The Empire Film Podcast

This week's episode of the Empire Podcast sees Dave Green's Coyote Vs Acme finally reach cinema screens after a long and perilous journey which saw the film face actual deletion at one point, before common sense prevailed. Green is our guest this week, and he tells Helen O'Hara about the arduous experience he went through, and the film itself, which is a joyous affair. Either side of that, Chris Hewitt returns to the host's chair and is joined by Helen, James Dyer and Amon Warmann to talk about their favourite movies and how often they see them; discuss 'vs' movies; look at the week's movie news, including the sad passing of Dolly Parton (however, this episode was recorded before the news that Tim Curry and Peter Cullen had also left us; we will pay tribute to them next week), and a perplexing move from Ryan Gosling; and review Coyote Vs Acme, Ridley Scott's The Dog Stars, Pedro Almodovar's Bitter Christmas, Gregg Araki's I Want Your Sex, and Will Gluck's One Night Only, which sparks a Helen rant for the ages. Oh, and an old friend of the pod makes an unexpected return, much to Helen's delight. Enjoy.

The Interviews returns this week with a jam-packed show, as Chris Hewitt sits down at Comic-Con in San Diego with, after a delayed start, Mason Thames (and yes, we have learned how to pronounce his surname) and Lee Kirk (ditto), star and director respectively of Nimrods: A Green Day Comedy about music, movies, and heart. Then Chris pops onto Zoom to have a natter with Adam Shankman, director of ZAZ-style spoof, Stop! That! Train!, and wind up talking about the time Shankman officiated Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr's wedding, and directors' God complexes. And finally Becky Darke makes his Empire Podcast interview debut by talking on Zoom to Sam Spruell, who's terrifying audiences worldwide right now as the villain of the latest Insidious movie, Out Of The Further. Enjoy!

This week's episode of the Empire Podcast sees director Matt Johnson return, just a few weeks after he was talking up Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie. This time, he's talking to Amon Warmann about his new movie, Tony, which is a snapshot of a period in the life of a young Anthony Bourdain (played by Dominic Sessa). Either side of that, Chris Hewitt is joined in the podbooth by Helen O'Hara and James Dyer to talk about movie news (Barbie 2 developments, or lack thereof; and rumours of the X-Men cast announcement), review Tony, The End Of Oak Street, Sunny Dancer and Lady; lament the apparent passing of one of their favourite food haunts; and see whether any director has a 13th movie on their CV that can go toe-to-toe with Chris Nolan's The Odyssey. This is a podcast that's not afraid to ask the big questions. Questions like, 'is Octopussy better than The Odyssey?' The answer lies within. Enjoy.

This week's episode of the Empire Podcast sees Chris Hewitt — freshly returned from Comic-Con and San Diego — sit down for a lovely chat with Spider-Man: Brand New Day director, Destin Daniel Cretton. Either side of that, Chris is joined in the podbooth by Helen O'Hara, Amon Warmann, and Ben Travis to discuss their favourite Spider-movies, look back at Comic-Con and a whole bunch of trailers, and review Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Ish. They also get into Emily Wilson's scathing criticism of Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey and discuss authors and writers who dislike movies based on their works. We've yet to hear from Homer, but we do have an ask in with his publicist. Enjoy.

On this week's Empire Podcast, Helen O'Hara slides into the host's chair in the Comic-Con-related absence of Chris Hewitt, and together, she, James Dyer and Amon Warmann come up with some of the greatest dog movies, suggest classic myths that could be turned into movies, swap outlandish theories about Avengers: Doomsday, talk about the movie news that broke before Comic-Con, and review The Dink, 72 Hours, and Deep Water. Guest-wise, for the first time in a while we have two in one episode, with Chris talking (via AirPods, thanks to technical difficulties) to The Dink star and all-round legend, Mary Steenburgen [26:54 - 44:27 approx], and then to old podcast stalwart, Tom Hiddleston, who whisks Chris away to actual Pompeii to talk about Hiddleston's new Disney+ docu-drama, Pompeii: Out Of Time, and display dazzling proficiency in Latin. [1:02:35 - 1:20:01 approx] Enjoy.

Today saw the launch of Empire+, folks, for subscribers. We know you have questions. What is Empire+? What is happening? Why are we seeing the faces of three giggling idiots on the logos? WHAT IS REALITY? We answer those questions and more in this special announcement, in which Chris Hewitt and James Dyer talk you through the concept of Empire+ (what a groundbreaking name), and how you can sign up and subscribe, if you don't already. Also, Chris recommends the greatest crisps in all of crispendom. You're welcome.

It's another jam-packed edition of The Interviews, folks! This episode sees Chris Hewitt sit down on Zoom with Haley Bennett and Jack Whitehall, stars of Virginia Woolf's Night & Day, for a discussion that turns into a thinly-veiled attempt to secure a Nando's Black Card. [1:10 - 14:10 approx] Chris also has a lovely chat with the great Cary Elwes about his one-two punch of Dead Man's Wire, now on Sky Cinema, and the TV show M.I.A., now on Paramount+. [15:54 - 27:57 approx] And finally, you get a chunky excerpt from our brand new spoilerific chat with Curry Barker, the director of the year's hottest movie, the horror movie turned cultural juggernaut, Obsession, as he reflects on his changed circumstances, getting a voicemail from Taron Egerton, and more. [29:34 - 41:35 approx]