The Empire Film Podcast

With Chris Hemsworth announcing the Oscar nominations on behalf of the Academy yesterday, this week's Empire Podcast is chock-full of awards-based chit-chat. So if you want to be in the know about who's (probably) going to win, listen no further. Elsewhere, the team talks to James Purefoy about Noel Edmunds, Mr. Blobby and Season 2 of The Following, while Juliette Lewis talks the time to talk Augu...

After a couple of weeks away for Christmas, the Empire Podcast is back. Featuring 12 Years A Slave's director (Steve McQueen) and star (Chiwetel Ejiofor), there's also - surprise, surprise - a review of said film, as well as conversations about Sam Rockwell, Ron Swanson and Gerald Butler as Bodhi in the Point Break remake.

2013 was the year that was, and this is the Empire Podcast Review Of The Year (that is). So for a slightly anarchic meander around the past 12 months of moviedom - and some spoilers that you'd expect with that - then press play on this here podcast.

In this week's super-sized bumper edition, the Empire Podcast team talk good Christmas movies, bad Christmas movies and movies that aren't really Christmas movies but you still watch at Christmas. Then there are four directors - count 'em! - in the interviewee's chair, namely Anchorman 2's Judd Apatow and Adam McKay, All Is Lost's J.C. Chandor and American Hustle's David O. Russell.

If you want to hear Richard Armitage swear in Dwarfish (and turn his head around 360 degrees), this is the podcast to listen to. Also here to talk The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug was Luke Evans, who was charm personified as he lulled several members of the team into starting a fan club. And as if that weren't enough, the sonorous Matt Berry dropped by in honour of his fantastic sitcom, Toast O...

The Boy Who Lived is The Boy Who Talked About American Football On The Empire Podcast this week, while Alexander Payne doesn't mention sport of any kind, instead sticking to his latest, Nebraska. Elsewhere, movie AIs get the once over, and the team wonders about Wonder Woman in the Batman Vs. Superman project.

Two of the best talkers in the business, Colin Farrell and Joe Eszterhas, feature in the Empire Podcast this week. The former dropped by to talk Saving Mr. Banks, bad hair bleaching and Anthony Hopkins' anecdotes, while the latter took the time to talk Showgirls, Basic Instinct and much much more.

Shaun Of The Dead came out in 2004. Hot Fuzz came out in 2007. The World's End came out 2013. Now... it's all over. With The World's End out on Blu-ray and DVD, Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright enjoyed a weekend of Q&As and signing sessions, but somehow still found the time to talk to the Empire Podcast for 75 minutes for the definitive Cornetto Trilogy discussion.

Though you can read her wise words here and watch her talk "super snoods" here, Jennifer Lawrence isn't on this week's Empire Podcast, but her good friend and favourite music video director, Francis Lawrence (who just so happened to have helmed The Hunger Games: Catching Fire), is, joined as he is by Stanley Tucci and Elizabeth Banks.

The living legend that is George A. Romero was in London recently for the BFI's Gothic season, and inbetween giving talks and introducing special screenings of his films, GAR - as nobody calls him - popped into the Empire Podcast booth talk to us about zombies, Knightriders and the projects that almost came to be...

Forest Whitaker is the Oscar-winning actor who's played pool sharks, samurai warriors and dictators in his time, but this week you can see him as a butler in The White House in, um, The Butler. Allen Leech, meanwhile, is the star of Downton Abbey who's not scaring you witless in In Fear, also out today.

It's Alfonso Cuarón appreciation week on the Empire Podcast, and what makes this so perfect is that Alfonso Cuarón is on this week's Empire Podcast. It's all in honour of Gravity - out now - and, of course, Hermione's right hook to Draco's face in The Prisoner Of Azkaban. Then there's Jude Law, in the podbooth for Dom Hemingway - out next week - who talks about Breaking Bad, Sherlock Holmes 3 and...

It's a great weekend to be a cinemagoer in the UK. Two five-star films and a certain Thor: The Dark World are showing at your local multiplex - with any luck, anyway - and this is just the podcast to celebrate that fact. Look forward to trailer tantrums, London falling down and spaceships crashing to earth (in a manner of speaking, anyway).

