The Empire Film Podcast

You're not going to believe this, but Cara Delevingne is on this week's podcast. As well as talking about Paper Towns, the upcoming John Green adaptation, she also sings the theme tune to Pokeman. Plus! The Empire Podcast team say goodbye to their editor, Ali. It's been emotional.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. may be out on August 14, but one of the men from The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is on the podcast this week, namely Mister Hugh Grant esquire. He talks toy cars, the Cold War and spies in the family, while the Empire Podcast team stick to the new Fantastic Four movie and which is the best Chris: Pine, Pratt, Evans or Hemsworth?

You might know him as the voice of Olaf from Frozen, or you could be a big Wedding Ringer fan, or you could love his work with Billy Crystal in The Comedians, but however you know him, he's Josh Gad, and here's on the show this week to talk about Pixels. Every single one of them. Ever.

The inside story on Inside Out, hand-wringing over the announcement of an Emoji movie and Dan Jolin being habitually wrong on the subject of spoilers. All that and more in this week's podcast, guest hosted by geek queen Helen O'Hara. She ran pell mell straight from an interview with Hugh Grant to get to the podbooth on time. It was terribly dramatic.

The ferociously talented Jake Gyllenhaal is the guest on this week's podcast, as is the ghost of San Diego Comic Con, which haunts this episode like a, um, ghost. In short: the team wraps up the biggest headlines from the con, and reviews the likes of True Story and Ant-Man.

Just two members of the podcast team appear on this week's episode, namely Phil De Semlyen and Ali Plumb, both of whom are at the San Diego Comic-Con to show off their impressive cosplay costumes. Expect to hear signs of severe sleep deprivation and some seriously lame jokes.

The charming and wonderful Hayley Atwell stops by the Empire Podcast booth for a lengthy chat about her Marvel TV series, Agent Carter, touching on mid-audition nausea and how she'd fight Empire if it came to it. Elsewhere, the team comes to terms with Terminator Genisys and The Crystal Skull.

You're not going to believe this, but the Edinburgh International Film Festival invited the Empire Podcast team back for the second year in a row, and this is the result: over two hours of silly questions, silly answers, movie news and reviews, featuring not one, not two, but three interviews. We spoil you, we know.

Ian McKellen and the cast of Entourage: not your typical gathering of famous folk, but then again, the Empire Podcast is not your typical film programme. Be sure to tune in to hear Gandalf singing songs from Beauty And The Beast, as well as Johnny "Drama" Chase talking about dinosaur heads. It'll make sense in context, promise.

Two interviewees this week, both of them undeniable legends. First up is David "The Hoff" Hasselhoff, here to talk about his new show, Hoff The Record, which airs June 18 at 9pm on Dave. Then there's Richard E. Grant, here to talk about Queen And Country, as well as - you guessed it - Withnail And I.

Espionage comedy Spy offers up two interviewees this week, with both director Paul Feig and star Peter Serafinowicz stopping by to reveal everything we ask of them (as all good spies should).

Simon Pegg appears on the Empire Podcast for a record-breaking fourth time this week, talking about everything from this new Star Trek script to his latest, the Brit rom-com Man Up, out now.

The Prince Regent, Bertie Wooster, Gregory House, Viscount George Bufton-Tufton, Frederick Little and Jasper from 101 Dalmatians - Hugh Laurie's played them all, and been very funny with it. He continues that funny streak with his Empire Podcast interview for Tomorrowland: A World Beyond, explaining how how be manages that pitch-perfect English accent.

Mad Max: Fury Road is out this week, as is Pitch Perfect 2, but we're here for the other guys: A Royal Night Out (also in cinemas this weekend) and Man Up (out in two weekends' time) with Sarah Gadon and Lake Bell both in the studio to talk about their respective films.

The legendary host of America's foremost late-night talk and news satire television program, The Daily Show, Jon Stewart is on this week's podcast to chat about his directorial debut, Rosewater, as well as The Winslow Boy, John Oliver, and much more besides. Also on this episode are Spooks: The Greater Good's Peter Firth and Kit Harington, who talk horses, running up walls and surviving the Oscars.

The utterly charming Carey Mulligan is the guest on this week's Empire Podcast, talking about everything from sheep farming to how to use "madding" in a sentence without saying "Far From The Madding Crowd".

