This week's episode of the Empire Podcast sees Chris Hewitt break out the bleep machine for a particularly sweary chat with M3GAN 2.0 star, the delightful Ivanna Sakhno, [1:10:44 - 1:23:01 approx] and quietly judge the football team of Damson Idris, star of F1. [24:51 - 37:46 approx] Or F1: The Movie, to give it its full marketing moniker, which inspires this week's listener question as Chris, James Dyer, Sophie Butcher and our Australian chum, Jeremy Dylan, discuss the best movies that have 'Th...
Jun 27, 2025•1 hr 48 min•Season 1Ep. 1011
It's another packed episode of the Empire Podcast, the show that dares to ask the big questions: isn't the Mona Lisa just a woman sitting down? Who's the richest Northern Irish person? Can you buy stocks in Glen Powell? Join the pod team — Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and Amon Warmann — as they tackle those questions, discuss the original 1977 print of Star Wars that Chris and James saw last week at the BFI, look at the week's movie news (Dune! Saw! Clayface! Naked Gun!), and review D...
Jun 20, 2025•1 hr 49 min•Season 1Ep. 1010
In our latest Empire Podcast interview special, Chris Hewitt sits down (in a swanky London hotel room) with Colin Trevorrow, the director of Jurassic World and Safety Not Guaranteed, to talk about Trevorrow's latest movie, the Prime Video comedy Deep Cover, which he produced and co-wrote. But that's not all — Trevorrow also talks about his choices as a director in the wake of his last movie, Jurassic World Dominion, his experiences interning on SNL, and his idea for a new podcast. We're in! Enjo...
Jun 19, 2025•33 min•Season 1Ep. 1009
The Shameless Plug — the show in which Chris Hewitt and Empire editor Nick de Semlyen sit down and do a deep dive into the contents of the latest issue of Empire — is back, folks, and this one really is fantastic. That's because this month's cover story is The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which inspires Chris and Nick to talk about some of their set visit experiences (including one on the set of the 2005 Fantastic Four), among other things. They also talk about the other features and great stand...
Jun 19, 2025•45 min•Season 1Ep. 1008
This week's episode of the Empire Podcast sees Chris Hewitt sit down in person with Deep Cover stars, Bryce Dallas Howard, Orlando Bloom, and Nick Mohammed, to talk about their experiences playing improvisers who go undercover as fake cops;[1:00:00 - 1:15:52 approx] and on Zoom with Tornado and Slow Horses star, Jack Lowden. [26:15 - 39:20 approx] Either side of those, Chris is joined in the podbooth by James Dyer, Alex Godfrey and Empire Podcast debutant, Harry Stainer, to discuss the best and ...
Jun 13, 2025•1 hr 45 min•Season 1Ep. 1007
Here's a damn fine special episode of the Empire Podcast for you to enjoy. We're in the grip of Twin Peaks fever all over again — the seminal David Lynch/Mark Frost TV show is being celebrated this Sunday (June 15th) at the BFI Southbank in London with a special 35mm print screening of the show's pilot, and if that weren't enough, every single episode of Twin Peaks, including 2017's The Return, will be available to watch on MUBI as of Friday June 13th. So, naturally, we decided to mark the occas...
Jun 12, 2025•58 min•Season 1Ep. 1006
This week's episode of the freshly award-losing Empire Podcast sees the podteam lick their wounds after a demoralising defeat in the Best Podcast (Consumer) category at the BSMEs earlier in the week. How do they do this? By talking about movies, of course, as they discuss the week's news (a load of trailers, and a potential new James Cameron movie), reviewing Ballerina: From The World Of John Wick, Dangerous Animals, and Predator: KIller Of Killers. Oh, and they talk about actors who might be ab...
Jun 06, 2025•1 hr 57 min•Season 1Ep. 1005
Whether it's Tom Cruise risking his neck underwater, or above ground while clinging to the wing of a biplane, Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning is filled with stunts that might just turn your hair white. That's if you don't lose it completely. That's just one of the side effects discussed in this Empire Podcast interview special, as the film's second unit director and stunt co-ordinator, the wonderful Wade Eastwood, sits down on Zoom with Chris Hewitt, and tells us how he, Cruise, Christ...
