The Empire Film Podcast

Ethan Hawke drops by the Empire Podcast studio this week to talk about the critically-acclaimed Oscar frontrunner Boyhood, which is now out on Blu-ray and DVD, while director extraordinaire J.C. Chandor was here to explain why the title of his latest, A Most Violent Year, doesn't actually reflect the amount of violence in the actual movie.

The nominations for the 2015 Academy Awards were announced this week, which makes this particular Empire Podcast - featuring interviews from Into The Woods' Meryl Streep and Testament Of Youth's Alicia Vikander - particularly Oscar-themed, with the team taking the time to analyses the snubs and even review a few of the films what got nodded, such as the wonderful Whiplash.

It's BAFTA nomination week this week, so there are gong-worthy nominees aplenty on the latest Empire Podcast, with Birdman's Michael Keaton and The Theory Of Everything's Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones all dropping by to be better at acting than us. Plus, someone says "I'm Batman" in that voice, and it may well be Mr. Keaton...

The final regular podcast of 2014 ends on a high note, with some stellar interview talent in the form of Tim Burton (Big Eyes) and three members of the Dumb And Dumber To team: Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels and one of them there Farrelly Brothers everyone's talking about.

The Golden Globes nominations were announced, Star Wars revealed some of its names, Jonathan Frakes threw his hat into Star Trek 3's ring - so to speak - and The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies came out. It's been quite a week in movies, so let's talk about it.

The best, the worst, the disappointing, the surprising... the lot, basically. So much is talked about in this year's very special review of the year Empire Podcast that it's over 90 minutes long, and that's without any interviews or anything.

Two thoroughly handsome Hollywood actor types grace the podcast booth with their presence this week, namely Jude Law, here to talk about his new submarine thriller Black Sea, as well as Cary Elwes, here to talk about this new making of The Princess Bride book, As You Wish. Picking between the two would be inconceivable.

Interview the first: The directors of both 22 Jump Street and The Lego Movie, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, stopped by the Empire Podcast this week to remind the world that everything is indeed awesome. Interview the second: The director of both The Imitation Game and Headhunters, Morten Tyldum, stopped by to remind the world that Benedict Cumberbatch is good at that acting thing.

Interstellar is out this week, so Anne Hathaway is on the Empire Podcast, because if you can get Anne Hathaway on your podcast, you get Anne Hathaway on your podcast. The same goes for James Ellroy, who also dropped by this week, blessing us with his husky voice and excellent nicknaming abilities.

This week has been HUGE for movie news, so consider the podcast you're about to listen to a bumper Marvel slate reveal special, as well as a Daniel Radcliffe special, and a Laura Dern special, and a two five-star-film-reviews-in-one-podcast special. You're going to love it. We insist.

Steve Carell drops by this week in honour of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, while David Ayer keeps things simple - title-wise - as he talks about his latest, Fury. As the latter is a World War II tank movie, expect someone to say 'Tanks a lot' at least once in the podcast. Okay, maybe twice.

Yep, it's interview hat-trick time again, with Robert Duvall, Anna Faris and James Marsden all on this week's podcast, here to talk about The Judge, Mom and Best Of Me respectively. Also, DC and Marvel FIGHT TO THE DEATH!

The new guests on this week's Empire Podcast are promoting very different films. Kaya Scodelario was here to talk about The Maze Runner, a young adult adaptation that features giant mechanical spider creatures, while Hugh Grant dropped in honour of screenwriting rom-com The Rewrite, as well as playing The Doctor on Doctor Who that one time, and what happened to his Morph. To work out what that all means, just click play or download now...

Two much-loved Empire favourites enter the podcast booth this week: Sam Neill, in honour of Peaky Blinders' return to our TV screen, and Luke Evans, here to talk about his take on Vlad The Impaler for Dracula Untold. Also, the team review Gone Girl, all while not revealing any spoilers - that's for the Gone Girl spoiler special (featuring David Fincher) which is up on Monday 6...

