The Empire Film Podcast

The Ranking is a new monthly edition of the Empire Podcast that ties in with a regular feature in the magazine. The concept is simple: every month, we pick a director/writer/actor, or a franchise, and four Empire writers lock themselves in a room and argue the toss, with the aim of emerging with the definitive Top 10. This edition sees Chris Hewitt, Nick de Semlyen, James Dyer, and Simon Crook (making his pod-debut) discuss the big screen impact of Stephen King, whose incredibly popular novels and short stories have inspired directors like Frank Darabont, David Cronenberg, John Carpenter, Rob Reiner, George A. Romero, Bryan Singer, and one Mr. Stanley Kubrick, to turn them into movies. So there's plenty of discussion of the best of King adaptations, the worst of King adaptations (hello, The Dark Tower), and how the panel got into the great man's writing in the first place. Next up: Martin Scorsese!

For the past few years, Lennie James has been battling zombies as Morgan on The Walking Dead. He's about to jump ship to the spin-off show, Fear The Walking Dead, but somehow he's found the time to create, write, produce and star in new 6-part Sky TV series, Save Me, about a Londoner who, after finding himself accused of his daughter's abduction, vows to track down the real culprit. And we were delighted to welcome Lennie and his Save Me director, Nick Murphy (@nickmurftweets) into the podbooth this week, where they had a wide-ranging chat with Chris Hewitt about the push/pull dynamic between a show's creator and a show's director; Lennie's desire to appear on The Simpsons; and, as big football fans, the recent draw between Liverpool and Spurs. It's all happening. Elsewhere, Chris is joined in the podbooth by Helen O'Hara and Dan Jolin. There, they review I, Tonya and Finding Your Feet, discuss the week's movie news, including the BAFTAs (later in the show), the success of Black

You might not believe it, largely because we know we don't look a day over 290, but the Empire Podcast turned 300 this week. Yes, we've somehow clocked up 300 episodes of movie news, interviews and nonsense since we started way back in 2012 and to 'celebrate', we took to the stage at Kings Place, London, for a cracking evening. And 400 of you came along as well, which was nice, considering that it was Valentine's Day. How romantic. So, sit back, relax and enjoy as the podteam - Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, James Dyer and Terri White - tackle the week's movie news, review Black Panther, The Shape Of Water, and Lady Bird, and subject themselves to a Paxman-style grilling at the hands of the audience. And if you've had your fill of giggling idiots, don't worry - we were graced by two of our country's finest acting talents, as Ruth Wilson popped along to talk to Terri about Dark River, Luther, The Lone Ranger, sheep shearing, Yorkshire accents and the #TimesUp movement. First, thou

This week's Empire Podcast is an unexpectedly classy joint, as Chris Hewitt talks to British acting royalty, the Oscar-winning double whammy of Sir Colin Of Firth and Dame Rachel Of Weisz, about their new movie, The Mercy, which tells the tragic story of Donald Crowhurst's ill-fated attempt to sail the world solo in 1969. And they also talk about their acting nightmares - literally and metaphorically. Back in the podbooth, Chris and James Dyer welcome pod debutant Ben Travis, review Black Panther and that new secret Cloverfield movie that dropped without warning the other day like a U2 album come to life, and discuss the week's movie news, including the Solo: A Star Wars Story trailer. Oh, and they definitively answer the burning question of the week: is Aliens, a film in which Lance Henriksen is only the fourth-scariest thing, a horror movie? It's a toughie.

Daniel Day-Lewis may be retiring, set fair for a life of Countdown and Four In A Bed marathons, but his Phantom Thread director, the great Paul Thomas Anderson, is decidedly not. Much to our delight, as he's this week's guest, having a chat with John Nugent about the film's soundtrack, how Day-Lewis came up with the name 'Reynolds Woodcock', and much, much more. Back in the podbooth, we go from Phantom Thread to phantom menaces as Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, and James Dyer mull over the week's movie news, review Phantom Thread and WWI drama Journey's End, discuss their home cinema set-ups, and audition for Hamilton. Oh, and James reveals the story of the time he was responsible for Holborn Station being shut down. Standard, really.

