Podcasts about empire podcast

This week's Empire Podcast sees Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, and James Dyer pack the sunscreen, flip-flops, and oversized hats into a tiny bag as they discuss some of the movie holidays they'd like to take. And yes, they somehow manage to do this without mentioning Roman Holiday, The Holiday, M. Hulot's Holiday, or Mr Bean's Holiday. Any film with the word 'holiday' in it, basically, the colossal eejits. They've been placed on gardening leave as a result. But before that, they also discuss the week's movie news, including 24 Jump Street (with a special cameo), and review Steven Spielberg's latest movie, Disclosure Day, plus Jorma Taccone's Over Your Dead Body, and Peter Mullan drama, The Fall Of Sir Douglas Weatherford. Speaking of Spielberg, Disclosure Day writer David Koepp returns to the podbooth to tell Chris all about how this latest slice of sci-fi came to life. [46:26 - 1:06:00] Enjoy.

In this episode Miles is joined by Lesley Chamberlain to discuss her newly-published monograph, 'Undoing the Moral Empire: Moral Philosophy in post-War Britain'. https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/undoing-the-moral-empire-9781350457751/ After 1945, Britain wanted to be a new country. The authority of state and church were giving way, the Empire was dismantled, and it was no longer clear who was leading whom in matters of morals. Individuals were left to reinvent their ethical lives anew. The lives and works of the philosophers discussed in this book were caught up this sea-change. Bernard Williams, Philippa Foot, Iris Murdoch, Richard Wollheim, Charles Taylor and Alasdair MacIntyre were all characters in search of a moral England, with a particular vision of the good society. From communitarianism to swinging Sixties' individualism, and radical theories of art – which understood questions of ambiguity, error and forgiveness more than the state ever could – this is the story of their sometimes convergent but often discrepant ideas on ethical life in the second half of the twentieth century. Undoing the Moral Empire is a work of biography, social history and the history of ideas that masterfully reconstructs the shifting sentiments of the post-war era, reconfiguring enduringly relevant questions of freedom, virtue, and society. Lesley is an author, literary critics and translator whose work has focused on Rilke, Nietzsche, German philosophy, Conservative Modern Russia, Heidegger, Van Gogh, Lenin, Freud, travel writing, cuisine in Russia and Poland, journalism and fiction – twelve books in all. She's also the author of the forthcoming chapter on Murdoch and Russian Literature in the Oxford Handbook of Iris Murdoch. This new book marks a homecoming for Lesley. You can find out much more about her work at her website: http://lesleychamberlain.co.uk/

Things get awkward on this week's Empire Podcast, folks. Not just because Chris Hewitt seems to be wearing a Skeletor mask for some of it, nor because he's so heat-addled that he forgets to introduce James Dyer properly. No, things get awkward because the team – Chris, James, Helen O'Hara, and Ben Travis – discuss whether it ever gets awkward for them when visiting film sets. Then, our intrepid quartet also discuss the week's movie news, including the shocking news of Paddington 4's potty-mouthed writers, and review Daniel Roher's Tuner, John Carney's Power Ballad, Kane Parsons' Backrooms, and Kristin Scott Thomas' directorial debut, My Mother's Wedding. Oh, and Chris sits down for a lovely chat with Leo Woodall, star of the excellent Tuner, and discovers that Woodall has some hidden talents. Enjoy!

All hail the Alien Queen! For the legendary Sigourney Weaver, star of some of the finest sci-fi films of all time, is our esteemed guest on this week's episode of the Empire Podcast, as she tells Chris Hewitt all about starring in her first Star War, The Mandalorian & Grogu. [44:47 - 58:17 approx] Then, Chris is joined in the podbooth by Helen O'Hara and James Dyer to discuss their predictions for the biggest movies of the year, cast their eye over the week's movie news, including a shocking development in the hunt for the new James Bond, and review The Mandalorian & Grogu, Jack Ryan: Ghost War, and Finding Emily. Oh, and the team eat some burgers, but thankfully they don't bang on about it. Enjoy.

Fly, you fools! Yes, that's right, Ian McKellen — the legendary English actor who is Gandalf and Magneto, get over it — is our guest on this week's Empire Podcast, as John Nugent pops over to McKellen's own pub, The Grapes in Limehouse, for a lovely chat about his new film, Steven Soderbergh's The Christophers. [46:32 - 1:00:02 approx] Speaking of Christophers, back in the podbooth Chris Hewitt is joined by Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and Harry Stainer for a fun episode in which they discuss the greatest characters who joined franchises after the first film, and whether event cinema is making a comeback. They also run their eye over the week's movie news, including news of a possible Tintin 2, and review Curry Barker's Obsession, The Christophers, The Punisher: One Last Kill, and Ben Wheatley's Bob Odenkirk action fest, Normal. Enjoy!

This week's Empire Podcast sees Alex Godfrey sit down for an audience with music superstar Billie Eilish and her co-director on her new concert movie, Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard And Soft: The Tour Live In 3D, one James Cameron. Blimey! Then Alex slides into the podbooth to join Helen O'Hara, James Dyer and host Chris Hewitt for a fun-filled episode in which they discuss Karl Urban's killiest characters, the best movie farmers, a whole bunch of trailers (including The Odyssey, Evil Dead Burn, and Resident Evil), and review the aforementioned Billie Eilish movie, The Sheep Detectives, Remarkably Bright Creatures, and Mortal Kombat II, a Helen-led review that may be more fun than the film. Oh, and what the hell is Thrawnhub? Enjoy!