It's a rare event when there are three interviewees on the Empire Podcast, so be sure to be especially generous with your five-star iTunes reviews this week after you listen to the wise and witty words of Jack Reacher author Lee Child, The Equalizer director Antoine Fuqua and the girl who puts the Girl in Gone Girl, Rosamund Pike.

'Which shop from the whole history of cinema would you most like to visit in real life?' is just one of the questions the Empire Podcast team tackle, with guests Sir Roger Moore and George MacKay dealing with the likes of 'When was the last time you wore knitwear?' and 'How exactly is your name pronounced?' and handling both with aplomb.

After several weeks' of hype, the Richard Ayoade interview you've long been waiting for is finally here, accompanied by some Mad Man - You see? Because of the TV show? And humour? - called Jon Hamm, with the former here to talk about The Double's Blu-ray release and the latter here to talk about Million Dollar Arm's cinema release. And beards.

Not one but two people of the French persuasian come to class up the Empire Podcast studio this week, namely Two Days One Night's Marion Cotillard and Lucy's Luc Besson. Here to sully up proceedings is the now-ex editor of Empire, Mark Dinning, who enjoys his very own exit interview at the hands of the podcast team.

Things get rather explodey in the Empire Podcast this week, with Expendables 3 in cinemas, and Terry Crews and Wesley Snipes in the booth. Look forward to the former talking about his love of Nando's, the robot dance and pec-popping and the latter doing the Blade voice and imagining what an Expendables character called "Jazz Gumbo" would sound like.

In honour of the DVD and Blu-ray release of his latest, Chinese Zodiac, Jackie Chan took part in a special screening and Q&A at London's very own Prince Charles Cinema on Monday, August 11. Here is the recording of the interview portion of the evening, which features the legendary martial artist talking about his love of pandas, his U.S. breakthrough and who he'd most like to work with next. Also, he sings. Quite a lot.

If you've ever wanted to hear Robert Pattinson talk about camels and Simon Pegg explain the finer points of throwing a chair out of a window, you've come to the right Empire Podcast episode. As well as the star of The Rover (Pattinson) and the star Hector And The Search For Happiness (Pegg), there's also an in-depth discussion of DC's new date selections - more fun than it sounds - and a meander around cinema's best U.S. presidents in an effort to create a new Mount Rushmore.

Anarchy reigns on this week's Empire Podcast as Guardians Of The Galaxy's Chris Pratt impersonates the cast of The Only Way Is Essex over breakfast, while the Inbetweeners boys - Simon Bird, James Buckley, Blake Harrison and Joe Thomas - discuss all the nicknames they've had for each other over the years. "Bucky O'Hare" comes up, which is a good indication of the weirdness level generally.

With many of the regular gang off in San Diego for some sort of comic-book convention or other, things take a turn for the weird on the Empire Podcast this week. Sinister, Paranormal Activity and The Purge: Anarchy producer Jason Blum explains how to set up an inflatable double bed on a plane, while Hercules director Brett Ratner talks about his favourite British confectionary. Elsewhere, "dating dealbreaker" movies come up in conversation, and the concept of "cattens" is given, for free, to the world at large.

Here to talk about the upcoming Marvel space opera Guardians Of The Galaxy is the head honcho of all things Marvellous, Kevin Feige, but as you'd expect, we also asked him about just why Edgar Wright left Ant-Man (and much, much more). Then there's Caesar himself, Andy Serkis, who dropped by to talk about his latest, Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes, and suggest what might be his character's favourite cocktail...

24: Live Another Day is (and was) a limited event television series that ran for 12 episodes - not 24, fact fans - and ended up with a lot of people getting killed by Kiefer Sutherland's Jack Bauer. Now that it's over, it's our duty on the Empire Podcast to talk through the institution that is 24, and where the end of this very special London-set season leaves fans of the show. Here to help us do just that is longtime director and producer of the show, Jon Cassar, who came by to talk clocks, cougars and whether they'll all come back...

