The Empire Film Podcast

We believe in America. And we also believe in Francis Ford Coppola's seminal classic, The Godfather, which turns 50 this year. In fact, we believe in it so much that we've only gone and put it on the cover of the brand-new issue of Empire (on sale now!), along with an exclusive interview with Coppola himself, as well as many of his key cast members. And, accordingly, we've decided to do a podcast...

2022 is only a few weeks old, but this week alone sees the release of two films that are almost certain to be up there come year's end: Guillermo del Toro's atmospheric noir, Nightmare Alley, and Kenneth Branagh's wonderfully warm childhood tale, Belfast. And we're delighted to be joined on this week's episode by del Toro, who chats with Chris Hewitt about doom, black-and-white, and Bradley Cooper...

This week, the Empire Podcast opens The Book Of The Book Of Boba Fett, as Chris Hewitt has a fun chat with Fennec Shand herself, the wonderful Ming-Na Wen. They talk about stanning Han Solo, smuggling artefacts off set, and interior design. And Chris also has an interesting and engrossing Zoom chat with George MacKay (or is it Georges MacKay?), the English actor who stars in the Netflix WWII thril...

We're back! After a brief break for the Christmas and New Year holidays (during which we somehow managed to produce a whole bunch of podcasts anyway, but let's not quibble), the Empire Podcast is back, and seeing in 2022 with a bang. Our very first guest of the new year is a cracker, as Amon Warmann sits down on Zoom with Lupita Nyong'o, star of The 355, while later Chris Hewitt has a natter with...

Here's a lovely little treat to bring 2021 to a close (or see 2022 in with a bang): a lengthy interview special in which Chris Hewitt sits down (in an actual hotel room; this was actually our first in-person interview since the pandemic began) with the legendary Quentin Tarantino for an in-depth chat about Tarantino's decision to turn Once Upon A Time In Hollywood into a novel, his creative proces...

Happy New Year, listeners! 2021 has been a right old bangily-banger of a year, and no mistake, but it's also been a cracking year, cinematically speaking. And in this bumper-sized end of the year round-up edition, Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and Ben Travis talk about the filmic highs and lows of the year that was. And, apart from one fairly sizeable section between 01:13:07.500 and 01:...

Merry Christmas, listeners! Here, on this most festive of days, is the second part of our bumper-sized Christmas podcast that totally isn't a regular podcast, no sir. In this edition, you'll have Sophie Butcher (making her pod interview debut!) talking to the brilliant French director Julia Docournau about Titane, and Chris Hewitt having a natter with Adam McKay about his new movie, Don't Look Up....

Ho-ho-ho, folks! The Empire Podcas team may be on a Christmas break, but that hasn't stopped the elves in our workshop from bringing you a couple of last blasts of podcast goodness just (about) in time for the big day. This week's absolutely-not-official-no-sir episode of the Empire Podcast sees Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and Ben Travis don virtual terrible jumpers for a bumper editio...

Merry Christmas, you bangily-bangers! In this, the last regular episode of the Empire Podcast for 2021 (don't worry, though, there's a Christmas special to come next week, and the Review Of The Year on the 29th), Chris Hewitt enters the Matrix and sits down on Zoom with Neo and Trinity themselves, Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss, ahead of the release of The Matrix Resurrections next week. The on...

This week's Empire Podcast is the penultimate episode of the year, but we've brought you some cracking early Christmas presents. First up, the legendary Steven Spielberg returns to the pod to tell Chris Hewitt all about why he's remade West Side Story, and his experiences working with Peter Falk and John Cassavetes. He also sheds some light on an Indiana Jones line that has been somewhat co-opted...

Mike Leigh's Naked may be almost 30 years old, but it remains as fresh, impactful, and timely as ever. Join your host, Chris Hewitt, for this very special oral history of the film, which has been re-released on remastered 4K Blu-ray by the BFI. Featuring excerpts from interviews with Leigh, cast members David Thewlis, Lesley Sharp, and Peter Wight, and crew members Dick Pope, Lindy Hemming, Christ...

This week's Empire Podcast sees a triple whammy of guests as Chris Hewitt natters away with three of Britain's finest actors. First, there's Hannah John-Kamen, who talks about being cold on set of her new film Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City, her aptitude for fantasy, and singing with Steven Spielberg. Next up is Riz Ahmed, star of the touching sci-fi drama Encounter, who talks about that m...

Almost thirty years after JFK blazed a trail and called into question the facts surrounding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963, Oliver Stone is returning to the subject with a new documentary. JFK Revisited: Through The Looking Glass is out in cinemas today (November 26) in the UK and is, perhaps, Stone's final word on the subject of the Kennedy a...

