The Empire Film Podcast

This week sees the first-ever Empire Podcast tour roll into Chris Hewitt's spiritual home, Liverpool. And, in a fun-packed show at FACT in front of a sold-out audience, Chris, Helen O'Hara and James Dyer discuss the week's movie news (including Spidey's return to the MCU), review Joker, Judy, and Good Posture, and take a whole heap of audience Qs. They're also joined by Dolly Wells, actor-turned-director, whose train got into Liverpool just in time for her to talk about her first film behind the camera, the rather wonderful Good Posture. Plus, back in the studio, John Nugent talks to some bloke called Joaquin Phoenix about some movie in which he plays a clown. Sounds like a laugh. Everyone loves clowns. And after last week's sound snafu in York, you'll be delighted to know this one sounds better, although some mic hiss does intrude towards the end. Hopefully it won't spoil your experience too much. Enjoy.

Do you like scary movies? What's your favourite scary movie? Two questions that have dominated conversations since the dawn of cinema, when people were terrified by the sight of a train coming straight at them. And, in this very special edition of the Empire Podcast, brought to you by Sky Cinema, Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, Absolute Radio's Dave Berry, and Sky Cinema's Alex Zane attempt to answer those questions, and one more for good measure: what is the scariest movie of all time? From Halloween to, erm, Halloween (but not Halloween), our fearless foursome discuss everything from slashers to supernatural horrors, and reveal the movies that make sure they sleep with the lights on. Oh, and there's a fair amount of terrible impressions and loud noises as per. And if, after hearing their choices, you want to check out some of the movies they talk about, the Halloween Collection is available now on Sky Cinema. Enjoy - if you dare!

So, this week's Empire Podcast was meant to be the recording of our latest live show, in front of a wonderful, sold-out audience at CityScreen in York. However, due to circumstances beyond our control, the sound quality of the recording just wasn't good enough. So, instead, Chris Hewitt and James Dyer - just back from York - bundled into the podbooth at Empire Towers to record an emergency pod, along with John Nugent. In it, they discuss several of the audience questions from the night before, review a whole bunch of films including The Last Tree, Ready Or Not, Hotel Mumbai, and The Goldfinch, and discuss the week's movie news. You'll also hear from David Koepp, the screenwriter of Jurassic Park and author of the new thriller, Cold Storage. And we've managed to salvage most of the interview with the wonderful Craig Roberts, writer/director of Eternal Beauty, who was our guest in York. But be warned: the sound quality might indicate why we're loathe to run the whole show. Enjoy.

This week's episode sees the first-ever Empire Podcast tour roll into Edinburgh for a fun-packed show at the venerable venue, the Cameo, as part of the Edinburgh International Magazine Festival. Join Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and Terri White as they discuss the week's movie news, review Ad Astra, The Farewell, and The Kitchen, and answer a series of questions from the sell-out audience. Also, local hero Jack Lowden, star of Dunkirk, Fighting With My Family, and Mary Queen Of Scots, drops in to talk about doing a Trainspotting live read, why he considers acting to be a 'sadistic' profession, and wanting to be Del Boy. It's all here in your latest slice of (recorded as) live film-related fun. NB: as it was recorded live, there's a slight hum throughout. Do let us know your feedback on the feedback. And, as ever, enjoy.

This week's episode is a live show which sees the Empire Podteam - Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and Terri White - embark upon their first-ever tour, starting in the far-flung city of... London. Kings Place, to be precise, just around the corner from the Empire office. Not exactly clocking up the air miles, huh. Recorded as part of the London Podcast Festival, this typically raucous live show sees the quartet review Downton Abbey, For Sama, and Hustlers (complete with eye-watering tale of real live strip clubs), then discuss the week's movie news, before being joined by a brand-new member of the team: director Colin Trevorrow. There might be talk of his brand-new Jurassic World short film, Battle At Big Rock. And he might even stick around for the audience Q&A. We couldn't possibly say either way. Please accept our apologies in advance. Enjoy.

You are cordially invited to this week's Empire Podcast, in which Mr. Ian Freer, of Empire Towers, is granted an audience with Mr. Hugh Bonneville, Miss Laura Carmichael, and Miss Michelle Dockery, stars of the new motion picture extravaganza, Downton Abbey, based on the popular televisual entertainment of the same name. Either side of that, you are invited to listen to the rest of the episode, in which Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, and podcast newcomer Jeremy Dylan, a gentleman of Australian origin, discuss several listener questions, varying accents, the week's movie news, and review It Chapter 2 and Rojo. Carriages at 2am. Do, please, enjoy.

