The Empire Film Podcast

Leigh Whannell is the actor-turned-screenwriter-turned director behind the likes of Saw (the early, good ones), the Insidious movies, and this week's hard-boiled slice of sci-fi, Upgrade, in which a paralysed Logan Marshall-Green bonds with an operating system that allows him to take bloody revenge on the men who attacked him. And, as it turns out, Whannell is also a dream of an interviewee, sitting down with Chris Hewitt for this extended chat about the journey of Upgrade from script to screen, his feelings on technology, and the comparisons between his film and the upcoming Venom. He's also very, very funny, deploying a number of impressions, including a Steve Buscemi so good we're expecting him to be cast in an Adam Sandler comedy any day now. Oh, and while this isn't an Upgrade spoiler special, you might want to see that film before listening to this in case we give anything away. Enjoy.

If this week's Empire Podcast were any more jam-packed, you could pop a label on it and call it a jar of Hartley's. We are joined by not one, not two, not three, but FOUR guests this week. First up is Chloe Grace Moretz, the former Hit-Girl herself, who talks to Chris Hewitt about her new movie, The Miseducation Of Cameron Post, falling in and out of love with acting, and being a DJ. [00:11:55 - 00:31:02] Then Chris talks to the man mountain that is Dave Bautista [00:52:09 - 01:07:05] about his new movie, football-based thriller Final Score, and introduces him (figuratively, not literally) to Trent Alexander-Arnold. And last but not least, Chris and Nick de Semlyen natter to American Animals director Bart Layton and his star, Irish actor Barry Keoghan. [01:08:14 - 01:28:35] Meanwhile, in the podbooth, Chris is joined by Helen O'Hara and James Dyer to 'answer' a listener's question, dissect the week's movie news, and review Upgrade and Cold War. Jammy gits.

Iain Morris is the co-creator of The Inbetweeners, director of raucous Brit-com The Festival (in cinemas now), and now a temporary member of the Empire Podteam. In this week's episode he joins Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, and James Dyer to discuss the week's movie news (mainly Danny Boyle leaving Bond 25), and the sexiest moment in the MCU. He also talks about The Festival, Joe Thomas' bum, and throws in a Crowded House anecdote that may be the single most shameless example of namedropping in Empire Podcast history. Elsewhere, Chris talks to Guy Pearce, star of the new Netflix show, The Innocents, and they get quite specific about accents, and wax lyrical about L.A. Confidential. Rollo Tomasi would be so proud.

We asked you to vote for the greatest Star Wars characters of all time, and you didn't let us down. This month's issue of Empire features an epic countdown of those characters, from beloved Original Trilogy stalwarts, to newer, fresher blood, with the odd cartoon character thrown in for good measure. And in this very special episode of the Empire Podcast, Chris Hewitt, James Dyer, and Nick de Semlyen get together in the podbooth to take the scenic route through the list, unleashing an array of awful impressions, and asking the big questions: what do those buttons on Darth Vader's chest do? Is Qui-Gon Jinn the worst Jedi of all time? And just who the hell is Cad Bane? And don't forget - to read all about it, once you've listened to this, the current issue of Empire is on sale now, in all good and evil newsagents. May the Schwartz be with you.

Antoine Fuqua has worked with Denzel Washington four times, more than any other director. And on this week's episode, he talks to Chris Hewitt about reteaming with the Oscar-winning legend for The Equalizer 2, their first outing on Training Day, and his hopes that Denzel might star in his Scarface remake. Elsewhere, the frank and very funny Fuqua talks about bouncing back in Hollywood after King Arthur, and about the social conscience that runs through his films as an African-American director. That starts at 00:39:54 and runs to 01:12:22. Then, Chris is joined in the regular-regular podbooth by James Dyer and Nick de Semlyen for a frankly chaotic podcast that sees them review The Equalizer 2 and Christopher Robin, tackle a listener's question about ageing action heroes (with the emphasis heavily on tackle), and discuss the week's movie news. Oh, and crowbar in more terrible impressions per second than any previous Empire Podcast. Enjoy...?

