The Empire Film Podcast

The Shameless Plug: Spider-Plug And His Amazing Plugs

With just a few days left to pick up the latest issue of Empire magazine, featuring Spider-Man: Brand New Day on the cover, here's the latest episode of The Shameless Plug, arriving in the nick of time to either entice you to buy the issue if you haven't done so, or bask in the stories behind the stories as Chris Hewitt and Empire editor, Nick de Semlyen, cram into the podbooth to talk you through how the magazine sausage was made. From Minions to Monty Python, it's all here, folks! Enjoy!

The Interviews (ft. Jack Whitehall & Haley Bennett; Cary Elwes; Curry Barker)

It's another jam-packed edition of The Interviews, folks! This episode sees Chris Hewitt sit down on Zoom with Haley Bennett and Jack Whitehall, stars of Virginia Woolf's Night & Day, for a discussion that turns into a thinly-veiled attempt to secure a Nando's Black Card. [1:10 - 14:10 approx] Chris also has a lovely chat with the great Cary Elwes about his one-two punch of Dead Man's Wire, now on Sky Cinema, and the TV show M.I.A., now on Paramount+. [15:54 - 27:57 approx] And finally, you get a chunky excerpt from our brand new spoilerific chat with Curry Barker, the director of the year's hottest movie, the horror movie turned cultural juggernaut, Obsession, as he reflects on his changed circumstances, getting a voicemail from Taron Egerton, and more. [29:34 - 41:35 approx]

Helen O'Hara: Minor Celebrity (ft. Tom Hanks & Tim Allen)

If this week's Empire Podcast doesn't give you a Buzz, it might at least give you a... wonderful sense of warmth and well-being, as all-round acting legends Tom Hanks and Tim Allen chat to Chris Hewitt about returning as Woody and Buzz Lightyear for Toy Story 5, and their surprising plans to keep working together. [47:02 — 1:01:44 approx] Either side of that, Chris is joined in the podbooth by Helen O'Hara and James Dyer to discuss the strange phenomenon of minor celebrities being asked to lend their voices to animated movies; movies that could have a sequel if you added an 'S' to their title, a la Aliens; look at the week's movie news, including a discussion of the final Spider-Man: Brand New Day trailer; discover Helen's hatred for a major Hollywood star; and review Toy Story 5 and Virginia Woolf's Night & Day. To podfinity and beyond!

Going On Holiday By Mistake (ft. David Koepp)

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.

The Interviews (ft. Brett Goldstein & Ol Parker; Ben Gibbard; Travis Knight)

It's another packed episode of The Interviews, folks. First off, listener discretion is advised as Chris Hewitt talks to Brett Goldstein, star and co-writer of Office Romance, and his director, Ol Parker, about C-bombs, of which this interview contains plenty, and explicit childbirth scenes. Then, to our great delight, Actual Rock Star Ben Gibbard, frontman of Death Cab For Cutie, pops into the podbooth to have a chat with Beth Webb about his love of movies, working with the late, great Lynn Shelton, and his band's new album, I Built You A Tower. Finally, we bring you a big old chunk of Chris' spoiler special interview with Masters Of The Universe director, Travis Knight, aka He-Director.