This week's Empire Podcast is the kind of episode that could leave other film podcasts in its wake. Mainly because there's a lot of discussion of ships, boats, the high seas and the like. First off, our guests this week are Callum Turner and George Mackay, the British actors who star in Mark Jenkin's latest movie, the fisherman-themed Rose Of Nevada, which is out now, and in a cracking chat with Alex Godfrey, they talk about how they first met, working with the unique Jenkin, and more. Either side of that, Chris Hewitt returns to the host chair after two weeks away, some of which was spent on a cruise ship, and he scrapes the barnacles off long enough to welcome Helen O'Hara (or is it?) and James Dyer into the podbooth to discuss the best ship-related scenes, have a look at the week's movie news, try to convince James of the merits of the Jackass movies, and review the likes of The Devil Wears Prada 2, Rose Of Nevada (with help from an unexpected quarter), Greenland 2: Migration, and new Adam Scott horror, Hokum. You best start believing in Empire Podcasts, Ms Swann... YER IN ONE! Enjoy.

Dan Hilton and Matt 'Pippin' Auletta are joined by Alex Atkins to chat about Week 1 around the UFA and preview Friday's match-up with Toronto. Then they pick their preseason awards, but not the ones you think! 0:00 Toronto @ New York - 7pm Friday Night Frisbee  4:54 Week 1 UFA Results 12:23 Preseason Award Picks  

If we told you that this week's episode of the Empire Podcast featured not one but two people banging on about Taylor Swift, odds are you'd reckon one of them was James Dyer. And you'd be wrong. For those people are Ben Travis and David Lowery, director of the new poptastic psychodrama, Mother Mary. Lowery is this week's guest, and he popped into the podbooth to sit down with Ben to talk all about how Taylor Swift influenced part of his approach to the Anne Hathaway-Michael Coel flick, and much, much more, including an ultra-geeky exchange about Star Wars action figures. [36:32 - 58:21 approx] Either side of that, Helen O'Hara welcomes James Dyer and Amon Warmann into the podbooth as they discuss great movie prison breaks and what makes for a good biopic; the week's movie news (at least, the stuff that broke before the pod was recorded... thanks a bunch, Miami Vice '85 casting news and Clayface trailer!); and review Mother Mary, Charlize Theron-Taron Egerton thriller Apex, and Antoine Fuqua's Michael Jackson biopic, Michael. Enjoy.

With Chris Hewitt away on an actual holiday, this week's Empire Podcast sees Helen O'Hara slide into the host's chair as she, Ben Travis, and Amon Warmann tackle a hat-trick of listener questions, including musing on male damsels in distress, movies-turned-plays, and the ongoing role of Bluey in saving the world. Then the trio tackle movie news, most of which comes out of this week's CinemaCon, including the revelation that Jamie Dornan, and not Leo Woodall, will be filling Aragorn's boots in The Lord Of The Rings: The Hunt For Gollum. Finally, they review not one but SIX movies, including Lee Cronin's The Mummy, Jonah Hill's Outcome, and Brian Cox's directorial debut, Glenrothan. Speaking of Cox, the legendary Scottish actor pops into the podbooth to have a delightful, and delightfully foul-mouthed, chat with Chris about popping behind the camera at almost 80 years of age, singing Spice Girls with Alan Cumming, and his complicated relationship with Scotland. Oh, and if there are any glaring editing errors on this week's show, it was edited on a cruise ship, so please bear that in mind. Oh, and due to the absence of several key members of personnel, our next Daredevil: Born Again spoiler special will be next week. Sorry about that. In the meantime, enjoy!

Ok, first things first. Let's get it out of the way. Yes, the Empire Podcast team — Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and John Nugent — spend a great deal of this week's podcast answering a listener question about great movie quartets. They also spend a great deal of time, in the Movie News section, talking about The Lord Of The Rings: The Hunt For Gollum. And yes, despite all that, they spectacularly fail to mention Bilbo, Samwise, Merry and Pippin in the former category. So, just letting you know that now lest you wish to shout at your podcast device of choice. Forewarned is forearmed and all that. Or maybe fourwarned is more apt in this case. Anyway, it's a fun episode in which our own quartet also talk Taskmaster series 21, discuss other nuggets of movie news, and review James McAvoy's directorial debut, California Schemin', Francois Ozon's The Stranger, rom-com You, Me & Tuscany, and podcasting horror, Undertone. And Chris has a lovely chat with James McAvoy, who pops into the podbooth to talk about directing for the first time. [41:45 - 1:00:32 approx] Oh, and the group make tentative and fun plans with this week's work experience person. Enjoy.

This week's episode of the Empire Podcast is an Easter bonanza, folks, that sees Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, and James Dyer (with new honorific firmly in place, at least for now) discuss the best resurrections in movies, wax lyrical about Richard Kind in The Producers, and cast their learned eyes over a glut of movie trailers, including the new one for Supergirl, and review Fuze, The Drama, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, and Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice. Speaking of Fuze, Chris has a lovely chat with that film's star and director, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and David Mackenzie, about their heist thriller, accents, working on a building site, and more. Pop this pod in the fridge, smash it from a great height, and feast on the shards of film-related fun. Enjoy!