A long time ago, in a podbooth far, far away... four brave and hardy souls tackle a question that has long had Rebels and Imperial types scratching their heads: who are the greatest Star Wars characters of all time? In the second instalment of The Greatest, an Empire Podcast limited series brought to you by Sky Cinema, Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, Sky Cinema's very own Alex Zane, and Absolute Radio's Dave Berry each launch an impassioned defence of their three favourite Star Wars characters. There will be bad impressions. There will be bad jokes. And there will be some choices that you won't see coming. And if, after listening to this, you fancy watching a cheeky Star War, the Star Wars Collection is available on Sky Cinema right now, all the way through to September 15. May the Force be with us all.

This week's episode of the Empire Podcast features two very different directors. First up, Chris Hewitt chats to Louis Leterrier about his experiences directing the new 10-episode Netflix series, The Dark Crystal: Age Of Resistance, and switching from live-action to puppets. They also talk about Leterrier's experiences making The Incredible Hulk, the nature of directorial compromise, and dousing Mark Strong in gallons of fake elephant stuff for Grimsby. Then, Ian Freer has a chat with the great British director, Joanna Hogg, about her new movie, The Souvenir, her time as a film student in London, and directing Eastenders. Meanwhile, in the podbooth, Chris is joined by Ian, Helen O'Hara, and James Dyer for discussion of the news that came from D23, the Breaking Bad movie El Camino, reviews of the week's movies, and try to get their heads around a certain Hollywood director having 20,000 sexual partners. Not all at once, surely? Enjoy.

This! Is! Butler! This week's episode sees one of our favourite recurring guests, Gerard 'Gerry' Butler, pop by the podbooth to tell Chris Hewitt all about his new movie, Angel Has Fallen. Along the way they discuss Nick Nolte, the five stages of movie stardom, and Gerry tells an eyewatering story that has great pedigree, chum. Also this week, Chris talks to Norwegian director Andre Ovredal about Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark, the Guillermo del Toro-produced horror flick that's set to make people scream on both sides of the Atlantic. And in the podbooth proper, Chris is joined by Helen O'Hara and Ben Travis to discuss American actors doing English accents, the week's movie news (including Bond 25, the passing of Peter Fonda, and the Spider-shenanigans), and review the latest releases, including Crawl and Pain And Glory. Enjoy.

It's a question as old as time. Perhaps even older. Who is the greatest DC big screen hero: the Caped Crusader, Batman, or the Man Of Steel, Superman? In this very special edition of the Empire Podcast, brought to you by Sky Cinema, Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, Sky Cinema's very own Alex Zane, and Absolute Radio's Dave Berry venture into the Empire Podcave and hash it out. It's all here over the course of a very fun 60 minutes, from impassioned paeans to Christopher Reeve to rigorous discussion of Batcreditcards. And a host of terrible impressions that may be the Bane of your life. Oh, and at some point, our heroic quartet may even get round to answering the question. If you fancy settling this for yourself, you'll be delighted to know that all the Batman and Superman films discussed here, and tons of films featuring other heroes, are available right now in Sky Cinema's Superheroes Collection. Enjoy.

Former Never Mind The Buzzcocks host Simon Amstell, who used to host Never Mind The Buzzcocks, pops by the podbooth this week for an interview in which his stint on Never Mind The Buzzcocks isn't mentioned once. (Sorry about that, we're aiming for that SEO sweet spot). Instead, he tells Chris Hewitt about how he made his new film, Benjamin, and along the way they attempt the world's first director's commentary entirely from memory. It doesn't go well. Then, back in the podbooth, Chris is joined by Helen O'Hara and Amon Warmann for a fun episode in which they talk prime numbers, the newly-announced Empire Podcast tour (tickets on sale now!), discuss the week's movie news, fun movie-related roommates, Henry Golding, and more. Then they review Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, Good Boys, and Dora And The Lost City Of Gold. Enjoy 23 times. That's a prime number. Fact.

On this week's show, we invite Gurinder Chadha and Viveik Kalra onto the pod to wax lyrical about The Boss or, more specifically, their new film Blinded By The Light - guaranteed to put a Springsteen in your step. Meanwhile, Chris, James and Helen stand up in defence of some underappreciated classics (love Kurt Wimmer's Equilibrium or GTFO) and Chris gives us his reaction to news of the upcoming Event Horizon TV series ("Do you see? DO YOU SEE?!"). Plus we review this week's film releases and, in a podcast first, actually manage to finish when we say we will. Enjoy.

It doesn't happen often, but this week sees the Empire Podbooth doors thrown open to allow the great Nick Frost - star of The Cornetto Trilogy, Paul, Cuban Fury, Fighting With My Family, and now Horrible Histories: The Movie - Rotten Romans - to pull double duty as both our star guest and a colleague of such lethal cunning. So, this week Nick sits in with Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, and James Dyer as they answer a number of listener questions, discuss Nick's career, find out how not to be starstruck in front of Steven Spielberg, and discuss the week's movie news. Then, when Nick exits stage left, the podteam remain to review Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw, Animals, and The Angry Birds Movie 2. Enjoy.

