The Empire Film Podcast Bauer Media

The Empire Podcast delivers yet another cracker this week, folks. Guest-wise, Chris Hewitt has a lovely Zoom chat with Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, the husband-wife screenwriting team who have become the producers and custodians of the Planet Of The Apes franchise. Here, Chris chats to the pair about how they revived the Apes franchise, how they became a partnership with The Hand That Rocks The Cradle, and their time working on Avatar sequels with James Cameron. [26:10 - 44:53 approx] Then, Daisy Ridley — Star Wars' Rey herself, and the star of this week's Young Woman And The Sea — pops into our studio to have a natter with Alex Godfrey about swimming, sand, and injuries. Oh, and she makes a desperate play for free Honest Burgers, one we can fully get behind. [1:06:17 - 1:22:44 approx] Then, either side of those, Chris is joined in the podbooth by Helen O'Hara and James Dyer to tackle a question from the Empire Podcast subreddit, discuss (most of) the week's movie news, including the latest casting for Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, and review Young Woman And The Sea, giant alien spider horror Sting, and The Beast. Well, Chris, Helen and James haven't seen The Beast, so they recruit Beth Webb and Alex Godfrey to review that for them. Enjoy.

On this week's episode of the Empire Podcast, the doctor is in. Doctor George Miller, that is, as the MD turned visionary director returns to the big screen with his latest slice of post-apocalyptic madness, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. So, naturally, our Chris Hewitt went along and had a big old chat with Dr. George, as we're reliably informed they call him in Australia, and we bring you the full version of that engrossing interview. [46:15 - 1:14:25 approx) Then, Chris is joined in the podbooth by Helen O'Hara, John Nugent, and James Dyer for a fun episode in which they review Furiosa, Jennifer Lopez' Atlas, Richard Linklater's Hit Man, and The Garfield Movie; discuss the week's movie news, including X-Men, Star Trek and Godzilla developments (but not, crucially, the third Benoit Blanc film, which will be discussed next week); and, in a spoilerific listener question section, talk about their favourite movie farewells (this episode is dedicated to Jürgen Norbert Klopp). Hope you guys have seen noted 'Allo 'Allo prequel, Casablanca! Enjoy.

This week's episode of the Empire Podcast asks the question: 'what if an interview started off the rails and went from there?' And answers it with a tremendously fun and, at times, utterly chaotic, interview between our Chris Hewitt and John Krasinski, writer/director/star of new fantasy movie IF. To listen to the most expensive interview of all time, go to 23:18 (approx). More fun and chaos can be found in our other interview this week [1:06:32 - 1:21:52 approx), as Chris sits down on Zoom with Ben Schwartz to talk about his improv show, Ben Schwartz And Friends, which is at the Royal Albert Hall this Sunday (May 19). Tickets on sale now at royalalberthall.com and rejactedjokes.com (And this is an excerpt from the 45-minute Ben Schwartz special, which is currently available in your podcast feed) Either side of those, Chris is joined in the podbooth for more fun and chaos by Helen O'Hara and James Dyer, as they discuss Dune: Prophecy, sports that deserve good movies (and yes, we are aware of Billy The Kid & The Green Baize Vampire, we just didn't mention it), the week's movie news, including Downton Abbey 3, Galactus casting, and the sad passing of the legendary Roger Corman, and review IF, Horde, Mother Of The Bride, and Tiger Stripes. Enjoy.

Ben Schwartz isn't just a terrifically funny actor (he's Jean-Ralphio in Parks & Rec, for the love of Pete!), insanely gifted VoiceOver artist (he's the voice of Sonic, for the love of Knuckles!), writer (he helped write dialogue for C-3PO in J.J. Abrams' Star Wars movies, for the love of Babu Frik!) and all-round geek. He's also one of the greatest improvisational comedians on the planet, and he's bringing his incredible improv show, Ben Schwartz And Friends, to the Royal Albert Hall in London on Sunday May 19, for the love of Queen Victoria! And so our Chris Hewitt felt it was a simply capital time to fire up the old Zoom and head straight into an extended, epic, and very funny conversation with Schwartz about improv, about what people can expect from Ben Schwartz And Friends when they buy tickets via rejectedjokes.com or royalalberthall.com, about his IMDb trivia and mini bio, about voicing Sonic, and his time spent working on Star Wars. Oh, and much more, obviously. Enjoy.

Another guestapalooza on this week's Empire Podcast, folks! First up, Chris Hewitt has a lovely chat with Josh O'Connor — not about his talk-of-the-town tennis movie, Challengers, but his new film, Alice Rorhwacher's La Chimera, for which O'Connor learned Italian and, effectively, manifested into his life by way of a letter. [20:12 - 35:25 approx] Then, Dan Jolin, our very own Planet Of The Apes expert, sits down with Owen Teague, Freya Allan, and Kevin Durand, the lead trio of the new movie, Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes, for a chaotic chat about rapping apes, deadly spiders, and bare feet. [58:00 - 1:14.05 approx] And finally, Chris has a heartfelt talk with Michael Lindsay-Hogg, the director of the legendary Beatles documentary Let It Be, which is getting a wide release on Disney+ this week after years of being placed on the shelf. [1:39:45 - 1:53:05 approx] Either side of those is a fun episode in which Chris is joined in the podbooth by Helen O'Hara and James Dyer, as they discuss the best films to be adapted from TV shows, review all three of the aforementioned movies plus Jerry Seinfeld's Unfrosted, and tackle most of the week's movie news, including the announcement of a Lord Of The Rings movie directed by and starring Andy Serkis. They'll talk Ralph Ineson as Galactus next week, fear not. Enjoy!

The St. Andrews International Film Festival — or Sands, for short — is now in its third year, bringing some amazing films and filmmakers to the beautiful Scottish town of St. Andrews. It's already something of a tradition for the Empire Podcast's Chris Hewitt to pop up there and have a natter with some of those filmmakers, including Joe Russo, who is one of the festival's chief benefactors. This year, Joe brought his brother Anthony with him for a special screening of Welcome To Collinwood and a Q&A with that film's producer, and the brothers' mentor, Steven Soderbergh, and in this podcast, Chris sits down with the Russos to talk about their experiences on that film, the advance of A.I., nearly killing Spider-Man, and much, much more. But that's not all – this is a Sands special, folks, and within you'll also find Chris chatting with top casting director Debra Zane, Sands Festival Director Ania Trzebkiatowska, and Alan Silvestri, the legendary composer of Back To The Future, Predator, Forrest Gump, and Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame. And yes, they do talk about Portals. With something for everyone, this is a cracking podcast special for a cracking new festival. Enjoy.