Author: Empire

We’ve another bumper-sized edition of the Empire Podcast in store for you this week, folks, with a double whammy of top notch guests — so buckle up! Our first guest is legendary director Barry Levinson, who sat down with our very own Chris Hewitt on the eve of the release of his new gangster joint The Alto Knights to discuss working with Robert De Niro, Robert De Niro, aaaand Robert De Niro’s dogs, as well as the life-changing impact Marlon Brando putting on a glove in On The Waterfront had on him as a young whippersnapper. [23:31 — 40:13 approx] Then,…

Change is afoot in the world of cinematic spy craft. James Bond has been reassigned to Amazon. IMF agent Ethan Hunt is about to undertake quite possibly his last impossible mission — The Final Reckoning. And now, after disappearing at the end of Jason Bourne back in 2016, everybody’s favourite amnesiac assassin is looking for a clean break too. Per THR’s reporting, the rights to Robert Ludlum’s propulsive spy saga have fallen out of Universal’s hands, and the search for a new studio to reboot the franchise and bring Bourne back is very much underway. According to THR, Skydance, Apple,…

In 2023, first-time director Raine Allen-Miller stole our hearts with Rye Lane, a wildly inventive rom-com shot on the streets of South East London. And now, for her next cinematic trick, Variety are reporting that Allen-Miller is set to follow that David Jonsson and Vivian Oparah starrer up with The Roots Manoeuvre, a self-penned joint that will see Allen-Miller take to the streets of London once again — this time for a daring heist comedy. Produced by Amazon MGM Studios’ Orion Pictures and BBC Film, The Roots Manoeuvre is not an unexpected biopic about British rap legend Roots Manuva (though…

Over the last decade, Maika Monroe has emerged as one of Hollywood’s go-to scream queens, notching up a slew of memorable performances in the likes of It Follows, The Guest, Watcher, and, most recently, Osgood Perkins’ ‘Satanic panic’ psychological chiller Longlegs. And now, having just wrapped production on another genre piece, Michelle Garza Cervera’s upcoming remake of The Hand That Rocks The Cradle, Monroe is looking to switch it up with a starring role in Reminders Of Him, a Universal bound adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling romantic drama. Per THR’s reporting, Monroe has already closed a deal to star in…

Listen up, Sand-heads. The Adam Sandler sequel you’ve long long long been waiting for is finally on the way. (No, not The Wedding Singer 2.) For years now, the comedy icon has had a fruitful partnership with Netflix, delivering fresh comedies (the Murder Mystery movies, Hubie Halloween) and more serious fare from the star (Hustle, Spaceman). Now, the streaming service is responsible for finally delivering Happy Gilmore 2 – following up Sandler’s beloved 1996 sports comedy, in which the titular character swaps ice hockey for golf, and becomes something of a sporting legend. The first teaser is here, not only…

In the winter of 1997, Dutch auteur Paul Verhoeven somehow managed to sneak Starship Troopers, an eye-popping satirisation of Robert A. Heinlein’s eponymous 1959 man-vs-alien-bug book, through the studio system. Like much of Verhoeven’s oeuvre, Starship Troopers — the third part of the Dutchman’s ‘sci-fi trilogy’, also comprising Robocop and Total Recall— was widely misunderstood upon release (despite a healthy $121 million box office showing), only going on to be critically reappraised after garnering a cult following in the years that followed. Now, THR is reporting that 28 years after Verhoeven did his part, Chappie and District 9 director Neill…

Hey! Millennials! Wanna hear something scary? Somehow, it’s been 22 whole years since Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan first swapped bodies in Mark Waters’ pop-punk driven noughties classic Freaky Friday, a fan-favourite remake of Disney’s own 1976 Jodie Foster starrer. Wanna hear something exciting though? Two decades on and JLC and Lohan are back back back for Freakier Friday, a full-on legacy sequel from The High Note and Late Night director Nisha Ganatra. And, as the title (which we called!) suggests, things are about to get a whole lot freakier for Tess and Anna Coleman second time around. Check out the…

On this week’s episode of the Empire Podcast we may not be ballerinas, but we do have two twos for you. Yes, that’s right — four guests across two cracking interviews! Kicking us off, Chris Hewitt sits down on Zoom with The Electric State’s Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt to talk about their favourite Russo brother, accents, and which one will attend the parade if/when Liverpool FC win this year’s Premier League title. [23:34 — 37:14 approx.] Then, Chris is back on the beat for a fun chat about lie detectors, Benihana, and dinner parties from hell with Black…

While Stephen King is rightfully known as the Master of Horror (being the man responsible for The Shining, IT, and Carrie will do that for you), the prolific novelist could just as easily be called the Master of Feels. After all, without King, there is no Stand By Me, no The Shawshank Redemption, no The Green Mile. It makes sense then that Mike Flanagan, whose propensity for combining horror and heartfelt storytelling has made the likes of Midnight Mass and The Haunting Of Hill House unmissable, has proven one of King’s best adapters. And having done both Doctor Sleep and…

With Stranger Things’ fifth and final season set to land on Netflix later this year, it’s looking like star Sadie Sink is getting ready to pack up her things and make a move from Hawkins, Indiana to Queens, New York City. According to THR’s reporting, the actor — who’s spent the best part of the last decade playing Max Mayfield in the Duffers’ streaming smash — has signed on to star opposite Tom Holland in upcoming MCU Spidey sequel Spider-Man 4. Rumours of Sadie Sink teaming up with Marvel Studios have been doing the rounds for some time now, with…