This week's Empire Podcast sees us clamber into the Magic Faraway Tree to talk with the writer and director, respectively, of the brand new Enid Blyton adaptation, Simon Farnaby and Ben Gregor, who tell Alex Godfrey all about how they branched out. Ahem. Either side of that, Chris Hewitt hosts Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and Kobi Omenaka to discuss their favourite movie trees and competence porn; run their eye over the week's movie news, including the revelation that Stephen Colbert is co-writing a new Lord Of The Rings movie; and review Splitsville, They Will Kill You, and The Magic Faraway Tree. Enjoy!

Snakes! Why did it have to be snakes? Because St. Patrick's Day was earlier this week, and to celebrate the man who drove all the snakes out of Ireland ("you alright in the back there, lads?") this week's Empire Podcast sees Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and Beth Webb discuss some of their favourite snake moments in films. Or fillums. Then, our intrepid quartet get their parseltongues into the week's deluge of movie news, including the Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Dune Part 3 trailers, and they look back at the Oscars as well. Reviews-wise, Phil Lord & Chris Miller's Project Hail Mary, Radio Silence's Ready Or Not: Here I Come, Ugo Bienvenu's Arco, and Gus Van Sant's Dead Man's Wire are given the once-over, while the wonderful Lord and Miller are this week's guests, sitting down for a lovely natter about puppets, space, and much more with Chris. [55:48 - 1:10:19 approx] Oh, and James edges closer to a new nickname. Enjoy!

This week's Empire Podcast is the second of the year to fall on a Friday the 13th (November will complete the hat-trick), and so the podteam — Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and Ben Travis — discuss the life and work of one Jason Voorhees, and head off in a rather unexpected direction. Speaking of unexpected directions, they also pop off to space to discuss their favourite movie astronauts (SPOILERS for some space films, including Gravity), run their collective eye over the week's movie news, including the new Disclosure Day trailer, Quentin Tarantino's newly-announced play, and Arnie's perhaps premature announcement of King Conan. They also review War Machine (again, with a SPOILER WARNING attached), Reminders Of Him, and How To Make A Killing. And guest-wise, Chris sits down with the great Tim Roth, star of Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, from 44:40 - 1:01:50 to talk about improvising the movie's opening line, not watching his own movies, and his love of Would I Lie To You? Which is, in fact, true. Enjoy!

Dan Hilton and Matt 'Pippin' Auletta kick off the Empire's 2026 season with some signing chatter. They discuss the additions of Daan De Marrée and Alex Atkins, veteran signings, and much more! Rundown Welcome to Atkins and De Marrée Signing Eberhard and Moore Big Moves Around the League

This week's Empire Podcast sees Chris Hewitt sit down with The Bride! herself, Jessie Buckley, and her writer/director, Maggie Gyllenhaal, for a lovely chat about their wildly ambitious new movie, The Bride!, which daringly reframes the story of the Bride Of Frankenstein. [22:21 - 40:21 approx] Either side of that, Chris is joined in the podbooth by Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and Alex Godfrey to cast their eye over the week's movie news, including the latest developments in the Warner Bros takeover, and news of a Ghosts movie; review The Bride!, Pixar's Hoppers, and Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man; and discuss the movie mums they wish they'd been raised by. Oh, and Chris tries and fails to do a Birmingham accent. We can only apologise to the whole of the Midlands. Enjoy.

This week's Empire Podcast sees Chris Hewitt sit down in a London hotel room with Amanda Seyfried and Mona Fastvold, star and director respectively of the audacious new musical biopic, The Testament Of Ann Lee. It's a conversation that takes in everything from wearing T-shirts with your face on it to the trick of choreographing incredibly complex dance numbers, and is a ton of fun. That starts around 42:18 and finishes around 1:02:50. Elsewhere, Chris is joined in the podbooth by Helen O'Hara, James Dyer and, for the first time on the regular pod, Evolution Of Horror host Mike Muncer, as they discuss movie news including the BAFTAs and the latest Toy Story 5 trailer, answer questions on what movie-related thing they'd give up for Lent, the movie juries they'd like to be on (or not), and run their critical eye over Scream 7, The Testament Of Ann Lee, Sirat, and The Bluff. Oh, and Chris finally gets round to explaining how, and why, he nearly stepped on Florence Pugh's dress. Enjoy.

Love is very much in the air on the Empire Podcast this week, as Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and Becky Darke cram themselves into the podbooth and get all misty-eyed over Jason Voorhees, the masked maniac from the Friday The 13th movies, just in time for his birthday. But Valentine's Day also looms large this weekend, so the podteam answer a listener question about the worst choices made in rom-coms. The answers will shock you. Elsewhere, our intrepid quartet discuss the week's movie news, including the shock news that Mike Flanagan has decided to adapt a Stephen King story, and review Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights, Bart Layton's Crime 101, Corin Hardy's Whistle, and Hasan Hadi's The President's Cake. And Helen sits down on Zoom with Emerald Fennell to ask her all about her adaptation of the classic novel. [45:29 - 1:02:11 approx] Enjoy!