Two British actors masquerading as American superheroes are on this week's Empire Podcast, namely Paul Bettany (The Avengers Age Of Ultron's The Vision) and Charlie Cox (Daredevil's, um, Daredevil). Also, the team finally tackle that question of questions: what are the best running scenes in cinema?

Call him Hans Gruber, The Sheriff Of Nottingham or his real name, Alan Rickman, but the star-cum-director of A Little Chaos is a veritable living legend, and one willing to slum it in the muck and the mire of this week's Empire Podcast. Expect Die Hard references aplenty. Elsewhere, the team wrap their heads around the new Terminator Genisys trailer and come to terms to the new Star Wars The Force Awakens trailer.

Ryan Gosling is on the podcast this week to talk about his directorial debut Lost River, out today. So for details on that, his love of cereal and Disneyland-based friendship with Guillermo del Toro, be sure to listen to this episode, which also features reviews of John Wick and Cobain Montage Of Heck.

Greg Nicotero is a special effects legend. From kicking off his career working with George A. Romero on Day of the Dead to his current role as Walking Dead gore guru - goru? - and director-cum-producer, he's seen everything that could possibly be covered in fake blood be covered in fake blood. Here, he talks all about his life in the business, including the emotional farewells he's given to beloved cast members killed off the incredibly popular show. So, to give fair warning, if you're not full up to date with The Walking Dead Season 5, go and watch it all, then come right back and listen to this.

The Empire Podcast comes out just a little earlier than normal, what with this Easter weekend thing and all, and to celebrate the kind folks at Universal have released Fast & Furious 7 to bamboozle and enthrall. Here, in this hour-long podcast, the team comes to terms with everything Vin Diesel has to offer. Plus, Ron Moore!

Antonion Banderas and his beautiful voice take centre stage in this appropriately-named Antonio Banderas interview special Empire Podcast. In town to talk about the delightfully bonkers The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, we took the time to not only ask about his character in it, Burgerbeard, but also much, much more, from Expendables 3 to The Skin I live In, not forgetting a certain Puss In Boots...

Sir Ken is the one and only guest on this week's show, a show where one of us nearly dies, and there's a good deal of thought given to ways that Tom Cruise could die, depending on what happens with the next Mission Impossible movie. As ever, it makes sense in context, promise.

Two acting legends enter the Empire Podcast booth this week in the form of Sir Ben Kingsley and Sean Penn, with the former here to talk about next week's Robot Overlords and the latter chatting about this week's The Gunman. Elsewhere, the team come to terms with a giant meteorite hitting the earth. In makes sense in context, honest.

In an unfortunately mildly unexciting week for movies, we have two very exciting guests talking about two movies out next week, namely Jim Parsons for Dreamworks animation Home and Gemma Arterton for serial killer comedy The Voices. The mid-'00s dramedy Ed comes up, for some reason. You'll see.

Admire our restraint as we speak to Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell about Chappie and only bring up the new Alien movie twice! Applaud our ingenuity as we ask Julianne Moore whether she does her own running - it works in context, promise - and try to find her a football team to support! Also, listen to this podcast! Exclamation marks!

Spoiler: Birdman won Best Director and Best Picture, while Boyhood did not. Neil Patrick Harris, meanwhile, did not win Best Presenter, though perhaps failing to make it a real category was his biggest mistake. Fortunately the Empire Podcast is here to make everything all right with its unique blend of sleep deprivation and sugar-high funtimes. Feel free to play us off at any time, by the way.

It's the Oscars this weekend, which means most of the Empire Podcast team are currently trying to amass as much confectionary and is humanly possible in advance of the all-night onslaught of famous folk in very expensive clothing on Sunday. But before all that happens, here's a great little podcast featuring It Follows' wonderful Maika Monrie and the one and only Bill Nighy. Remember, kids: don't buy drugs!

Two of Empire's favourite people star in this week's podcast, with tried-and-true 27 per center Titus Welliver making his debut and old hand Douglas Booth returning for his third visit.

It's a directorial double-header this week, with Ex Machina's Alex Garland and Inherent Vice's Paul Thomas Anderson on the show to talk about their respective movies and a hell of a lot more (think baths, for some reason). Also, a franchise discussion bonanza - the question being: is anything sacred?

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.