The wonderful Hayley Atwell - Dame Peggy Carter herself - returns to the Empire Podcast this week, ostensibly to talk to Chris Hewitt about her new film, next week's Christopher Robin. Instead, it ended up being a relentlessly daft chat, including Chris and Hayley's pitch for a return of Peggy Carter from beyond the grave (are you listening, Kevin Feige?), and the latest round of our irregular feature, the IMDbunker. Nothing can prepare you for the impact of Hayley Atwell's ventriloquism act. Back in the podbooth, Helen O'Hara slides effortlessly into the host's chair and, along with James Dyer, Dan Jolin and Ben Travis, tackles a listener question about movie first aid techniques, dissects the week's movie news, including a very unpopular Oscars announcement, and reviews The Meg. We're gonna need a bigger pod.

This week's episode of the award-winning-but-mostly-award-losing Empire Podcast could easily have been retitled Giggling Idiots Go! To The Movies, as Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, James Dyer and our Editor-In-Chief Terri White (or is it Terri White?) convene in the podbooth for an hour of utter nonsense. There will be discussion of the week's big movie news. There will be reviews of Ant-Man And The Wasp, The Escape, and Teen Titans Go! To The Movies. There will even be an attempt to answer a listener's question. But there will also be daft impressions, much giggling, and Chris gets his innuendo-o-meter out and tries to get to grips with it. Elsewhere, due to an unfortunate last-minute guest cancellation, we decided instead to bring you an early preview of next week's second part of our epic Mission: Impossible - Fallout spoiler special with director Christopher McQuarrie. This one's just a mere 15 minutes. Next week will be... longer than that. Enjoy!

Mission: Impossible - Fallout's Vanessa Kirby swings by the podbooth this week in an interview only five hours and fifty eight minutes shorter than Chris' upcoming spoiler special chat with director Christopher McQuarrie. Elsewhere, Chris, James, Helen and Nick tackle the third act firing of Chekhov's (James) Gunn, delve into the bountiful delights of this year's Comic-Con and take a terrifying step into the world of Frasier fan fiction. Enter at your own risk.

Two more guests check into Hotel Empire Podcast this week. Let's hope they don't do that thing people do on Four In A Bed, where they run their finger along the wardrobe to check for dust. No telling what people might find in the darkest corners of the podbooth... First up is Jeremy Irvine, who talks to Ben Travis about playing (and singing as) a young Pierce Brosnan in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. That starts at 23:56 and finishes at 46:16. Then Drew Pearce, co-writer of Iron Man 3 and creator of Trevor Slattery, pops in to talk about his directorial debut, the all-star thriller, Hotel Artemis. It's an epic chat with Chris Hewitt that starts at 1:01:51 and runs all the way to 1:41:07. Either side of that, Chris is joined in the booth by Helen O'Hara and James Dyer to ramble on about the week's news, review Hotel Artemis and Mamma Mia! 2, and answer a question from BB-8 himself, Brian Herring. Enjoy!

We're flying high on the Empire Podcast this week, as Incredibles 2 director, and all-round animation legend, Brad Bird pops in to the podbooth to talk to Jonny Pile and Chris Hewitt. They discuss returning to animation, working with Tom Cruise on Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, and more besides. It starts at 22:48 and finishes at 47:33. Then Ethan Hawke, one of our favourite recurring guests, pops in to talk faith, his new movie First Reformed, and working inside and outside the Hollywood system. He's chatting to Ben Travis, and that runs from 01:11:31 to 01:34:16. Back in the podbooth, Chris is then joined by Helen O'Hara and James Dyer for the usual rambling dissection of the week's movie news (Joker alert!), plus reviews of both Bird and Hawke's films. They also discuss James' recent conversion to football, talk about the most beautiful places that they've seen films, and reveal the terrifying creation that is... RoboPod. Part human. Part podcast host. All cretin.