Another week, another episode of The Interviews, the new show that collects the Empire Podcast's chats with filmmakers into a handy one-stop shop. This week sees Chris Hewitt talk to Kristen Stewart about her directorial debut, The Chronology Of Water, the directors who inspired her to direct, and working with national treasure, Imogen Poots; Zootropolis 2 director Jared Bush about the wild success of that Oscar-nominated, billion dollar-grossing, A-list-cameo-crammed animated movie; and Andrew Guest, co-creator of Wonder Man, drops by to drop some spoiler chat about his new MCU Disney+ show, Wonder Man. It's another cracking line-up, and we hope you enjoy.

This week's Empire Podcast sees Chris Hewitt sit down for a delightfully dotty chat with Send Help stars, Rachel McAdams and Dylan O'Brien, who talk about being directed by Sam Raimi with a paper bag over his head, pretending to know how to play golf, and delivering the greatest line reading of all time. There are no spoilers here, but maybe wait until you've seen Send Help before listening. Either side of that, Chris is joined in the podbooth by Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and Amon Warmann as they use Steven Spielberg's elevation to EGOT status to Mount Rushmore the greatest EGOTs of them all. They also bid a sad farewell to Catherine O'Hara and pore over the pictures of Sam Mendes' Beatles in the news section, while a packed reviews section sees them run their collective critical eye over Send Help, Riz Ahmed's Hamlet, My Father's Shadow, The Chronology Of Water, another Dylan O'Brien movie in Twinless, and 100 Nights Of Hero. Oh, and James may have got a new nickname at last. Enjoy.

Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans' golden animated movie, KPop Demon Hunters, is the kind of phenomenon that comes along once in a blue moon, dominating both the Netflix charts since its release last June, and the music charts over the last few months. Now, fresh from success at the Grammys, the Oscars are firmly in its sights. So it's the perfect time for KPop Demon Hunters' writer/director duo, Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, to sit down virtually with our Alex Godfrey for a deep dive into the movie's origins and subsequent success. Enjoy.

This week's episode of the Empire Podcast sees Chris Hewitt sit down with Bradley Cooper and Will Arnett, director, co-writers, and stars of the new dramedy, Is This Thing On?, which takes inspiration from the real-life story of British comedian, John Bishop. It's an in-depth chat that we bring to you in full (although we did cut out a bit where someone poured a glass of water. Sorry to all you water completists out there), and it's well worth your time. It starts at 55:50 approx and runs until 1:20:14 approx. Either side of that, Chris is joined in the podbooth by Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and Alex Godfrey for a fun episode in which they discuss the movie moments guaranteed to make them cry no matter how many times they've seen them; run their eyes over what passes for movie news (it was quite a slow week); review Is This Thing On?, action-comedy The Wrecking Crew, Jason Statham's Shelter, mad monkey movie Primate; and Richard Linklater's love letter to the French New Wave, Nouvelle Vague. Oh, and we make good on last week's promise, and bring you James, Helen, and Chris tackling their specialist subjects in a round that pays homage to classic BBC quiz show, Mastermind. It's pure chaos. Thanks to Magneto Magnetosson, for stepping in at short notice to host. Enjoy.

We interview a lot of people for the Empire Podcast, folks, and we've finally decided to collect most of them in one easy-to-find place. So welcome to the second episode of The Interviews. This week, Chris Hewitt catches up with Jason Statham and Ric Roman Waugh, star and director of new action thriller Shelter, and along the way Chris and The Stath realise they've been doing the interview dance together for a long, long time. Chris also chats to director Derek Cianfrance about the excellent Roofman, which is out now on shiny discs and streaming. And finally, we have an excerpt from our 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple spoiler special chat with that film's director, Nia DaCosta, who tells Ben Travis all about some of that film's key moments. Remember: swerve that if you don't want to be served a nice big slice of spoiler pie. Enjoy!

In the first episode of a new regular, the Empire Podcast brings you the interviews that matter about the movies of the moment. So that means a lovely chat with the legendary South Korean director, Park Chan-wook, and actor Lee Byung-hun, as they (with the help of translators) tell Amon Warmann about their new movie, and first collaboration in over 20 years, No Other Choice. And things get very Irish as Chris Hewitt sits down with Steve Coogan and Éanna Hardwicke to talk about their new movie, Saipan, which tells the story of the real-life falling out between Republic of Ireland manager Mick McCarthy (Coogan) and captain Roy Keane (Hardwicke)just before the World Cup in 2002. Enjoy.

This week's episode of the Empire Podcast sees Chris Hewitt sit down with two wonderful guests — first, we strap Chris Pratt to a chair (metaphorically speaking, that is) and ask him about his new thriller, Mercy, in which he does battle with an A.I. judge played by Rebecca Ferguson; [25:50 - 40:14 approx] and then Claire Foy, star of this week's moving drama, H Is For Hawk, drops by the office to talk about working with goshawks and Gleeson, Brendan. [1:13:07 - 1:32:55 approx] Both are delights, we're sure you'll agree. Either side of those, Chris is joined in the podbooth by Helen O'Hara, James Dyer and, briefly, Beth Webb for a fun episode in which they reveal their specialist subject on Mastermind, discuss great movie doctors, review No Other Choice, Saipan, Mercy, The History Of Sound, and H Is For Hawk, and go all-in on Oscar nominations discussion in a bumper-sized movie news section. It's all here, apart from the bits we cut out. Enjoy!