It's a killer week for films, with Transformers: Age Of Extinction, Boyhood, How To Train Your Dragon 2 and Begin Again all officially out this weekend, so this particular issue of the Empire Podcast is bumper-sized. This is partly because of our interviews with young acting hotshot Jack Reynor and Texan old hand Richard Linklater, but it's mainly down to all the reviews.

The one and only Peter Fonda needs no introduction - but he's getting one anyway. Star of the Hollywood-upturning '60s classic Easy Rider, the father of Bridget, son of Henry and brother of Jane is a legend in his own lunchtime, and thanks to this special Empire Podcast, he may be a legend in yours, talking about everything from sailing, supermodels and surviving his friendship with Dennis Hopper.

Their movies actually come out next week, but that didn't stop Keira Knightley (Begin Again) and Dean DeBlois (How To Train Your Dragon 2) stopping by to talk the usual assortment of nonsense with the Empire Podcast team. Look forward to hearing the Pirates Of The Caribbean veteran using the phrase "Twizzly tits".

In honour of the Edinburgh International Film Festival up in, um, Edinburgh, the Empire Podcast team made the long and treacherous journey over Hadrian's Wall to record a very special live edition of the show, complete with two very special interviews: Elijah Wood and Brian Cox. As well as the really very tame Scottish jokes and worryingly frequent pieces of accidental innuendo you'd expect, you've also got all the news, reviews and Q&As you'd demand. Look forward to hearing Elijah Wood feeling absolutely PHENOMENAL as he is given a bottle of Irn-Bru, and discovering the secret connection that unites Brian Cox to the rest of the cast of The Escapist.

This week's Empire Podcast has a relative newcomer to Hollywood in the form of Ansel Elgort, the male lead in the box office-busting weepie The Fault In Our Stars, as well as a relative old hand in the form of Jon Favreau, here to talk about his latest, Chef. In the news department, the team gets nerdy talking about the chances of a Hulk movie and rather serious when it comes to Kathryn Bigelow's planned hardhitter. Elsewhere, the rises and falls of certain once superfamous actors and actresses are assessed, while more than anyone's fair share of innuendos are uttered when 50 Shades Of Grey comes up.

While the World Cup encourages many to pay more attention to leathery spherical objects getting pushed around a field by 22 people over in Brazil, the Empire Podcast continues to talk about what really matters: film, TV and why If.... boasts a four dot ellipsis instead of a three dot ellipsis.

It's a TV interview special on the Empire Podcast this week, with Orange Is The New Black's Taylor Schilling and Jason Biggs causing a riot in the podbooth and Mr. Sloane's writer/director Bob Weide somehow resisting the undeniable urge to do the same.

Three big hitters are out this weekend: Edge Of Tomorrow, Maleficent and A Million Ways To Die In the West. From the first, we've got director Doug Liman, here to talk about taking over Trafalgar Square and shooting his friend's wedding videos, while from the second, we've got Sam Riley, whose gravelly voice will make your brain rumble. As for the third, well... Seth MacFarlane's a busy man. Outside of the interview department, the team talk about Edgar Wright's Ant-Man anticlimax, Quentin Tarantino getting back on the horse for The Hateful Eight and what to expect from Jurassic World. Then there's your usual dose of movie chat and reviews from the guys who like to occasionally do Sam Riley impressions (but never when he's actually on the podcast).

This week, Empire Podcast veteran Hugh Jackman stops by to talk about London's second best fish and chip shop, Wolverine's love of Rick Astley and his top drawer pirate voice, with newcomer Ian McKellen instead using his interview to pitch for a job as a film reviewer. Both were in town to talk X-Men: Days OF Future Past, which the team also do, on top of some general cinematic chit chat and this week's news.

In the first Godzilla movies, The King Of The Monsters was actually just a guy in a suit, but now with the advent of modern SFX, men stomping on miniature cities are no longer required. But if they were, Gareth Edwards would be the man shouting "Punch the water tower!" and "Drop kick that battleship!", as he's the director of the new reboot of Toho's beloved scaley scoundrel. He's joined in the Empire Podcast this week by Two Faces Of January's Viggo Mortensen (actor) and Hossein Amini (director), who talk about everything from The Parthenon to Montesquieu.