This week's Empire Podcast sees Lee Unkrich, Pixar legend, World's Biggest The Shining Fan, and all-round decent cove, drop by the podbooth to talk to John Nugent about his new movie, Coco, which will do unspeakable things to your tear ducts. Elsewhere, John joins Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, and James Dyer for a freewheeling episode that includes Chris' first-hand account of what it was like to be present at the Chevy Chase-Mike Read Q&A that has already passed into legend (the night, not Chris' account); reviews of The Post, Coco, and The Commuter; and plenty of discussion of the week's movie news, featuring an elevator pitch from James for Gambit that simply has to be heard to be believed. Oh, and Randy Newman drops by again, much to everyone's horror. Do have a listen. We'd be ever so delighted.

This week's Empire Podcast sees us welcome two of our favourite directors into our podcompany. First up, Joe Wright — hands down one of our favourite English directors called Wright, and maybe even in the top two — talks to Nick de Semlyen about his latest movie, Darkest Hour, which sees Gary Oldman give a barnstorming performance as Winston Churchill, and the career that might have been, as an illusionist. Now that's magic. Then Chris Hewitt sits down for a chat with Martin McDonagh, the writer-director behind the caustic and challenging Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and tries to pass McDonagh's test: do not ask a question that he's heard before. Will he succeed? Find out by listening. And full disclosure: because Chris is an idiot, he forgot to bring microphones to a podcast interview, which is why the sound levels may be a little askew on this one. But it's well worth a listen. Elsewhere, Chris is joined in the podbooth by Helen O'Hara and James Dyer, who discuss thi

The first Empire Podcast of 2018 — Happy New Year, you lot! — boldly goes where no podcast has gone before, as Chris Hewitt discovers Star Trek Discovery with two of its hilarious, eloquent leads, Jason Isaacs and Sonequa Martin-Green. We're going to launch a new catchphrase, right here, right now: Hello to Sonequa Martin-Green! Take that, Kermode! Elsewhere, Chris chats to Andrea Riseborough about her experiences shooting Crocodile, one of the key episodes in the new season of Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror. And then he's joined in the podcast booth by Helen O'Hara and James Dyer, to compare their holiday experiences, talk about The Last Jedi's box office, review All The Money In The World and Hostiles, and launch all-out war on the lovely people at Den Of Geek. Asda car park, 2pm. No touching the face.

2017, eh? What a palaver. But it's been a belter of a year cinematically speaking, and so — in a change from our regular podcast programming — the Empire Podcast team (Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and Nick de Semlyen) locked themselves in the podbooth for ages and chewed the fat over the year that's just about to leave us. It's a show of two halves, with the first part dedicated to answering listeners' questions, and the second segment counting down Empire's Top 20 films of the year. And we hope you'll agree that, whether you love Paddington 2, La La Land, or Get Out, it's the best way you can spend 88 minutes this side of Al Pacino. And thanks for listening to the show this year, folks. Happy New Year from all the team at Empire.

Ho-ho-Hugh! We're pretty much finished for Christmas, but before we gorge on mince pies and Die Hard, we decided to pop an pod-treat in your Christmas pod-stocking: a 20-minute chat with the Australian triple-threat and friend-of-the-pod Hugh Jackman. He talks to us about making The Greatest Showman and saying goodbye to Logan.