The first in-studio Empire Podcast of the year, following hot on the heels of our triumphant live episode at Kings Place, sees Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and John Nugent get together to discuss their New Year's resolutions and define what 'cinema' means for them in 2026; review 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, The Rip, and Rental Family, and discuss the week's movie news. Guest-wise, Chris has lovely chats with two twosomes — Ralph Fiennes and Chi Lewis-Parry (yes, back for more after the live show, even if this was recorded months before the live show) from 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, and Rental Family's star/director duo, Brendan Fraser and Hikari. Oh, and James tells a joke. Enjoy!

It's been delayed by lurgy, but at last it's here, folks: the latest landmark in the Empire Podcast's epic journey, as we reach our 700th episode (not counting all the interview specials, spoiler specials, and sundry other specials). Recorded live, as is tradition, at Kings Place, London, on Friday January 9, it's a near three-hour odyssey of film-related fun, as Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and Ben Travis talk about movie news (Avengers Doomsday trailers! Avatar box office! Tangled casting!), review Hamnet, Giant, and Song Sung Blue, and then take questions from our capacity crowd. And we have more guests than you could shake an Infinity Stone at, as Corin Hardy and Dafne Keen, director and star of new horror movie Whistle, drop by and try to kill our audience; director Bart Layton tells Alex Godfrey all about his new movie, Crime 101; Ben Wheatley returns to the live pod to chat with Beth Webb about his new mind-melting movie, Bulk; 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple stars Alfie Williams, Erin Kellyman, and Chi Lewis-Parry drop by to talk with Ben Travis about their infected follow-up; and the Russo Brothers themselves, Joe and Anthony, stop by (Joe on Zoom from Los Angeles) to say as much as they can about Avengers Doomsday without giving anything away. The guest interviews section runs from 50:22 - 2:22:36 [approx]. Thanks, as ever, to our guests for being so gracious with their time, everyone who made it happen, Kings Place, DNA for the great spot prizes, and you guys for supporting us through 700 episodes. We're only just getting warmed up. Enjoy!

Don't worry, folks — the Empire Podteam may be engaged elsewhere today (Friday, January 9), preparing to do the live show at Kings Place, London, that marks our 700th episode. But we'd never let you down, and let a Friday go without a dose of Empire Podcast goodness. Which brings us to this interview special, in which Helen O'Hara sits down on Zoom with Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal, the stars of Chloe Zhao's emotionally devastating drama, Hamnet (in cinemas from today), about the tragedy that befell William Shakespeare and his wife, Agnes; and then, as James Vanderbilt's WWII (well, post-WWII) drama, Nuremberg, hits Sky Cinema, we have a chat between Vanderbilt and Chris Hewitt about the former's determination to make the movie, and much, much more. Episode 700 will be in your feeds by the end of the weekend, but we hope this tides you over until then. Enjoy.

With the Empire Podcast team still in hibernation until the first show of 2026 (our live show at Kings Place, London, on Jan 9 — check kingsplace.co.uk for last-minute tickets), we're plugging the gap where the regular podcast would usually be with something a little different: a look ahead to the films of 2026, in which Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, and James Dyer sit down in the podbooth and, armed with nothing but a calendar, scant research, and some terrible opinions, talk about the films they're excited to see in the year ahead. It's all here, from the unexpected proliferation of sheep-based movies to the biggest box office double date since Barbenheimer: Dunesday. Enjoy — and Happy New Year to all our listeners!

And so, as 2025 disappears off into the distance, it's the most wonderful time of what's left of the year, as the Empire Podcast team get together in the podbooth for their marathon deep dive/look back at the cinematic year that was. Join Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, and James Dyer for this near-three-hour behemoth in which they go through the year month by month, tackle a couple of listener questions, run their eye over Empire's top 20 films of the year, and trot out enough film-related fun, absolute nonsense, and hot takes to keep you warm throughout January and beyond. Oh, and even though they were all very tired when recording this podcast, they barely mention it. Happy New Year to all our listeners, except that one guy. He knows what he did. Enjoy!

The final Empire Podcast of the year is here, folks, and it's a bumper-sized jamboree, longer than usual and hopefully fit to tide you over until we return with Episode 700 (live from Kings Place) on January 11th. For the first time ever, the revolving fourth chair revolves wildly during the pod itself, so Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, and James Dyer are joined by John Nugent, to answer listeners' questions; Beth Webb, to review Avatar: Fire And Ash, Sentimental Value, Marty Supreme, and The Housemaid; and Alex Godfrey, who joins the team for the News section to pay an extended tribute to the great Rob Reiner, who was so senselessly and shockingly slain, along with his wife Michelle Singer Reiner, this week. Guest-wise, our stocking is truly stuffed, as Chris has lovely chats with Wake Up Dead Man star, and all-round legend, Glenn Close, and Avatar antagonist, Colonel Miles Quaritch himself, Stephen Lang; while Beth has a joyous sit-down with Marty Supreme director, Josh Safdie. We hope you enjoy it. Thanks so much for listening to and supporting the pod this year — Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and we'll see you in 2026.

