The Empire Film Podcast

It's a question as old as time: who ya gonna call? And an equally aged answer: Ghostbusters! Or, in the case of this week's Empire Podcast, a Ghostbuster. But not just any Ghostbuster — the heart of the Ghostbusters, and co-creator of the franchise, the legendary Dan Aykroyd, who jumps on the blower with Chris Hewitt to talk about the Ghostbusters In Concert show at the Royal Albert Hall, webbed feet, and writing one of the greatest comedies of all time. [21:55 - 41:32 approx] Our other guest this week is Benjamin Ree, the director of the extraordinarily moving documentary The Remarkable Life of Ibelin, which tells the incredible story of a young Norwegian man with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and the second life he created for himself within World Of Warcraft. [1:11:29 - 1:28:29 approx] Either side of those, Chris is joined in the podbooth by Helen O'Hara and James Dyer for the final spooky Halloweenified pod of the year. Don't worry, though, it's not that scary, as they discuss the best non-horror films made by horror filmmakers, review The Remarkable Life of Ibelin, Venom: The Last Dance, Brothers, and The Room Next Door, and chew the fat over the week's movie news, including a wild bit of speculation about Christopher Nolan's latest movie. Oh, and who — or what — is Spiky Mike? Enjoy.

Spooky season is upon us, folks, and this week's Empire Podcast is even more of a horror show than usual, as Chris Hewitt talks to Naomi Scott about her fabulous performance in Parker Finn's scary sequel, Smile 2, [23:26 - 37:26 approx] and the team — Chris, James Dyer, Ben Travis, and Beth Webb — tackle two horror-related questions from listeners, including the horror flicks they think should have been nominated for Best Picture, and an impromptu Mount Rushmore of vampire films that really should have been called Count Rushmore. Elsewhere, much movie news is discussed, including the addition of Krypto the Superdog to James Gunn's Superman, Chris has a lovely chat with Woman Of The Hour director/star Anna Kendrick, [58:47 - 1:16:56 approx] and in the reviews section we tackle that very film, plus The Wild Robot, Smile 2, and The Apprentice, with guest reviewer Alex Godfrey. Oh, and the team, and a very special guest, bids Ben a heartfelt farewell as he heads off on paternity leave. Enjoy.

With the BFI London Film Festival about to shut up shop for another year after a cracking 2024 offering, it's the perfect time to bring you our annual LFF podcast, in which Chris Hewitt chats to some of the British filmmakers who have films (and a TV show) at this year's festival. They are: Nick Murphy, director of A Thousand Blows; Sasha Nathwani, director of Last Swim; and Sadie Frost, director of new documentary, Twiggy. And they are fun, frank, and fascinating chats about the directors' projects, their LFF experiences, and the state of the film industry. Enjoy!

It's another belting week on the Empire Podcast, folks. On the guest front, James White — ol' Jaime Blanco himself — talks to Sarah Paulson, star of new Disney+ thriller Hold Your Breath, about milking both tension and cows [21:33 - 34:08 approx], Chris Hewitt sits down for a fun chat about vampires, changing tyres, and playing people called Bob with Lewis Pullman, star of the Salem's Lot movie which is finally seeing the light of night after a couple of years sitting on the shelf [52:39 - 1:09:31 approx], and we bring you an excerpt of our incredible The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power s2 spoiler special Q&A with showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, creative producer Lindsay Weber, and stars Charles Edwards, Megan Richards, and Daniel Weyman. [1:34:50 - 1:52:24 approx] Either side of those, Chris is joined in the podbooth by Helen O'Hara, and remotely by a stricken James Dyer, for a fun episode in which Helen finally shares her thoughts on Joker: Folie à Deux, the trio discuss which tell-all film books they'd like to read, the week's movie news including the new A Complete Unknown trailer, and review Salem's Lot, Timestalker, and Transformers One. Oh, and our next live show — episode 650 — is announced in, um, spectacular fashion. Enjoy.

As a special treat for you, our beloved listeners, here's a bonus pod for you... an episode of Pilot TV! Yes, our sister TV pod is elbowing its way unbidden into your playlist and forcing itself into your ears like an unwanted U2 album. But before you go skipping ahead, why not stay a while and have a listen? For one, it will greatly reduce the possibility of James coming over to your house, putting headphones on you and playing it to you while you sleep. Plus, you might just enjoy it.On this particular episode, James, along with co-hosts Boyd Hilton and Kay Ribeiro, invite Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal into the Pilot studio to talk about Spanish-language boxing drama a Máquina on Disney+. Elsewhere, Kay gets pilloried for daring to take some time off, James is lambasted for his egregious (if entirely oblivious) queue-jumping, and there’s some seasonal spooky chat about the best TV-based horrors. As well as reviewing La Máquina, the team also take a look at starry Apple drama Disclaimer with Cate Blanchett, and Sweetpea on Sky Atlantic, in which Ella Purnell gets in touch with her inner sociopath. And if you like this episode, why not subscribe to Pilot TV? Dropping every Monday, it's a perfect accompaniment to the Empire pod — after all, who doesn't need a guide to the murky waters of modern streaming TV? You can't watch everything.

