley's Rebecca, Liam Neeson's Honest Thief, and Pixie. Enjoy. Especially if you're not a psycho.

This week's Empire Podcast brings us all one degree closer to Kevin Bacon, as the star of You Should Have Left zooms in for a remotely-distanced chat with Chris Hewitt in which the pair talk about Bacon's reunion with writer/director David Koepp, those EE commercials he does, Tremors, and more. Then, in the virtual podbooth, Chris is joined by Helen O'Hara, Amon Warmann, and James Dyer for another impromptu, off-the-cuff edition of The Three Fact Structure, discussion of the best movie prosthetics, a deep dive into the week's movie news including the announcement of Fury Road prequel, Furiosa, and reviews of the terrifying trio of You Should Have Left, Vampires Vs The Bronx, and The Wolf Of Snow Hollow. Enjoy.

One of the standouts of this year's BFI London Film Festival -- which runs until this Sunday -- was the UK premiere of Soul, the latest slice of dizzying and dazzling Disney/Pixar brilliance from director Pete Docter. In this very special interview episode, Chris Hewitt Zooms into a chat with Docter and his co-writer/director, Kemp Powers, and producer Dana Murray for a wide-ranging chat about the inspirations behind the film, the secret fears that drive them as artists, the recent announcement of its debut on Disney+ this Christmas Day, casting Graham Norton, and much, much more. It's a funny and frank chat, and apart from brief talk of one deleted joke, it's spoiler-free. So, even if you haven't seen Soul yet, come on in. The podwater's lovely. For more information on the London Film Festival, go to bfi.org.uk

With Halloween just around the corner (followed by an unsatisfying reboot, no doubt), the Empire Podcast is turning its attention to scary fillums this week, and they don't come much more scary than Rose Glass' astonishing debut, Saint Maud. Glass, and her star, the wonderful Morfydd Clark, both chat to our Ben Travis in this week's episode. And the not-in-any-way-scary-but-still-great crime comedy-drama, Kajillionaire, is also out this week, marking the return of writer-director Miranda July after almost a decade away. She talks to Ian Freer about where she's been and what we can expect from her new film. Then, in the virtual podbooth, Chris Hewitt is joined by Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and Terri White for an epic episode in which they discuss what's happening on the UK cinema scene in the wake of Cineworld/Picturehouse's temporary closure, and the release date shift for No Time To Die. They also dig into the week's movie news, including trailers galore, and review Saint Maud in spectacularly chaotic, sweary fashion, along with Kajillionaire, Dick Johnson Is Dead, I Am Woman and the scariest fillum of them all: Adam Sandler's Hubie Halloween. Enjoy... if you dare!

On another bumper edition of the Empire Podcast, Paddington 2 co-writer and one of BBC's Ghosts, Simon Farnaby, tells Chris Hewitt all about his debut as a children's author, The Wizard In My Shed, while also branching out is David Morrissey, who has launched his very own podcast, Who Am I This Time?, in which he discusses key roles with actors like Alan Cumming, Liz Carr, and David Harewood. Chris' interview with Morrissey (the actor, not the singer) is taken from our one-off live show last week at Kings Place, London, and is included here as a Brucie bonus. Then, in the podbooth, Chris is joined by Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and Alex Godfrey for an epic show that sees the unplanned return of an old favourite, discussion of the best in-joke cameos, and reviews of The Trial Of The Chicago 7, The Boys In The Band, On The Rocks, and Eternal Beauty. And in the news section, we discuss Vin Diesel's singing career, Barry Jenkins directing The Lion King 2 and we foil Kevin Feige's evil schemes by reconvening to discuss this week's Electro-fying MCU news. Your move, Feige! Enjoy.

In this very special edition of the Empire Podcast, Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara and Amon Warmann are joined by Sam Clements, host of Picturehouse Cinemas' The Love Of Cinema podcast, for an in-depth discussion of the career of the great Chadwick Boseman, whose untimely death in August left behind an indelible cinematic legacy. In this episode, the podteam pay a heartfelt tribute to a truly great actor, as they discuss everything from 42 to Da 5 Bloods and, of course, the incredible cultural impact of his work as T'Challa in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

We hope you like Henrys, because this week's Empire Podcast brings you not one, but two actors of that name. Hooray! First there's Henry Cavill, who tells Chris Hewitt all about becoming Sherlock Holmes for the fun Netflix caper Enola Holmes, and they talk about some other stuff as well (but not, probably, the stuff you'd expect us to ask him about... oops!). And then, just for good measure, another impossibly charming, improbably handsome British Henry pops onto SquadCast for a chat with Chris. This time it's Henry Golding, star of Monsoon, who has a natter with Chris about vinyl collections, finding your identity, asking your parents uncomfortable truths, and how he'd fare against other contenders for Bond. Then, in the virtual podbooth, Chris is joined by Helen O'Hara, John Nugent, and Amon Warmann for a rambling (even more so than usual) episode that takes in unexpected revelations about the podteam's past lives, discussion of the week's news (including the WandaVision trailer, and the Tom Hardy as Bond rumours), reviews of Enola Holmes, Miss Juneteenth, and Monsoon. And there's much discussion of the perfect egg. Unctuous. Enjoy.

The first thing you should know about this week's episode of the Empire Podcast is that we talk about Rocks on it. And Rocks rocks. The second thing you should know is that Chris Hewitt talks to Sarah Gavron and Bukky Bakray, the director and star of that movie, which is one of the best British films in yonks. And the third thing you should know is that that interview is a lot of fun. The fourth thing you should know is that this week Chris is not just joined in the podbooth by Helen O'Hara and James Dyer, as per usual, but a brand-new occupant of the ever-rotating fourth chair: Edith Bowman! Yes, the creator and host of Soundtracking, one of our favourite film pods, drops by and joins the team for this episode, and along the way they discuss the best movie cameos by musicians, discuss the week's movie news, including the Madonna biopic, the potential arrival of Kang The Conqueror in the MCU, and review Rocks (told you!), Bill & Ted Face The Music, and The Devil All The Time. Enjoy.