They all float down here. Now that It: Welcome To Derry, the prequel to Andy Muschietti's It Chapter One and It Chapter Two, has finished its eight-episode run, the Empire Podcast has teamed up with Warner Bros. to bring you a special episode in which Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, and James Dyer conquer their fears of clowns, spiders, and spider-clowns just long enough to talk about the Andy Muschietti/Barbara Muschietti/Jason Fuchs-created show, its Stephen King connections, its brand new characters, its setting (1962 Derry, Maine), and, of course, Bill Skarsgård's Pennywise, The Dancing Clown, who's back for another bout of bloody mayhem. While not a spoiler special, our very own Losers Club do delve into the show's major twists and turns, so if you haven't seen all eight episodes, they're available to buy now on digital platforms, or you can pre-order them on DVD, Blu-ray, 4K UHD or steelbook from warnerbros.co.uk

They all float down here. Now that It: Welcome To Derry, the prequel to Andy Muschietti's It Chapter One and It Chapter Two, has finished its eight-episode run, the Empire Podcast has teamed up with Warner Bros. to bring you a special episode in which Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, and James Dyer conquer their fears of clowns, spiders, and spider-clowns just long enough to talk about the Andy Muschietti/Barbara Muschietti/Jason Fuchs-created show, its Stephen King connections, its brand new characters, its setting (1962 Derry, Maine), and, of course, Bill Skarsgård's Pennywise, The Dancing Clown, who's back for another bout of bloody mayhem. While not a spoiler special, our very own Losers Club do delve into the show's major twists and turns, so if you haven't seen all eight episodes, they're available to buy now on digital platforms, or you can pre-order them on DVD, Blu-ray, 4K UHD or steelbook from warnerbros.co.uk

"Yer man's in the pits, boss!" Joseph Kosinski's crowd-pleasingly kinetic F1 was one of the success stories of the year at the box office, displaying impressive legs (or wheels) to take the chequered flag with over $600 million in the global bank, making it the biggest hit of Brad Pitt's career. And now that the film is making its debut on Apple TV, our Chris Hewitt sat down with the film's producer, the legendary Jerry Bruckheimer, and stars Damson Idris and Kerry Condon for a fun, frank and fascinating look back at the movie. It's not a spoiler special, per se, but familiarity with F1 (the movie, not the sport, although that might help too) couldn't hurt. However you're listening to this, we hope you enjoy.

The penultimate regular Empire Podcast of the year is here, folks (don't worry, there are specials galore on the way), and it's a belter. Guest-wise, we have more goodies under the tree, as Jamie Graham talks to longtime collaborators Shih-Ching Tsou and Sean Baker (the director of Anora) about Tsou's directorial debut, Left-Handed Girl, which can be seen on Netflix; [25:27 - 41:51 approx] and Chris Hewitt has lovely chats with Wake Up Dead Man suspects, Daryl McCormack and Cailee Spaeny, [1:04:42 - 1:19:44 approx] and the legendary James L. Brooks, who returns to directing this week with Ella McCay. [1:40:42 - 1:54:01 approx] Either side of that little lot, Chris is joined in the podbooth by Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and Beth Webb for more Christmas movie shenanigans, including a discussion of their favourite Christmas movie songs, and where they'd like to spend Christmas if they were in a movie. You'll be staggered to know that a certain plaza in LA gets a mention. The team also talk about the Golden Globe nominations and the potential Netflix acquisition of Warner Bros. (this episode was recorded before the Supergirl trailer launched, sadly), and they review Wake Up Dead Man (again), Eleanor The Great, Goodbye June, and Fackham Hall, which sees an Empire Podcast first. You'll have to listen to find out what that is. Enjoy!

Boogie Nights wasn't Paul Thomas Anderson's first movie (that was Hard Eight), but it's the film that put him firmly on the map, and served notice that here was a serious filmmaking force. And with the release of a remastered 4K UHD version of Boogie Nights on Monday, December 15, it's the perfect time for the Empire Podcast team — Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and Alex Godfrey — to sit down, in association with Warner Bros., and discuss Boogie Nights and PTA's career in general. It's a real podcast, Jack. Enjoy.

This week's episode of the Empire Podcast sees Christmas on our mind as we enter December, and accordingly we deliver a sackful of great guests to you, our loyal and loving listeners. First off, Chris Hewitt goes to Taron Egerton's actual flat (smells divine... and the flat wasn't bad either) to sit down with him for a candid chat about his career, his new film She Rides Shotgun, and whether or not he knows his lines. [21:05 - 38:44 approx] Then, Chris sits down with two of his absolute faves, George Clooney and Adam Sandler, for a riotous conversation about their new movie, Jay Kelly, basketball, and accents. [1:03:17 - 1:22:31 approx] And finally Chris talks to Wicked: For Good director, Jon M. Chu, in an excerpt from our upcoming spoiler special for that movie. [1:43:57 - 1:55:17 approx] Either side of those, Chris is joined in the podbooth by Helen O'Hara and James Dyer to review Jay Kelly, She Rides Shotgun, It Was Just An Accident, and Eternity; discuss the week's movie news (a ton of which broke after we had finished recording, as ever); and answer the first Christmas-related questions of the year, which leads to an unexpected Die Hard/Love Actually mash-up, and the team trying to figure out how to take down an Infinity Gauntlet-wielding Santa Claus. Oh, and our intrepid trio also dig into Quentin Tarantino's recently revealed list of his 20 favourite films of the 21st Century, and his accompanying comments about Paul Dano. Enjoy!