Jun 02, 2025•41 min•Season 1Ep. 1004
This week's episode of the Empire Podcast sees the podteam — Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, James Dyer and Alex Godfrey — get to grips with the definition of in media res, as they discuss some of their favourite films that throw you right into the action. Elsewhere, they talk about the week's movie news, pay tribute to Empire's founding editor Barry McIlheney, who has sadly died at the age of 65, and review The Ballad Of Wallis Island, Karate Kid: Legends, Mountainhead, The Ritual, and The Salt Pat...
May 30, 2025•1 hr 54 min•Season 1Ep. 1003
This week's episode of the Empire Podcast sees Chris Hewitt mark the release of Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning by doing a non-spoiler, non-epic (less than 20 minutes!) chat with that film's director, the legendarily loquacious Christopher McQuarrie, [26:00 - 43:06 approx] and have a lovely natter with the stars of the new Wes Anderson film, The Phoenician Scheme, Benicio del Toro and Michael Cera. [1:01:37 - 1:15:35 approx] Right at the end of the show, we also bring you an extended e...
May 23, 2025•1 hr 59 min•Season 1Ep. 1002
The Shameless Plug — the show in which Chris Hewitt and Empire editor, Nick de Semlyen, sit down and talk you through the latest issue of Empire — is back for its third episode, folks. This one is dedicated to issue 441 of Empire (on sale now at all good, evil, and virtual newsagents), which features Jurassic World Rebirth on the cover, and Nick talks through the creative process behind our cover, behind his choice of writer for the feature, and drops a couple of Jurassic World tidbits that didn...
May 22, 2025•39 min•Season 1Ep. 1001
Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard's The Extraordinary Miss Flower is part-concert film, part-performance art piece inspired by the life of its subject, a woman called Geraldine Flower. When she passed away a few years ago, her daughter Zoe discovered a number of letters, written over the years by suitors of Geraldine's, which painted a picture of a wildly charismatic, enigmatic and magnetic woman. Zoe's close friend, Icelandic singer Emiliana Torrini, and Zoe's husband, the musician Simon Byrt, were...
May 17, 2025•31 min•Season 1Ep. 1000
This week's episode of the BSME Awards-nominated Empire Podcast had better not be the episode that the BSME Awards judging panel listens to ahead of voting, or our nomination might be rescinded. Which is to say, chaos reigns as Chris Hewitt returns — eventually, after being waylaid by a McQ&A — to the hosting chair, and is joined by Helen O'Hara, James Dyer and, for a limited time only, Nick de Semlyen to talk about movies only they love, the week's movie news including the new Superman trai...
May 16, 2025•1 hr 39 min•Season 1Ep. 999
It's another cracking episode of the (freshly award-nominated) Empire Podcast this week, folks, as Helen O'Hara slips into the hosting chair and tries to wrestle James Dyer and Alex Godfrey into shape as they talk about changeable movie titles, great actor/director pairings, Alex's favourite teen movies, the week's movie news including Donald Trump's proposed tariffs on the film industry, The Long Walk and Highest 2 Lowest trailers, and review The Uninvited, The Extraordinary Miss Flower, The Su...
May 09, 2025•1 hr 39 min•Season 1Ep. 998
It had to happen: the Empire podcast has finally gone to hell — quite literally in this case, as this particular show is episode 666. Perhaps appropriately, James is in the driving seat for this one, embracing this demonically anointed episode to bring you such thematically-relevant discussions as a Mount Rushmore of movie Satans and an off-topic discussion as to why subtitles are also the devil’s work. But that’s not all, because while Chris isn’t here in body, having hopped over to Ireland for...