Love that Joker? If so, you've come to the right place, folks, as this week's Empire Podcast sees Chris Hewitt, our very own clown prince of crime, dig deep into Joker: Folie à Deux (and pronounce the title roughly ten different ways) with its star, Joaquin Phoenix [18:50 - 41:01 approx], and director, Todd Phillips. [1:02:14 - 1:23:07 approx] With Helen O'Hara having made herself scarce so she can watch the original Joker (her favourite film of all time) about a dozen times in preparation for the sequel, Chris is joined in the podbooth by his number one guy, Bo -- sorry, James Dyer -- and number two guy (that sounds wrong, but we are where we are), Alex Godfrey, for a fun episode in which they try to discuss terrible films made by great directors, only to get hung up on one terrible film in particular; discuss the week's movie news, including the return of Daniel Day-Lewis to acting, and a host of sad farewells (and yes, before you mention it, we forgot about the great Kris Kristofferson, who will get his flowers on next week's show), and review the aforementioned Joker sequel, and A Different Man. Finally, we bring you a sneak peek at our Inside Out 2 spoiler special, now that the film has arrived on Disney+, as Ben Travis talks to Kelsey Mann, director of the year's biggest movie. [1:42:24 - 1:58:17 approx] Enjoy.

It's another jam-packed banger on the Empire Podcast this week, folks, as Chris Hewitt sits down for a triple whammy of interviews. First, there's Saoirse Ronan, star/producer of affecting drama The Outrun, and her co-star Paapa Essiedu, who talk about bonding, improvisation, and shooting on location. [19:13 - 33:45 approx] Then, there's Josh Greenbaum, director of Will & Harper, the excellent documentary that follows Will Ferrell and his writer friend of three decades, Harper Steele, on a cross-country road trip in the aftermath of Harper's recent transition to living as a woman. [54:27 - 1:13:03 approx] And finally, there's a big chunk of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice spoiler special goodness with that film's writers and executive producers, Alfred Gough and Miles Millar. [1:40:01 - 1:55:27 approx] Either side of those, Chris is joined in the podbooth by Helen O'Hara and James Dyer to discuss directors whose careers have received a boost from working in the MCU, take a look at the week's movie news (this was recorded before the sad news of the death of Dame Maggie Smith), and review Will & Harper, Wolfs, The Outrun, and Megalopolis, a review so immense it has added ballast in the form of Alex Godfrey. Oh, and the team discover Bump Juice. To find out what it is, listen on. Enjoy.

This week's episode of the Empire Podcast comes with an air of carefree celebration, as Chris Hewitt marks his birthday by a) not mentioning his birthday that much, b) interviewing Willa Fitzgerald, star of cracking new thriller Strange Darling, while somehow not actually talking about the movie because it's incredibly hard to talk about without getting into spoiler territory, [23:05 - 40:27 approx] and c) interviewing the powerhouse trio who star in new movie His Three Daughters, Carrie Coon, Elizabeth Olsen and Natasha Lyonne. [1:01:45 - 1:14:52 approx] Then Chris is joined in the podbooth by Helen O'Hara and James Dyer to discuss the best movie witches, tackle the week's movie news, including David Schwimmer's revelation that he turned down Will Smith's role in Men In Black, and review His Three Daughters, Strange Darling, and The Substance. Oh, and Helen reveals a shocking old nickname, while Chris doesn't mention his birthday at all. Enjoy.

Years after she meddled with Wanda Maximoff, sang her own wonderful earworm of a theme song, and waltzed off with WandaVision tucked under her arm, Agatha Harkness is back back back in Agatha All Along, a new nine-part Disney+ MCU show which sees Kathryn Hahn return as Westview's second most powerful witch. Only now she's on the comeback trail and might need help from a brand-new coven. And in this special Empire Podcast preview, the enormously entertaining Hahn and Agatha All Along (and WandaVision) creator Jac Schaeffer sit down with Chris Hewitt and spill the beans on what audiences can expect every Thursday for the next few weeks. And don't forget to sign up to our spoiler specials for weekly episodes from Team Empire as well. Enjoy!

Is it just us, or has the Empire Podcast got more hat-tricks than Erling Haaland? We have another terrific trio of guests this week, as Alex Godfrey speaks no evil with Speak No Evil, and podcast regular, James McAvoy. [19:49 - 34:40 approx] Then, Amon Warmann has a lovely chat with Kate Winslet, star of Lee (and thanks to Sam Clements for loaning us his podcast mics while Chris was away!). [56:50 - 1:12:15 approx] And finally, we bring you the interview the entire podteam (Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and Amon) did with Reawakening star, and all-round acting royalty, Juliet Stevenson on last week's live show at the London Podcast Festival. [1:41:33 - 1:57:42 approx] Either side of those, Chris returns after a rare holiday and hosts Helen, James and Alex Godfrey as they discuss films from 1996 that deserve sequels (and why 1996 sucked cinematically), pay tribute to James Earl Jones, and review Lee, Speak No Evil, and Reawakening. Oh, and our old chum Corin Hardy drops in out of nowhere for a shameless plug. Enjoy.