This week's episode of the Empire Podcast sees Chris Hewitt sit down with two actors who star in animated movies (and ask them both about their favourite things to do in London). First, Simu Liu Zooms in to talk about new Netflix family flick, In Your Dreams, plus his own dreams, and the return of Shang-Chi to the MCU. [21:38 - 38:30 approx] Then, Ke Huy Quan, star of Zootropolis 2, drops by to share his memories of working on Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom, and his theories about snakes. [57:06 - 1:10:54 approx] And, finally, Ben Travis has a lovely natter with Richard Linklater and Ethan Hawke, who have teamed up once again on Blue Moon. [1:36:55 - 1:49:54 approx] Either side of that little lot, Chris is joined in the podbooth by Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and Alex Godfrey to chat about what passes for movie news in a week featuring the Thanksgiving break; review Zootropolis 2, Wake Up Dead Man, Pillion, Christy, and Blue Moon; and discuss the best movies set in Scotland. Does that mean Scottish accents abound? Jings! As ever, our apologies to the people of Scotland. Oh, and a famous detective drops by for a cameo. Enjoy!

This week's episode of the Empire Podcast sees the podteam — Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, and James Dyer — play themselves as they discuss great 'as themselves' performances in the movies. They also run their collective eye over the week's movie news, including heartening Star Trek developments, review Train Dreams, Wicked: For Good, Playdate, and Sisu: Road To Revenge, and talk about Black Friday bargains into the bargain. Interview-wise, our cup runneth over as ever, as Chris has interesting chats with The Thing With Feathers star/director, Benedict Cumberbatch and Dylan Southern; [20:57 - 36:22 approx] Train Dreams star/director, Joel Edgerton and Clint Bentley; [59:10 - 1:15:34 approx] and Now You See Me: Now You Don't star/not director, Ariana Greenblatt. [1:39:14 - 1:53:45 approx] And if anyone wants the Empire Podcast made available as a sleep story, please do get in touch. Enjoy!

Alpha is the third film from the brilliant French filmmaker, Julia Ducournau, following on from her titanic debut, Raw, and her raw follow-up, Titane (which won the Palme D'Or, no less!). A tale of an unusual epidemic and generational trauma, there's much going on above and below the surface, which we get into in this interview special, as Jamie Graham sits down on Zoom with Ducournau and the actor Tahar Rahim, who plays the title character's drug-addicted uncle. It's a great interview, and if you fancy going to see Alpha after listening to this, it's out now in cinemas across the UK. Enjoy.

This week's episode of the Empire Podcast would surely deserve to get a full fat five points from Greg Davies, the Taskmaster himself, as Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and John Nugent apply themselves wholeheartedly (some more wholeheartedly than others, it must be said) to deciding which Taskmaster contestant has appeared in the best film. Then, the podteam take a look at the week's movie news and, in a bumper reviews section, cast their eyes over Edgar Wright's The Running Man, Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein, Ruben Fleischer's Now You See Me: Now You Don't, Julia Ducournau's Alpha, Gurinder Chadha's Christmas Karma, and James Vanderbilt's Nuremberg. Three of those movies provide this week's guests, as Edgar Wright drops by the podbooth to natter with Chris about The Running Man, and meeting Stephen King; [21:43 - 33:05 approx] Now You Three Me's Isla Fisher and Rosamund Pike talk magic and manky accents, again with Chris; [56:16 - 1:09:05 approx] and Michael Shannon talks Nuremberg and (mostly) R.E.M., also with Chris. [1:42:53 - 1:55:38 approx] Oh, and there's a huge revelation about the pod itself lurking within there somewhere. Forget what you think you know... and enjoy.

Nicholas Hytner's The Choral, a delightful drama set in 1916 Yorkshire, is in cinemas now, folks. It features costumes designed by the legendary Jenny Beavan, who is one of the best costume designers in the business. Nominated for 12 Oscars, winner of three, Beavan has worked with directors like Robert Altman, James Ivory, and George Miller across an astonishing forty-year career, and we were delighted when she popped into the podbooth recently to talk with our Chris Hewitt about that career and her approach to costume design. Enjoy.

Every year at the London Film Festival, Empire hosts a gala screening for a film that we particularly admire. This year's choice was Ronan Day-Lewis' Anemone, a drama that we called 'sad, absurdist, brooding, tender, and intense', and which marks the return to acting of the great Daniel Day-Lewis, father of Ronan and co-writer of the movie, after eight years away from the screen. It's good to have him back, for he's electric in this, going toe-to-toe with a never better Sean Bean as two brothers attempting to reconcile, after a fashion, in a secluded cabin. And the morning after the gala at the LFF in October, Alex Godfrey sat down with Daniel Day-Lewis and Sean Bean for a candid chat about their approaches to, and reasons for, acting; [2:05 - 24:00 approx] and then Ronan Day-Lewis for a conversation about the film, and directing his own dad. [24:19 onwards, approx] And we're delighted to bring you both of those in this interview special, now that Anemone is out in cinemas in the UK. Enjoy!

Blimey, this week's episode of the Empire Podcast is star-studded, and then some. First, Chris Hewitt chats with Die, My Love star, Jennifer Lawrence, and director Lynne Ramsay, about unpredictability on set and receiving an email from Martin Scorsese; then, he has a crash course in Yautja from Predator: Badlands stars Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi and Elle Fanning; and then Alex Godfrey pops up to have a lovely natter with the stars of new drama, Anemone, Sean Bean and Daniel Day-Lewis, returning to acting after a long hiatus. Then, Chris is joined in the podbooth by Alex, James Dyer and, dialling in (hence the odd glitch here and there), Helen O'Hara to discuss just how much they want to see a Steven Soderbergh-directed Star Wars movie, which Ghostface they could take in a fight, the week's movie news (including resurrections for The Mummy, Gremlins, and Miss Piggy), and their thoughts on Predator: Badlands, The Choral, Anemone, and Die, My Love. Enjoy!

