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The Empire Film Podcast is the official podcast of Empire, the world's biggest and best movie magazine. We bring you all the latest movie news and nonsense, as well as reviews of the week's new films, an assortment of irreverent, film-related chat and interviews with some of Hollywood's best and brightest. New episodes every Friday.
For our famous deep dives into specific movies, subscribe to the Empire Spoiler Special Podcast at https://empire.supportingcast.fm/
Love TV? Subscribe to our sister show, The Pilot TV Podcast, which covers every quality show landing on the small screen — because you can't watch *everything*. https://podfollow.com/pilot-tv-podcast/
For our famous deep dives into specific movies, subscribe to the Empire Spoiler Special Podcast at https://empire.supportingcast.fm/
Love TV? Subscribe to our sister show, The Pilot TV Podcast, which covers every quality show landing on the small screen — because you can't watch *everything*. https://podfollow.com/pilot-tv-podcast/
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3And 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
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.
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!
"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.
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!
The new episode of The Shameless Plug is here, folks, and this month sees Chris Hewitt sit down with freshly-minted award winner, Empire editor Nick de Semlyen, to delve into one of the most special issues of Empire magazine in many a moon: our world exclusive first look at Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, for which Nick went on something of an odyssey of his own, as he explains here. They also talk about what's in the rest of the January 2026 issue (on sale now in all good, evil, and virtual newsagents), including the 2026 Preview, James Cameron tackling reader questions, and the wild origins of Chris' hilarious interview with Anaconda stars, Jack Black and Paul Rudd. Oh, and Corin Hardy, director of the upcoming horror film Whistle, drops in for a chilling cameo. Your ears aren't ready for it. 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!
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.
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.
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!
Another month, another issue of Empire, another episode of The Shameless Plug. This time, Chris Hewitt and Nick de Semlyen sit down to talk about how Stranger Things ended up on the cover of the world's biggest movie magazine, and nearly did so upside down. And they also talk about less strange things, including the stories behind the stories of the latest issue of Empire, on sale now in all good, evil, and virtual newsagents. From wild ukulele tales from the set of Wake Up Dead Man to recruiting David Lowery to write a personal tribute to Robert Redford, it's another belter of an episode, somehow even more shameless than the last. 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!
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The Empire Film Podcast is a vibranthttps://superfilmeshd.me/filmes/ hub for movie enthusiasts, offering a blend of the latest film news, reviews, and engaging discussions. As the official podcast of Empire magazine, known for its comprehensive coverage of cinema, it features new episodes every Friday that include reviews of recent releases, interviews with industry talent, and lighthearted film-related banter.
Maestro
Awesome episode, Maria was a great addition and the guys are bouncing off each other like rubber 😁
thank you for this episode.🫶🏼
time stamps would be good so people know what time in the pod the bits they like are.
RIP Seb YNWA
Where's 5th June podcast?
boring as hell
So disappointed with Empire right now! Removing content without any pre-warning and then moving it to an subscription only service that you have to pay for to access is a slap in the face of Empire supporters. I understand why they have the need to charge for it but at least have the decency to pre-warn (ex)loyal subscribers or only charge for new material. Ironically, if they hadn't been so underhanded and sneaky about it, I would happily have paid to listen to future spoiler specials but instead I feel like I have been slapped in the face and I will never buy a copy of Empire Magazine again.
01:13:13 - 01:17:07 to skip Helen's anti-Joker rant
how to completely miss the point.... Joker is about human condition, not about monsters.
Simply my go to podcast.
did we know that tony mentions the endgame in Age of Ultron? am I just slow?
Unfortunately, this podcast becomes a lecture from the Left more often than not.... it is "problematic".
Over 50 minutes of random, unrelated dialogue? Not only is that unprofessional, it's pathetic
Gotta love Kevin. The guy is a fantastic storyteller, regardless of what you think of his work.
love the podcast these guys should have a TV show
Anyone else having trouble downloading this episode?
This podcast is somehow longer than the movie and I am just as excited!
no in