There's a killer triple-bill of interviewees on this week's Empire Podcast, with Harrison Ford, Stephen Merchant and Shane Meadows all stopping by, one for Ender's Game, one for Hello Ladies and the other for Made Of Stone's DVD release (we'll let you work out which matches up with which). Elsewhere, the team talk witches, almost perfect film endings and what Sir Ben Kingsley is keeping under his...

Three directors drop by the Empire Podcast booth this week, one for Captain Phillips (Paul Greengrass), another for Prince Avalance (David Gordon Green) and the last for The Curse Of Chucky (Don Mancini). Elsewhere, the team use the words "Tactical Chunder" when talking about Pacific Rim 2, and somehow Enough Said involves Stan Lee hiding under someone's bed.

Tony Gilroy is an Oscar-nominated screenwriter, the pen wielder behind the Bourne movies and his own directorial work, such as Michael Clayton (which got him his Oscar nod), Duplicity and, most recently, Bourne Legacy. In town for a special BFI screenwriters' speech, we asked Gilroy to drop round the Empire Podcast booth afterwards to talk about how he battles writers' block and brings his ideas t...

A triple-bill of interviews for you this week, from Agent Carter herself, Hayley Atwell, to your latest Romeo, Douglas Booth. In the middle is the director of The Raid - and, as you'd expect, The Raid 2 - Gareth Evans, who was in town to talk about his contribution to V/H/S/2.

It's an Atonement reunion on this week's Empire Podcast, with James McAvoy here for Filth and Saoirse Ronan dropping by in honour of How I Live Now. Look forward to the former talking about his "hairy mutant you-know-whats" and the latter explaining how to swing a lightsaber. Elsewhere, the Podcast Team tackle TV finales, tie-in theme park rides and the return of Narnia...

Dexter Fletcher is on fine form during this week's Empire Podcast, talking about his latest, Sunshine On Leith, as well as Doom, The Long Good Friday and his Nando's Black Card. Matthew Fox, meanwhile, is on hand to talk about his time on Party Of Five, his love of Batman, and why he decided to shoot Emperor with Tommy Lee Jones (and not appear in a rom-com, say).

What movie unexpectedly made you cry? Which film quotes do you use on a regular basis without even realise you're quoting anything? How much did Grand Theft Auto V earn in its first day on sale again? The Empire Podcast team answer all these questions and more, also finding the time to interview Luke Treadaway and Matthew Lewis for their British indie, The Rise, and Cillian Murphy, in honour of hi...

Two A-list directors on the Empire Podcast this week, namely Rush's Ron Howard and White House Down's Roland Emmerich, and four Empire journalists, namely... well, you'll find out soon enough. Elsewhere, the team review both aforementioned films (as well as Insidious Chapter 2) and discuss Disney songs, film directors' best adverts and Jurassic World.

Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Bruhl share stories from their days on soap sets during their interview on this week's Empire Podcast, also touching on runaway killer tyres, Mario Kart and Scalextric in honour of Rush, out next week. Elsewhere, Ain't Them Bodies Saints director David Lowery reveals his neverending love of Star Wars, Malick and moustaches, and the team discuss the 50 Shades Of Grey cast...

You may know him as Community's Dean Pelton, but in real life he's Jim Rash, the man who co-wrote The Descendants with Nat Faxon and won an Oscar in the process. The award-winning pair were in the Empire Podcast booth this week to talk about their directorial debut, The Way, Way Back, but also managed to talk about the final episode of Friends - no, really - and how it feels to dress up as Lady Ga...

It's a hard-to-spell-and-hard-to-say American actors double-bill this week with both We're The Millers' Jason Sudeikis and Lovelace's Amanda Seyfried joining Team Empire for chats about moustaches, dry heaving as a workout regime, stuffed animals and corpses (amongst other things). Find out what Amanda Seyfried's favourite cloud is! Win Seasons 1-5A of Breaking Bad on Blu-ray thanks to Squarespace...

District 9's Sharlto Copley and Neill Blomkamp reunite for another sci-fi action film in the form of Elysium, only this time there are fewer prawns and far more Matt Damons - that is to say, just one. Joining us for a relaxed chat about everything from Neill's aborted Halo movie to Hot Toys Joker figurines (as well as the movie itself, of course), the actor-director pair are on top form, so you wo...