On the last Empire Podcast of 2017, the podcast team — Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara and James Dyer — are rambling even more than usual as they discuss the Disney takeover of Fox, answer your Christmas movie questions, review Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and have a big old barney over Aaron Sorkin. To paraphrase a great man we used to know in San Diego back in the '70s, that escalated quickly. And we see out the year in style with our wonderful star guest, Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle's Karen Gillan. Find out which accent her Guardians Of The Galaxy character, Nebula, was supposed to have! Gasp, as she reveals the subtitle of the fourth Avengers movie (in jest, before you start writing your thinkpieces)! And ponder her love of Kubrick, ending in a promise we'd love to help her fulfil one day. Do you want to hear an Empire Podcast dedicated solely to Karen Gillan and the Empire team waxing lyrical about Stanley Kubrick? Of course you do. This is the last regular podcast of the year, but

This week's Empire Podcast is really going all in on all things Franco. James and Dave, the brothers who star in (and, in James' case, directs) The Disaster Artist, the story behind the making of legendarily awful movie The Room, drop by for a chat about that with John Nugent. Then James Dyer talks to WWE legend-turned-actor, John Cena, about being strong like cartoon bull in new animated movie Ferdinand — and wouldn't you know it, a Franco of a different kind crops up in conversation there too. We're nothing if not highbrow on the Empire Podcast. Elsewhere, the podcast team — Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara and James Dyer — tackle the week's movie news, including Bryan Singer's departure from Bohemian Rhapsody and Quentin Tarantino's possible Star Trek movie; dissect the week's big releases, including Stronger and Takashi Miike's 100th film, Blade Of The Immortal; and definitively answer the question that's been driving the internet nuts: is Die Hard a Christmas film? The answer may shoc

This week's slightly-shorter-than-usual Empire Podcast sees the return of one of our favourite podguests, as Dan Stevens, our once and future spirit animal, pops back in to talk Dickens with Helen O'Hara. Not randomly, you see — he's playing Charles Dickens in The Man Who Invented Christmas. Elsewhere, with Helen swanning around in Malta, it's double trouble in the podbooth as Chris Hewitt and James Dyer talk about great movie scenes set in laundrettes (that doesn't wash with them), review the week's big releases, and unearth the unsettling revelation that James hasn't seen a single episode of one of the greatest sitcoms of all time. This is total BS. Oh, and there's also a detailed breakdown of the new issue of Empire, which we'd all like you to go out and buy. Once you've listened to the podcast, of course.

Unless you've been hiding out in the middle of Knowhere, you'll have noticed a little teaser trailer dropped today, for an equally little film called Avengers: Infinity War. Filled with plenty of images designed to fuel discussion and speculation — just how does The Vision do that? Where does Steve Rogers get his beard oil? Why didn't Spider-Man have spider-sense in his solo movie? — it prompted us to do just that. So our resident MCU experts, Helen O'Hara and Chris Hewitt, got together and ended up going through the trailer shot by shot, for your listening pleasure. And yes, they managed to talk for half an hour about a trailer that doesn't even last for three minutes. Head this way for hashtag compelling content as they bring their MCU knowledge to bear, speculate wildly, and call Thanos, the big bad of the MCU, a 'bumface'. He won't be happy.

On this week's Empire Podcast, Lee Child — the man behind all 22 Jack Reacher books — drops by for another appearance, and once again drops a hot scoop: the name of the 23rd Reacher book. Thanks, Lee — cheque's in the post. Elsewhere, Red Oaks and Submarine star Craig Roberts challenges Chris Hewitt to a coffee-fuelled Pro Evo-off, while the podcast team — Chris, Helen O'Hara and James Dyer — get to grips with the week's big releases and multiple Shafts. Strap yourselves in, innuendo fans — it's going to be a bumpy ride.

This week, Henry Cavill talks to us about Justice League, which he is definitely not in, no siree. Nope. Plus, we chat to the stars of Mudbound, Garrett Hedlund and Jason Mitchell, about Oscar hopes and birthday buddies.