Sensibly deciding to take his papier-mache head off for his Empire Podcast interview, Michael Fassbender was on fine form as he talked about his latest, Frank, as well as his stoat impersonation, his deleted dance sequence at the end of Prometheus and his love of Buck Rogers. Also under the interview lamplight were Mike Brett and Steve Jamison, directors of the inspirational American Samoa football documentary Next Goal Wins, who talk about how they made the beautiful game feel beautiful again.

Game Of Thrones' very own Arya Stark, Maisie Williams, dropped by the Empire Podcast studio this week to talk about 'The Cinnamon Challenge', that Vine she made for The Red Wedding and how Charles Dance introduces himself. Then there's Dohmnall Gleeson, here in honour of Frank (out next week), who happily chats about... well, you're best off finding out for yourself.

You might know him as Bilbo Baggins, or John Watson, or Tim From The Office (his character's full name), but this week Martin Freeman is actually Lester Nygaard from the new TV version of Fargo. He talks to us about everything from the joys of swearing to Billy Bob Thorton's pathological fear of antiquities. Elsewhere, David Cross drops by to talk about the new film he wrote and directed, Hits, and we resist the temptation to grill him about Arrested Development, Mr. Show and The Increasingly Poor Decisions Of Todd Margaret.

This week there's Amazing Spider-Man 2 director Marc Webb, as well as Amazing Spider-Man 2 producers Matt Tolmach and Avi Arad, not forgetting Sweden's very own Lukas Moodysson, here to talk about his latest, We Are The Best, on top of your usual dose of movie news and nonsense.

The Film programme. That theme tune. This 48-minute podcast. And why not? The legendary movie journalist that is Barry Norman stopped by the Empire Podcast booth to talk about his new book, his extraordinary career and just how close he came to punching Robert De Niro.

With The Raid 2 coming out, it made sense to invite its director round for a chat about it, which explains why Gareth Evans appears on this week's podcast. Likewise, as Hammer's latest horror, The Quiet Ones, has Sam Claflin as one of its leads, it seemed like the right thing to ask him over for a cup of tea and a good scream. In other news, there's some new movie news, and the question-and-answer portion of proceedings, Carry On comes up. "Oo matron" and so on.

Four big films are coming out this weekend, namely Noah, The Double, Divergent and Rio 2, which may or may not have something to do with half term arriving. (Hint: it definitely does). In honour of two of said films, there are two interviewees this week, starting with the most beautiful Spix's Macaw parrot in cinema, Anne Hathaway, and ending with the fascinating filmmaker Darren Aronosfky. Expect stories about punching people in the face.

In this super-sized, extra-large, seriously bloody bumper edition of the Empire Podcast, there are six interviewees. Count 'em, six: Muppets Most Wanted's Kermit and Miss Piggy, Captain America: The Winter Soldier's Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan, plus Inside No. 9's Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton. All of this, for free. We're too good to you, we know.

In this week's Empire Podcast, mind-blowingly masculine Labor Day star Josh Brolin is joined by a similarly manly British counterpart in the form of Jack O'Connell (of Starred Up, This Is England and 300: Rise Of An Empire fame). Elsewhere, the team spoil the concept of spoilers for everyone, and decide which unassuming English actor should get their own Taken action franchise.

Do you feel the need, the need to, um, listen to the Empire Podcast? Good, because here's this week's edition, featuring the exceptionally delightful Imogen Poots (of A Long Way Down fame) and Jonathan Glazer (of Under The Skin, Sexy Beast and that Guinness advert fame). Look forward to in-depth discussions of both Steven Seagal and Chuck Norris's oeuvres.

Terry Gilliam. American. Cartoonist. Artist. Python. Film maker. Former Python. Film maker quite a few more times. Opera buff. Screenwriter. Beard owner. Former American. Python once more and director of The Zero Theorem, his latest film, and star of his very own Empire Podcast inteview special. Look forward to hearing his excellent laugh on many occasions (and several excellent anecdotes, to boot).