On this week's podcast, Margaery Tyrell herself Natalie Dormer joins John Nugent in the pod booth to talk about her new neo-noir thriller In Darkness. Plus, Rob Brydon treats Ian Freer to a personal rendtion of his best impressions, and explains the rules of synchronised swimming from his new comedy Swimming With Men. Elsewhere in podland, with Chris Hewitt back in The Old Country, James Dyer takes the reins with his usual levels of gentle understatement and sunny optimism, ably flanked by the ever-cunning Helen O'Hara and Nick De Semlyen.

On this week's Empire Podcast, Shailene Woodley and Sam Claflin make it to dry land to chat with John Nugent about their real-life disaster movie Adrift. Plus, multi-hyphenates Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson speak to James Dyer about the cult low-budget horror The Endless, which you'll be pleased to know, despite that title, has a running time of just 111 minutes. And back in the pod booth, a heavily jet-lagged Chris Hewitt doggedly bangily-bangs his way through the week's movie news and reviews with help from Ben Travis and Nick De Semlyen.

He's battled Bond. Collected Infinity Stones. Stood in a line-up with the Usual Suspects. And now Benicio Del Toro, Oscar-winning legend and star of Sicario 2: Soldado, is gracing this week's Empire Podcast. He talks to Ian Freer about returning to play the hitman, Alejandro, his Bond and Star Wars experiences, and more. Then, in the podbooth, a dearth of colleagues of such lethal cunning means it's a two-person pod this week, with Helen O'Hara hosting James Dyer as they talk about that proposed 'fan' remake of The Last Jedi, kick around the week's movie news, and review Freak Show and In The Fade. So, sit back, relax and enjoy this belated podcast (we delayed it because the Benicio Del Toro interview didn't happen until this Saturday afternoon), which may be the first one in our history to feature someone in Los Angeles linking to themselves in London. All will be revealed...

There's a rumour going around that this episode of The Ranking is so late because Chris Hewitt forgot about it. That's an evil and pernicious rumour that we don't wish to dignify with acknowledgement. Anyway, here it is at long last: four Empire writers, locked away in a meeting room in Empire HQ (hence the echo), talking through the filmography of the great Sir Ridley Scott, with one goal: come up with a definitive top ten. So, join Chris, Nick de Semlyen, Dan Jolin, and James Dyer as they argue the toss about Alien, deploy controversial theories vis a vis Kingdom Of Heaven and Gladiator, talk about going clubbing with Russell Crowe, and much, much more, including the world's worst - and, let's face it, possibly only - impression of the man we love to call Ridders. Don't think of this as a late episode. Think of it as a director's cut, and a director's cut arrives precisely when it means to.

He was the first person to betray Indiana Jones. He had the power of the sun in the palm of his hand. And he holds the record for having the most Lego mini-figs made in his image. He is, of course, the great Alfred Molina, and he's our guest this week, popping into the podbooth to chat with Chris Hewitt about Raiders, about Sam Raimi, and about Molina's new play, a revival of John Logan's Red. It starts at 49:36 and ends at 1:23:22, fact fans. Then, Chris heads into the podbooth proper and is joined by Nick de Semlyen and Jonny Pile for an even-more-rambling-than-usual discussion that takes in the worst movie dinosaurs, a brief cameo from a geek queen, an exploding banana, reviews of Hereditary and Ocean's 8, a shameless plug for the new issue of Empire, a live watch-along of the trailer for Corin Hardy's The Nun, and an episode of R U Talkin' R U Talkin' R U Talkin' R.E.M. Re: Me Re: Me Re: Me? Good ep? Great ep.