On this week's podcast, we chat to the Oscar-nominated star of Film Stars Don't Die In Liverpool Annette Bening, and the Oscar-winning writer-director behind Manchester By The Sea and the BBC's adaptation of Howard's End, Kenneth Lonergan. More from the Empire Podcast: http://www.empireonline.com/podcast

An extensive, shambolic and hilarious interview with the stars and creators of the cult Brit sci-fi sitcom Red Dwarf – plus, four of Empire's smeggiest smegheads have a long chat about why they love the show. More from the Empire Podcast: http://www.empireonline.com/podcast

For whom the Bells toll! It's an inadvertent Bell Special on the podcast this week, as we welcome Jamie Bell and Tobin Bell (no relation) to ring the chimes of their new films, 6 Days and Jigsaw, respectively. On next week's podcast: Kristen Bell, Lake Bell, Toby Kebbell, Isabelle Huppert, Toby Kebell, and the ghost of Alexander Graham Bell. Maybe. More from the Empire Podcast: http://www.empireonline.com/podcast

Ah…now eventually, you do plan to have Jeff Goldblum on your… on your Jeff Goldblum Interview Special, right? Hello?… Hello? Yes?

Another guest bonanza! Interviews with Vince Vaughn and S. Craig Zahler, the respective star and director of Brawl In Cell Block 99; and Her Majesty Claire Foy, the star of Breathe and The Crown – plus, Sam Bain, the writer/co-creator of Peep Show, joins us in the studio as a guest host. More from the Empire Podcast: http://www.empireonline.com/podcast

A triple-bill of guests! First up, former boy wizard turned proper actor Daniel Radcliffe talks surviving the jungle in Jungle; then, Jason Isaacs talks surviving the death of Stalin in The Death Of Stalin; and finally, Gerard Butler talks surviving a geostorm in – well, you get the idea, Geostorm. More from the Empire Podcast: http://www.empireonline.com/tags/empire-podcast

A 40-minute conversation with one of the world's greatest living filmmakers about his new Netflix series Mindhunter, plus news on his future projects. More from the Empire Podcast: http://www.empireonline.com/tags/empire-podcast

This week, the Scandinavian star of The Snowman drops by talk about knitted jumpers and frosty murders – plus, the director of The Meyerowitz Stories drops by to talk about director t-shirts and Adam Sandler's serious side.

It's a Blade Runner 2049-themed episode this week, as we are joined by directors past and present from the world of replicants, whom we question with the scrutiny of a Voight-Kampff test. Plus, the two-handed pod team ponder which movie John would win in a fight.

On this week's ever-so-slightly late edition of the award-winning-and-losing Empire Podcast, we chain director Mike Flanagan to a metaphorical bed and ask him to tell us all about his Stephen King adaptation, Gerald's Game, which is now available on Netflix. Plus, the podteam - Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara and Terri White - wax lyrical about the week's big movie news, review Goodbye Christopher Robin, Daphne and Gerald's Game, and review their own favourite non-Empire podcasts. That's lot of bangily-bang for your bangily-buck.

This week, we say hello to prolific Brit director Michael Winterbottom – and say a sad goodbye to our arthouse guru. More from the Empire Podcast: http://empireonline.com/podcast

This week, we're joined by the star and director of Kingsman: The Golden Circle – and a few hundred lovely Empire readers – as we record our podcast live on stage, from the London Podcast Festival in the extremely shiny King's Place. Thanks to everyone who came along! More from the Empire Podcast: http://www.empireonline.com/podcast

Episode 279 of the Empire Podcast sees us travel to the Yorkshire home of God's Own Country director, Francis Lee, while the former Ramsay Bolton, Iwan Rheon, pops into the podbooth. Plus, the Empire Podcast team discuss the sudden vacancy at the helm of Star Wars Episode IX, discuss much-missed directors, and review Stephen King's It.

This week, the inestimably brilliant Bill Nighy drops by to talk The Limehouse Golem; plus Adam Wingard talks Death Note and Godzilla vs King Kong. More from the Empire Podcast: www.empireonline.com/podcast Bill NighyAdam WingardEmpire Podcast

Come with us if you want to pod! For our first retro spoiler special, we dive back into James Cameron's classic Terminator sequel – plus, an extensive chat with the T-1000 himself, Robert Patrick.