May 02, 2025•1 hr 58 min•Season 1Ep. 997
It was foretold by the Ancient Ones: The Convergence (or Gunvergence, if you will), the day on which three absolutely slamming action movies will be released at the same time in the UK (albeit on different formats), ushering in a new era of sweaty dad bods, car chases, and many scenes where people die in a hail of bullets. And that day is today, folks. April 25, which sees the release of Gareth Evans' HAVOC on Netflix, Christian Gudegast's Den Of Thieves: Pantera on Prime Video, and Gavin O'Conn...
Apr 25, 2025•1 hr 55 min•Season 1Ep. 996
The Shameless Plug returns, folks, for a second glorious episode in which Chris Hewitt and Empire editor, Nick de Semlyen, sit down in the podbooth and tell you how (and why) the sausage is made. That sausage being the new issue of Empire, which is on sale now in all good, evil, and virtual newsagents. Our dynamic duo talk through the month's big cover feature, a celebration of the 50th anniversary of Jaws, look back to a dark moment in Empire's history, and Chris has a bone to pick with Nick. E...
Apr 24, 2025•32 min•Season 1Ep. 995
This week's Empire Podcast (episode 664 if you're keeping score!) is more packed with goodness than your average Easter egg. Not only do Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, and Alex Godfrey get into a discussion about what exactly makes a musical a musical (along with an impromptu visit to a certain mountain), but they tackle the week's movie news, including the revelation that the Oscars will finally have a Best Stunt Design category (note: this was recorded, due to the Easter holidays, before the new ...
Apr 18, 2025•1 hr 59 min•Season 1Ep. 994
Kevin Macdonald's latest documentary, One To One: John & Yoko, is out now in cinemas around the UK, folks, and it's well worth your time for anyone with even a passing interest in John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, and their lives after The Beatles split up. But if you're a Beatlemaniac, this is manna from heaven as it not only brings you remastered footage of the One To One benefit concerts that Lennon and Ono performed at Madison Square Garden in 1972 (the only full-length concerts Lennon...
Apr 11, 2025•29 min•Season 1Ep. 993
This week's episode of the Empire Podcast is jam-packed etc. etc. Bumper-sized, and so on and so forth. But it's true, perhaps this week more than ever as Chris Hewitt sits down for chats with two pairs — first, there's Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche, who reunite almost 30 years after The English Patient for this week's Odyssey-sampling drama, The Return. [24:05 - 38:32 approx] Then, there's Rami Malek and Laurence Fishburne, stars of the new spy thriller The Amateur, who reflect upon where ...
Apr 11, 2025•1 hr 58 min•Season 1Ep. 992
This week's Empire Podcast sees the long-awaited return of one of our favourite guests, the wonderful British actor Will Poulter, who talks to Chris Hewitt about his role in the new movie, Death Of A Unicorn, playing a prize A-hole, and impromptu tongue-twisters. [20:38 - 33:28 approx]Another returning guest joins us this week, as the delightful Amber Midthunder sits down on Zoom with Amon Warmann to dive deep into her role in the new action comedy Novocaine. That interview does contain some spo...
Apr 04, 2025•1 hr 40 min•Season 1Ep. 991
We start on a director's chair. We pull back to reveal its back. On it is emblazoned a name. That name? George MacKay, the wonderful star of this week's thought-provoking original movie musical, Joshua Oppenheimer's The End, who pops into the podbooth to have a good old natter [from 30:49 - 48:20 approx] with... We pull back. It's another director's chair. On it, another name: Chris Hewitt. Everyone shrugs their shoulders. But wait! There's another chair, and another name! That name is Irwin Win...
Mar 28, 2025•2 hr•Season 1Ep. 990
Welcome to The Shameless Plug, a brand new Empire Podcast regular show, folks. As the title suggests, every month Chris Hewitt will sit down with Empire editor, Nick de Semlyen, for a deep dive into the latest issue of Empire, bringing you the stories behind the stories and covering everything including the cover. This month's cover feature is Thunderbolts*, and Chris talks about his trip to Atlanta to visit the movie's set, while Nick shares tales of seeing a major star cram jelly beans into th...