How could you not love the man who is Gollum, Supreme Leader Snoke, Caesar, Ulysses Klaue, and an all-round great big bloody brilliant bloke? So we're delighted that Andy Serkis is our guest this week, talking to Chris Hewitt about Black Panther (out on DVD and Blu-ray next week) about that film, and more besides. It's a bit spoilerific, so don't watch unless you know that [REDACTED] [REDACTED] in [REALLY REDACTED]. Interview begins at 56:03, ends at 1:17:37. Elsewhere, Chris ventures into the podbooth with Helen O'Hara and Jonny Pile for a fun episode that takes in their views of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, runs the roost over the 292 trailers that debuted last week, and takes on a serious hue for this week's listener question, tackling the harassment which appears to have driven Kelly Marie Tran away from social media. Oh, and all that, plus the debut of a brand-new podcast, R U Talkin' R U Talkin' R.E.M. Re: Me Re: Me? We spoil you lot.

Martin Freeman has come a long way since he was universally known as Tim-From-The-Office. Since then, he's been Watson-From-Sherlock, Ross-From-Black-Panther, and Bilbo-From-Bag-End. And in this week's Netflix movie Cargo, he can be found dodging zombies in the Australian outback. John Nugent spoke to him about that, and much more besides. Back in the podbooth, Chris Hewitt returns and has brought two special guests with him: jetlag and a mystery speaker whose identity we won't reveal. And, along with Helen O'Hara, Nick de Semlyen and a late-comer in James Dyer, they dissect the week's movie news, including Sonic The Hedgehog, Top Gun 2, and Solo's box office, cast their eyes over new releases, and 'answer' a question from a listener. Siri says 'enjoy'.

Here be dragons. And Hamilton references. And Supernatural chat. Yes, Chris Hewitt is away for this week's Empire Podcast, and geek queen Helen O'Hara is in charge in the podbooth. It's a top crop of guests this week, with Alden Ehrenreich talking to James Dyer and Nick de Semlyen about taking on the role of the galaxy's greatest scoundrel, controlling the Millennium Falcon, talking to Wookiees, and his history with the Winchester brothers. Then Michael Cera (call him George Michael) and Alia Shawkat (call her Maeby) popped by the studio to talk Arrested Development Season 5, disguises, that Twin Peaks cameo, and a secret celebrity tennis club. Back in the main studio, Helen is joined by James and Ben to talk this week's movie news - from John Wick 3's latest cast additions (Derek from The Good Place!), to Damon Lindelof's biblical Watchmen statement - and review The Breadwinner, Edie, and some Star Wars story featuring a classic character in a solo adventure. No idea what that o

The Empire Podcast studio - sorry, podbooth - is a sacred place. We don't throw our doors open to just anybody, you know. They have to be a) funny b) interesting and, most importantly, c) available and willing to lower their standards for an hour or so. Amanda Abbington, star of Sherlock and Netflix's new thriller, Safe, is all of those things, and so this week becomes only the fourth celebrity co-host in our history. Yes, Amanda (follow her on Twitter as @CHIMPSINSOCKS) was brave enough to sit in a room with Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, and James Dyer and discuss the week's movie news, talk about her work on Safe, endure yet another Peter Dinklage in Infinity War impression, and tackle the big question: have you ever walked out of a film? Her answers will shock you. And amuse you. Mainly amuse you. So sit back, relax, and enjoy as three giggling idiots welcome a professional into their ranks to show them how it's done.

On this week's bumper, slightly-more-bonkers-than-usual Empire Podcast, we welcome two of our favourite British character actors, and then grill them relentlessly about things they said in the past. First, Clive Owen pops in to talk to Chris Hewitt about his latest film, Anon, his aversion to first days, his memories of Croupier, and their shared love of Liverpool FC. (Yes, it's one of those.) But Chris also subjects Clive to a very fun, and revelatory, edition of the IMDbunker. Enjoy. Then Chris stays in the podbooth to interview Eddie Marsan, star of Entebbe and Deadpool 2, about his long path to success, and makes him take a new version of an interview Eddie gave to Empire 20 years ago. The main pod, meanwhile, sees Chris, Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and Nick de Semlyen talk geeky ringtones, discuss the week's movie news, review new releases including Revenge. And Paul Giamatti drops by unexpectedly. What larks!