The Empire Film Podcast

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#603 — Jeffrey Wright, Sean Durkin & Zac Efron Feb 09, 2024

Show notes

Another week, another packed episode of the Empire Podcast, and once again we're joined by some cracking guests. First, Jeffrey Wright, the freshly Oscar-nominated star of American Fiction, joins Chris Hewitt to talk about that movie, his working practices, the film's unusual original title, and more. (30:37 - 48:53)Then Alex Godfrey sits down on Zoom with The Iron Claw director, Sean Durkin, and his star Zac Efron, for a chat about wrestling, big arms, and big hearts. (1:08:47 - 1:22:35, approx) And either side of those, Chris is joined in the podbooth by Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and John Nugent to discuss a whole host of stuff. They talk about the upcoming Empire Podcast tour (Birmingham! Norwich! Sheffield! Dublin! Manchester!), which has just gone on sale now, right some Oscar wrongs for the third and final time, this time tackling Best Director, discuss the week's movie news, including the sad death of Carl Weathers, and review The Iron Claw, Steve McQueen's Occupied City, and Orion And The Dark. Hope to see some of you at our live shows in March. In the meantime, enjoy!

#602 — Henry Cavill & Sam Rockwell, Kumail Nanjiani Feb 02, 2024

Show notes

The greater the spy movie, the bigger the guests. That's the motto of this week's Empire Podcast, as Chris Hewitt sits down with Henry Cavill and Sam Rockwell, stars of Matthew Vaughn's new spy caper Argylle, for a fun chat about dancing, fighting, and novelists. (23:46 - 40:04) Chris is also joined by the wonderful Kumail Nanjiani, who returns to the pod to talk about his strange year of strikes, and becoming a duck for the new Illumination movie, Migration (1:02:52 - 1:17:16). Then, Chris is joined in the podbooth by Helen O'Hara, Ben Travis, and James Dyer as they right more Oscar wrongs (this time in the Best Actress category), discuss the week's movie news, including Duncan Jones directing Rogue Trooper, and review Argylle, Migration, Cord Jefferson's fantastic American Fiction, and Jonathan Glazer's The Zone Of Interest. And Chris doesn't mention Jürgen Klopp once, you'll be astonished to hear. We're having him checked now. Enjoy.

Cartoon Saloon: An Empire Podcast Special Jan 31, 2024

Show notes

We love the Irish animation studio, Cartoon Saloon, at Empire. And we're not alone — the Kilkenny-based marvels behind the likes of Song Of The Sea, Wolfwalkers, and The Secret Of Kells recently had a BFI season devoted to their exploits, and to mark the beginning of their 25th anniversary. And in this very special edition of the Empire Podcast, Helen O'Hara sits down on Zoom with Cartoon Saloon's head honchos, Tomm Moore, Nora Twomey, and Paul Young, to talk about their unique philosophy and approach. Then Helen hosts Ben Travis and John Nugent for a fun chat about The Very Best Of Cartoon Saloon. Enjoy!

#601 — Blitz Bazawule, Paul Giamatti & Alexander Payne, Andrew Scott & Paul Mescal Jan 26, 2024

Show notes

After last week's triumphant live show to mark episode 600, the Empire Podcast team — Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and Amon Warmann — return to the safety of the podbooth this week to kick off the road to 700... but we're not exactly skimping on the guests. First, Blitz Bazawule, director of The Colour Purple, tells Helen all about how he tackled the big-screen version of the musical based on the Alice Walker book. Then, Chris has an audience with The Holdovers director Alexander Payne, and his Oscar-nominated star, Paul Giamatti, and they wind up talking about horror films. And finally, Alex Godfrey sits down with All Of Us Strangers stars, Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal, for a reflective chat about Andrew Haigh's wonderful new film. Either side of all of those, the podteam right some Oscars wrongs in the Listeners' Question section (although they wish it to be known that they are planning no heists), discuss more Oscars stuff in the wake of this week's nominations announcement, the revelation of the book that will form Reacher season 3, and more in a bumper News section, and then review All Of Us Strangers, The Colour Purple, and Jackdaw. Enjoy. (Timestamps to come... maybe! Sorry it's late!)

#600 (Live At Kings Place, London) — Tom Hiddleston, Mia McKenna-Bruce, Ray Winstone Jan 22, 2024

Show notes

Another landmark live show for the Empire Podcast saw a capacity crowd cram themselves into Hall One at our spiritual home of Kings Place, London, to celebrate Episode 600. And we brought along some exceptional star guests as well, as Tom Hiddleston — Loki himself — popped in for an extended chat about the God Of Mischief, and other animals, with Chris Hewitt; Mia McKenna-Bruce, the star of How To Have Sex and newly-minted BAFTA Rising Star Award nominee, chatted to Beth Webb about Robert De Niro, McDonald's, and Fake James Cameron; and Ray Winstone sat down with Alex Godfrey to natter about his forthcoming one-two punch of The Gentlemen and Damsel, and some of his legendary films, from Sexy Beast to Nil By Mouth. That extended trio of interviews can be found at approx: 57:16.00 and ends roughly at 2:14:00
Either side of that, you will find more live show chaos from the podteam, as Chris is joined on stage by Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and Ben Travis to discuss the week's movie news, review The Holdovers, Mean Girls (not that one), The Kitchen, and The End We Start From, and they tackle as many audience questions as they can before the venue turns out the lights. Mind you, we would have kept going by the light of our Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire glow-in-the-dark cover. Anyway, it's an absolute belter of a show, and we hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we did making it. And thanks for all your support over the years. We couldn't do this without you. Enjoy.