This week, the star of Detroit (and Empire Podcast #100 guest)Will Poulter drops by to talk about Detroit and trainers; and Doug Liman talks American Made and housesharing with Tom Cruise. More from the Empire Podcast: http://www.empireonline.com/podcast

He's back! We have a long and fascinating chat with the recently un-retired filmmaker behind Ocean's 11 and this week's Logan Lucky. More from the Empire Podcast: http://www.empireonline.com/podcast

On this week’s pod: we got The Tooch! More from the Empire Podcast: http://www.empireonline.com/podcast

On this week's pod, a former Vice President and Nobel laureate, and a former dragon tamer and Ghost Story-teller. More from the Empire Podcast: http://www.empireonline.com/podcast

This week, Charles Xavier and Walter White pop by the pod booth for a chat. Plus, with Chris and Helen away, a new hope... More from the Empire podcast: http://www.empireonline.com/podcast

This week, we chat to His Holiness Stan Lee, and Kumail Nanjiani, star of the superb new romcom The Big Sick. 'Nuff said. More from the Empire Podcast: http://empireonline.com/podcast

Beamed direct from San Diego Comic-Con 2017, this week's slightly later-than-usual podcast features the man behind Ghostbusters, the team behind Marvel's Inhumans, and three very tired Empire writers. Excelsior! More from the Empire podcast: http://empireonline.com/podcast

On this week’s pod, the producer behind Blumhouse Productions, and the director and producer of Pixar’s Cars 3. Plus, the team discuss which sequels have ruined their original movies. More from the Empire Podcast: http://empireonline.com/podcast

Andy Serkis plays every member of the pod team this week, with Spider-Man: Homecoming director Jon Watts also popping by. (Or is he actually Andy Serkis?)

We welcome Spidey-Man Tom Holland and Okja-Woman Lily Collins into the booth this week. (Did we get Tom Holland to rank the Tom Hollands in order of best Tom Holland? Of course we did.)

The director of Jurassic World, Star Wars Episode IX and this week's The Book Of Henry drops by to talk bad reviews, hanging out with Spielberg, and how tall Snoke is. More from the Empire podcast: http://empireonline.com/podcast

To mark Empire's 100 Greatest Movies poll, we gather three podders into the pod booth for an hour-long conversation special. See the full 100 Greatest Movies list here: http://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/best-movies/ More from the Empire Podcast: http://empireonline.com/podcast

This week, we try to think of 10 Things We Hate About Julia Stiles, but we can't, because she's so nice. So we don't. More from the Empire Podcast: http://empireonline.com/podcast

We've been very clear: this week's podcast offers strong and stable interviews with Michael Sheen and Rachel Weisz. It's the certainty the country needs. More from the Empire Podcast: http://empireonline.com/podcast

It's a guest bonanza this week, as we welcome the star and director of Sundance hit Beatriz At Dinner, plus the star of Netflix show Glow and a podcasting legend. More from the Empire Podcast: http://www.empironline.com/podcast

This week, the director of McLaren, No Way Out and Cocktail drops by the pod booth. Plus, the team discuss which internet memes could make a good movie. wow! such podcast! very empire! More from the Empire Podcast: http://empireonline.com/podcast

In tribute to the legendary Sir Roger Moore, who sadly passed away today, we are reposting this 40-minute interview special from 2012. Raise a vodka martini to a great man. More from the Empire Podcast: http://www.empireonline.com/podcast/

This week, we pull the sword of journalistic rigour from the stone of award-nominated podcasting to speak to Charlie Hunnam, star of King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword. More from the Empire Podcast: http://www.www.empireonline.com/podcast

This week's guest has always been the McBridesmaid, never the McBride...until now. More from the Empire Podcast: http://empireonline.com/podcast