Blimey, this week's episode of the Empire Podcast is star-studded, and then some. First, Chris Hewitt chats with Die, My Love star, Jennifer Lawrence, and director Lynne Ramsay, about unpredictability on set and receiving an email from Martin Scorsese; then, he has a crash course in Yautja from Predator: Badlands stars Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi and Elle Fanning; and then Alex Godfrey pops up to have a lovely natter with the stars of new drama, Anemone, Sean Bean and Daniel Day-Lewis, returning to acting after a long hiatus. Then, Chris is joined in the podbooth by Alex, James Dyer and, dialling in (hence the odd glitch here and there), Helen O'Hara to discuss just how much they want to see a Steven Soderbergh-directed Star Wars movie, which Ghostface they could take in a fight, the week's movie news (including resurrections for The Mummy, Gremlins, and Miss Piggy), and their thoughts on Predator: Badlands, The Choral, Anemone, and Die, My Love. Enjoy!

It's Halloween, folks, so this week's episode of the Empire Podcast is extra-spooky, with Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and Beth Webb get way too invested in a listener question about the horror movie death that they would want for themselves. Just keep repeating: it's only a podcast, it's only a podcast, it's only a podcast. Elsewhere, our Core Four talk about the new Scream 7 trailer, the Hello Kitty movie and more in the news section, and they review A House Of Dynamite, Ballad Of A Small Player, Bugonia, and Relay. Guest-wise, we're loaded to the gills, as Chris chats with Ballad Of A Small Player director Edward Berger [24:30 - 38:01 approx] and The Hand That Rocks The Cradle stars, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Maika Monroe [1:38:05 - 1:52:44 approx], while Harry Stainer talks Bugonia with that film's director, Yorgos Lanthimos. [56:00 - 1:09:18 approx] Oh, and Chris sings that song. No, not that one. The other one. Just in time for All Hallow's Eve. Enjoy...

If you can hear a high-pitched squealing noise in the background of our latest interview special, that's just Chris Hewitt vibrating with excitement. For this podcast puts him in the room with one of his all-time heroes, Liverpool FC icon Kenny Dalglish, who is the eponymous subject of Asif Kapadia's latest documentary, which is out today (October 29) and tomorrow (October 30) in cinemas across the UK, before moving to Prime Video from November 4. In this indepth interview with Dalglish and Kapadia (making a welcome return to the pod), the trio discuss how the documentary came about, Kapadia's aims and creative decisions, Kenny's goals (and goals) and, in the last ten minutes or so, the Hillsborough Disaster, its depiction in the film, and its impact on Dalglish. It's a frank and fascinating chat, and one that we'd recommend even if you're not a Liverpool fan. Enjoy.

This week's Empire Podcast sees Chris Hewitt struggle with the enunciation of one word in particular (you'll have to listen to find out which). Incredibly, it's not 'Howl-o-ween', which is just one of the many things discussed by Chris and his three colleagues of such lethal cunning, Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and Ben Travis. They get their teeth into movies in which a main character is ill, talk about the shock revelation that Adam Driver and Steven Soderbergh had developed a literal Solo movie for Kylo Ren, and review Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, Nia DaCosta's Hedda, and Kelly Reichardt's The Mastermind. Guest-wise, we have a veritable bounty as Helen has a lovely chat with Nia DaCosta, and Chris talks to Jeremy Strong, star of the Springsteen flick; and has a joyous natter about the end of the world with Rebecca Ferguson and Kathryn Bigelow, star and director respectively of A House Of Dynamite, which is now out on Netflix. No timecodes yet, as the guy who writes this blurb has to leg it to a screening. But they're roughly 23 minutes, one hour and three minutes in, and one hour and 38 minutes in. Enjoy!

This week's Empire Podcast sees Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara and James Dyer pay tribute to two cinematic greats who left us this week: the legendary Oscar-winning actress, Diane Keaton, and Drew Struzan, the artist who defined posters, and people's walls, for decades. Struzan's work inspires this week's question, which asks our trio to identify the greatest poster of all time. Elsewhere in the show, they discuss the week's movie news, including the return of Sam Raimi, and review Roofman, After The Hunt, Black Phone 2, and briefly discuss Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein and Edward Berger's Ballad Of A Small Player. Guest-wise, our cup overfloweth yet again, as Chris sits down on Zoom (sorry about his audio track, he didn't have access to his microphone) with Rebecca Miller, director of the excellent Apple documentary about Martin Scorese, Mr. Scorsese, [25:26 - 40:19 approx] and in person with the delightful stars of Roofman, Channing Tatum and Kirsten Dunst. [1:04:01 - 1:19:13 approx] And Sophie Butcher has a lovely chat with Black Phone 2 stars, Mason Thames (who, contrary to what Chris thinks, does not pronounce his name like the river) and Madeleine McGraw. [1:43:07 - 1:58:08 approx] Enjoy!