Another bumper-sized Empire Podcast this week, as Chris Hewitt has a fun and also impassioned chat with the great John Leguizamo, star of the new Disney animation Encanto. They talk about how Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote a rap especially for Leguizamo, about Latinx representation in movies, and that thing Benny Blanco From The Bronx did in Carlito's Way. (Spoilers for that film lurk within, so be care...

It's a very musical episode on the Empire Podcast this week. First up, Ben Travis geeks out over Disney musicals with the great Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote the songs for the new animated musical Encanto, which debuts next Wednesday (November 24). Then Chris Hewitt sits down with Jeremy Renner and Hailee Steinfeld, stars of the new Disney+ MCU show Hawkeye (which also makes its bow -- heh, bow --...

'Nuff said, True Believers! Because (three of) you demanded it, Team Empire managed to grab hold of the Eye Of Agamotto and squeeze out a chunk of time in which to discuss all the talking points thrown up by the second, and final, trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home. Join Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara and Ben Travis as they do a deepish dive into the trailer, advance some wild theories for the finish...

To herald the arrival on Disney+ of Dopesick, Danny Strong’s drama chronicling the devastating impact of the opioid crisis on America, the Empire Podcast and Pilot TV Podcast crews have, once again, set aside their differences and come together to have a good old natter. In this very special crossover episode, in association with Disney+, Chris Hewitt, James Dyer, and Beth Webb do a deep dive into...

Another bumper bonanza of film-related film this week, folks! On the interview front, Chris Hewitt has a wide-ranging series of chats, talking first to Paul Andrew Williams, writer/director of the brutal and brilliant thriller Bull; then he recovers just in time from a vicious attempt on his life to have a fun natter with Home Sweet Home Alone stars, Rob Delaney and Ellie Kemper, in which Rob reve...

This week's Empire Podcast is back in one piece, but that doesn't mean we're shirking on the guests front. First off, Chris Hewitt has a fun chat with Salma Hayek and Kumail Nanjiani, two of the stars of Marvel's newest flick, Eternals, in which Halloween costumes, Salma's dad, and the scary-sounding Marvel Police are discussed. Then, Amon Warmann has an in-person, and very entertaining, chat with...

Part Two of this week's bumper, jam-packed edition of the Empire Podcast sees Chris Hewitt chat to Zack Snyder and Matthias Schweighofer, producer and director/star of this week's Army Of Thieves, the relatively zombie-free prequel to Army Of The Dead, about making those movies and the possibility of Snyder becoming the new Jane Fonda. He also sits down on Zoom with Jonathan Majors, star of The Ha...

Just like Denis Villeneuve's Dune, this week's Empire Podcast is so epic that we've had to split it into two parts. In this first instalment, you'll get two of the FIVE guest interviews we have lined up this week, as Chris Hewitt talks to Last Night In Soho writer/director, Edgar Wright, and his co-writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns, about their working practices, food poisoning, and Sandie Shaw. And the...

The spice must flow on this week's Empire Podcast. The spice of chat, that is! We have three belting interviews lined up for you lucky lot this week, as Chris Hewitt talks to The Guilty star Jake Gyllenhaal in which one of them threatens to go topless; Dune's Lady Jessica herself, Rebecca Ferguson, during which she and Chris hatch a new get-rich-quick scheme; and James Marsden, star of The Boss Ba...

Now that the first season of What If...?, the animated MCU show that told alternate tales from across the Multiverse, has finished its run on Disney+, it's time for Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, Ben Travis, and Amon Warmann to enter the virtual podbooth and have a good old natter about their favourite moments from the series. But that's not all — we also have the show's head writer, A.C. Bradley, an...

Yes, folks, we know that this week's Empire Podcast is a long 'un, but in fairness it's still three minutes shorter than No Time To Die, and is so packed with podcast goodness that we barely know where to begin. On the interview front, there are cracking conversations as Chris Hewitt sits down with the legendary Jamie Lee Curtis to talk about returning as Laurie Strode in Halloween Kills. You may...

The BFI London Film Festival is happening AS YOU READ THIS, folks. And, as proud media partners, we at Empire were delighted to present this week's gala world premiere of Craig Roberts' The Phantom Of The Open, a heartwarming and hilarious tale of Maurice Flitcroft (Mark Rylance), a keen amateur golfer who gatecrashed the British Open in 1976 with spectacular results. And we didn't want to leave i...