Mar 27, 2025•34 min•Season 1Ep. 989
It's another bumper-sized edition of the Empire Podcast this week, folks, in which Chris Hewitt sits down on Zoom with the legendary director, Barry Levinson, on the eve of the release of his new gangster movie, The Alto Knights, starring Robert De Niro, Robert De Niro and Robert De Niro's dogs. [23:31 - 40:13 approx] Then, we also hear from Gints Zilbalodis, the director of this year's Oscar-winning animated movie, Flow, in an exclusive excerpt from a recent Empire VIP Club event, hosted by Bet...
Mar 21, 2025•1 hr 43 min•Season 1Ep. 988
This week sees the release of Hans Zimmer And Friends: Diamond In The Desert, a concert film like no other, which captures the great Hans Zimmer and his band in full flow in Dubai, and also intersperses a number of revealing interviews Zimmer conducted with the likes of Christopher Nolan, Zendaya, Billie Eilish, Pharrell Williams, Denis Villeneuve, Johnny Marr, and Timothee Chalamet. It's quite the achievement, and in this Empire Podcast Interview Special, Chris Hewitt talks to Zimmer and the fi...
Mar 18, 2025•32 min•Season 1Ep. 987
Welcome to episode 659 (yes, we're keeping count) of The Empire Podcast, folks. And it's a belter, as Chris Hewitt sits down on Zoom with The Electric State's Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt to talk about their favourite Russo brother, accents, and which one will attend the parade if/when Liverpool win this year's Premier League title. [23:34 -37:14 approx] Chris also has a fun chat about lie detectors, Benihana, and dinner parties from hell with Black Bag stars Michael Fassbender and Marisa ...
Mar 14, 2025•1 hr 45 min•Season 1Ep. 986
This week's Empire Podcast features two cracking interviews with two directors at different stages of their career. First, actor-turned-director Jack Huston sits down on Zoom and tells Chris Hewitt how he managed to make his directorial debut, the black-and-white drama Day Of The Fight, recruiting Joe Pesci for a supporting role, and the influence of his famous grandfather, John Huston. [26:52 - 47:11 approx] Then, Helen O'Hara sits down with the great Bong Joon Ho, and his interpreter, for a lo...
Mar 07, 2025•1 hr 50 min•Season 1Ep. 985
Don't call it a comeback. This week's episode of the Empire Podcast sees Pamela Anderson, star of Baywatch and Barb Wire, sit down with Alex Godfrey to tell him about how Gia Coppola's The Last Showgirl has given her a second chance in Hollywood. [23:46 - 38:29 approx] Our other interview sees Mickey 17 (out next Friday, fact fans!) star Naomi Ackie talk to Helen O'Hara about working with Bong Joon Ho and multiple Robert Pattinsons, and coming to terms with fame. [1:05:30 - 1:19:50 approx] And b...
Feb 28, 2025•1 hr 37 min•Season 1Ep. 984
After the guestapaloozas of recent weeks, we're back to just one guest on this week's Empire Podcast. But what a guest it is, as the great Tatiana Maslany, star of the new Stephen King adaptation The Monkey, pops up on Zoom to talk with Chris Hewitt about death and Comedy Bang Bang. [25:00 - 43:07 approx] In the podbooth, Chris is joined by Helen O'Hara and James Dyer to discuss their favourite Stephen King movies, review The Monkey, The Order, and I'm Still Here, while the movie news section is...
Feb 21, 2025•1 hr 35 min•Season 1Ep. 983
Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight heads to the mean streets of Victorian London for A Thousand Blows on Disney+, and what better way to celebrate than with a special Pilot TV/Empire crossover podcast? Chris Hewitt, James Dyer and Kay Ribeiro get under the skin of Knight’s latest period piece, which combines bare-knuckle boxing with organised crime as all-female gang The Forty Elephants rampage through the East End. Plus, Kay speaks to Knight himself about the origins of the series and to star...
Feb 21, 2025•55 min•Season 1Ep. 982