This week's Empire Podcast sees James Dyer take a rare break from banging on about TV to sit down for a lovely chat with Holliday Grainger and Alia Shawkat, stars of the rollicking Dublin-set comedy-drama, Animals. Then, in the podbooth, Chris Hewitt is joined by James, Helen O'Hara and Ben Travis to talk about movie heatwaves, discuss the week's film-related news*, including the Picard trailer and the sad death of the great Rutger Hauer, and review The Current War. Lie back, turn on the fans, whack the headphones up, and enjoy. * Not including discussion of the Marvel Studios panel. That can be found in a podcast special, also available now.

Because (four of) you demanded it, and because we finally found some free time to record it, and because we didn't want to bang on for ages about Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe on this week's regular podcast, here is a relatively short podcast in which Team Empire - Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and Ben Travis - react to and mull over all the big news from the Marvel Studios panel at last week's San Diego Comic-Con. It's all here: discussion of Black Widow, The Eternals, Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings, Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, Thor: Love And Thunder, the Disney+ shows, the casting of Mahershala Ali as Blade, bad impressions of Dara O Briain and much, much more. Enjoy.

This week's Empire Podcast is all about cats, jellicle and otherwise. Chris Hewitt has a lovely in-depth chat with the wonderful Jon 'Favs' Favreau, who's a cool cat, about his new movie as director, the live-action adaptation of The Lion King, which is about big cats, and there's a little of MCU business thrown in for good measure as well. Because Chris. Then, in the podbooth, Chris is joined by Helen O'Hara and James Dyer to answer a slew of listeners' questions, review The Lion King, Varda By Agnes, and Tell It To The Bees, and discuss the week's movie news, including a Comic-Con preview, speculation about the future of 007, and some trailers. Including the trailer for Tom Hooper's Cats, which they talk about. For a bit. And then a bit more. Because... well. Remember - Jellicles can and Jellicles do! Enjoy.

He's a good egg, that Corin Hardy. He wrapped filming on Gangs Of London, the Gareth Evans-created TV show for which he's directed several episodes, on Thursday, and still found the time and energy to pop into the podbooth for a chat with Chris Hewitt about his... well, actually, Corin doesn't have anything to plug. So, instead, he and Chris talk about life for Corin post-Nun, working on Gangs, and do an impromptu John Carpenter episode of The Ranking. [0:50:33 - 01:20:03] Then, in the podbooth, Chris is joined by Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and Ben Travis to talk the Harry Potter studio tour, tie-in novelisations, the new issue of Empire, the week's movie news [0:23:50 - 0:48:46], and review Pavarotti, The Dead Don't Die, Annabelle Come Home, and Stuber [01:20:03]. Enjoy.

We've been big fans of Will Poulter at the Empire Podcast, especially since he agreed to be one of the guests on our very first live show back in 2014. So we're delighted to welcome him back for this week's episode, which sees Ben Travis chat to Will about his new film, Midsommar, and much more besides. Then, back in the podbooth, Chris Hewitt is joined by Ben and Helen O'Hara for an episode that takes in The Play That Goes Wrong, great movie weddings, the week's movie news (and there's a lot of it), and reviews of Midsommar, Don't Look Now, and Spider-Man: Far From Home. Again. We might review it next week as well. We see this as an absolute win. Enjoy.

This week's Empire Podcast sees Chris Hewitt sit down with Himesh Patel, the former Eastender (as in, he was on Eastenders) who stars in this week's Beatle-centric rom-com, Yesterday, and they discover a shared connection. Plus, John Nugent has a chat with the wonderful director, Peter Strickland, about his new movie, In Fabric, in which fashion is, literally, killer. Then, back in the podbooth, Chris is joined by James Dyer and Ian Freer to discuss production companies that changed their lives, the re-release of Avengers: Endgame, the week's movie news, and review Spider-Man: Far From Home, Yesterday, and In Fabric. It's all happening on the movie podcast that couldn't cope without The Beatles' songs. Well, maybe Don't Pass Me By. Enjoy.

This week's episode sees Chris Hewitt welcome Swedish actress Noomi Rapace - the original Lisbeth Salander - into the Empire Podbooth for a fun, frank, and often filthy chat about her new movie, The Captor, her surprising taste in music, life as a Londoner, and much more. Also in this episode, John Nugent chats to Josh Cooley, director of Toy Story 4, about giving audiences a huge Buzz. Then, in the podbooth, Chris is joined by Helen O'Hara and James Dyer to talk about their favourite condiments, discuss the week's movie news, review Toy Story 4, Child's Play and Brightburn, and - in a segment already being hailed as 'too long' - imagine every single film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Keanu Reeves in a starring role. Excellent. Madness, and much talk of big ding-dongs, lies within. Enjoy.