#599 — George Clooney & Callum Turner, Kevin Hart & Gugu Mbatha-Raw, and Dan Levy Jan 12, 2024

Show notes

We have a veritable guestapalooza this week as George Clooney and Callum Turner join us to talk The Boys In The Boat, Kevin Hart and Gugu Mbatha-Raw give us the lowdown on F. Gary Gray's heist movie Lift, and Dan Levy chats about his directorial debut Good Grief.

Other than that, it's another fireside chat with just Helen and James this week as they mull over numerically titled films, shake their heads at the Golden Globes, and wade through an incredibly busy week for movie news. And that's before they get into the deranged masterpiece that is Poor Things, the simply deranged new Stath movie The Beekeeper, and the aforementioned Lift, Good Grief and The Boys In The Boat.

Finally, apologies for the slight sound problem at the beginning of this week's show (one of the mics had the wrong setting) it only lasts for the first four minutes, though.

Echo Preview Special ft. Sydney Freeland Jan 09, 2024

Show notes

Echo, the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe show to debut on Disney+, continues the story of Maya Lopez, the deaf, Native American vigilante whom we met back in Hawkeye. And in this very special preview interview with Sydney Freeland, the Navajo filmmaker who is one of the show's directors, Chris Hewitt discovers just what we can expect from this five-episode limited series, in which Maya comes face to face with her past, and with two familiar faces in the shape of Charlie Cox's Daredevil and the man whom Maya considers to be her uncle, Vincent D'Onofrio's Kingpin. All five episodes drop at once on Disney+ from Wednesday Jan 10 (in the UK), and you can get up to speed now by checking out this interview. Enjoy.

#598 — Joel Edgerton, JA Bayona Jan 05, 2024

Show notes

Happy New Year! With just two shows until 600, The Empire podcast crashes back into your feeds this week. Well, two thirds of it does because Chris is on holiday, leaving Helen and James to hold down the fort. And by that we mean have a cosy fireside discussion about all the fantasy books they devoured over Christmas, along with assorted stories of New Year's Eve shenanigans.

But none of that matters because we have the one and only JA Bayona on this week's show, the director stopping by to talk about his brilliant (and very likely to be Oscar-winning) film, Society Of The Snow. Plus Joel Edgerton joins us to explain what happens when the cast is crew in The Boys In The Boat.

Plus Helen and James pull their reviewing caps on and watch Sofia Coppola's Priscilla, Blumhouse's haunted swimming pool feature Night Swim, and kinder transport drama One Life.

#597 — Michael Fassbender, Adam Driver Dec 29, 2023

Show notes

The final Empire Podcast of 2023 is here, folks, and it's a belter, with two incredible guests. First up, Michael Fassbender returns to the pod after an absence of a few years, and in an extended interview with Chris Hewitt, he talks about returning to the big screen with the double-whammy of David Fincher's The Killer and Taika Waititi's Next Goal Wins. Plus, he talks about going to Anfield, home of Liverpool Football Club, for that game against Barcelona in 2019, shares his love of The Streets Of San Francisco, and confesses that he may not actually be telling the truth in interviews. It's a very fun chat that starts at 20:11, and ends at 42:09. Then, Alex Godfrey has a nice natter with Adam Driver, star of Michael Mann's Ferrari, about driving, about whether he's happy, and about possibly taking on the De Niro role in Heat 2. That starts at 56:33, and ends at 1:13:08. Either side of those, Chris is joined in the virtual podbooth by Helen O'Hara and James Dyer and, despite the apparent absence of stuff to talk about in the Merryneum between Christmas and New Year's Day, they manage it, sharing their New Year's filmic resolutions, ranking The Hollywood Chrises (but in a most unexpected way), discussing the week's movie news including the shock omission of Wonka from the shortlist for Best Original Song at the Oscars, and review Next Goal Wins, Ferrari, and Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy And The Heron. Thanks so much to everyone who listened this year, whether it was to one pod or all we produced. We couldn't do it without you. Here's to a great 2024. Happy New Year, everyone, and enjoy.

Review Of The Year 2023: An Empire Podcast Special Dec 25, 2023

Show notes

Merry Christmas, you filthy animals! Here's a little Christmas bonus for you all: the Empire Podcast's Review Of The Year. 2023 (for that is the year in question) was a year that gave us so much, cinematically speaking, from Barbenheimer to Empire's official number one film, Past Lives, and everything in-between, including the first signs of weakness in the previously invulnerable Marvel Cinematic Universe. And, in this near three-hour special, Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and Ben Travis discuss all of that, and much, much more. Much, much, much more, in fact. However, Chris is very aware that, even though he set it up, he got distracted and forgot to talk about the brilliant scene in No Hard Feelings where Andrew Barth Feldman sings Maneater, and would like to rectify that now by telling you all to seek it out. Anyway, this pod is a ton of fun, despite that egregious oversight. Enjoy.

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