Author: Empire

If there’s one thing we love here at Empire, it’s a good old meaty Director’s Cut. And if there’s one thing we really love here at Empire, it’s a good old meaty Ridley Scott Director’s Cut. Kingdom Of Heaven, Blade Runner, Gladiator — you name it, there’s a pretty good chance Sir Ridders’ Final Cut is the definitive one to seek out. And with that being said, today Scott has unveiled a suitably epic-sized new cut of his Joaquin Phoenix starring historical epic Napoleon. Surprise dropped on Apple TV+ today, the Alien filmmaker’s newest Director’s Cut boasts a whopping 48…

Ever since Marvel Studios’ mega Hall H return at San Diego Comic-Con last month, everything’s been coming up Milhouse for the MCU. Robert Downey Jr. is back in the Marvellian mix, Deadpool & Wolverine’s been bossing it at the box office, and we’ve learned that a proper Channing Tatum Gambit project *might* actually be a-go at long last. And on top of all that, with Marvel celebrating its 85th anniversary this year, the comic book juggernaut have just dropped a new video to celebrate almost a century of capes and crimefighting goodness. Among the highlights? New blink-and-you’ll-miss-it glimpses at a…

Here’s a tongue twister for your Thursday morning: Can you picture Pepper Potts in a ping pong picture? Because per Variety’s reporting, Pepper Potts actor Gwyneth Paltrow is very soon to appear in a ping pong picture — namely, Josh Safdie’s upcoming A24 joint Marty Supreme. In what will be her first big screen appearance since 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, Paltrow is set to star alongside Timothée Chalamet in Safdie’s solo directorial debut, which has been written by the Good Time co-director alongside regular Safdies collaborator Ronald Bronstein. We still don’t know as of yet who Paltrow — or Chalamet for…

In Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2021 coming-of-age joint Licorice Pizza, Cooper Hoffman gave a breakout performance as a fresh-faced kid who gets in over his head with an older woman. And now, as Variety’s reporting confirms, Cooper Hoffman is set to play a fresh-faced kid who gets in over his head with an older woman once again — albeit with a little less of a ’70s nostalgic glow and a little more of a dangerous twist. The actor, son of Philip Seymour Hoffman, has been cast as Olivia Wilde’s sexual muse in erotically charged thriller I Want Your Sex, the latest…

Already, the legend of Megalopolis looms large. It’s an ambitious original sci-fi apocalypse drama from the legendary Francis Ford Coppola, who spent decades trying to get it made; he eventually sold some of his personal wine fortune to make it happen; it debuted at Cannes to an air of bafflement, with reviews landing all across the board. But the filmmaker himself – the man who gave us The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, The Conversation, and Bram Stoker’s Dracula, to name but a few – wouldn’t have it any other way. Creating something confounding and wildly original was, it seems, always the…

Every good arena spectacle needs its villain. Gladiator had Joaquin Phoenix’s weaselly Commodus. BBC favourite gameshow Gladiators had Wolf. Now, Ridley Scott’s next Roman epic, Gladiator II, is doubling the hissable-baddie quotient: make way for mad Emperors Geta and Caracalla, twins with insatiable egos who delight in the brutal bloodshed of the Colosseum’s gladiatorial combat. Together – played by Joseph Quinn (the Stranger Things 4 breakout who recently excelled in A Quiet Place: Day One, next to be The Fantastic Four’s Johnny Storm) and Fred Hechinger – they’re going to make life particularly difficult for Paul Mescal’s incoming fighter Lucius.…

We’ve got Gods and crows on our minds on this week’s jam-packed episode of the Empire Film Podcast folks — and we’ll tell you for why. In a doozy of a double-guest week, first up we have a sizeable slab of the Empire VIP Club live Q&A Chris Hewitt did with Jeff Goldblum, star of Netflix’s Greek myth riffing new show KAOS, to serve up for your audible delectation. And it is, as you’d expect, Goldblum at his most Goldblummy — Goldblummin’ good stuff if you will [24:13 – 42:52 approx]. Then, flying in to your ears we’ve got an…

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to feast your eyes on the veritable constellation of stars who’ve just been added to the line-up for The Revenant filmmaker Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s latest. Back in February, we brought you news that Top Gun: Maverick and Mission: Impossible action man Tom Cruise had signed on to star in Iñárritu’s new as-yet-untitled movie at Warner Bros. And now today, per Deadline’s reporting, we’ve learned that *deep breath* Anatomy Of A Fall star Sandra Hüller, Killers Of The Flower Moon’s Jesse Plemons, Emmy winner John Goodman, Talk To Me breakout Sophie Wilde,…

The filmography of the late, great Tony Scott is packed with Denzel Washington favourites – from Man On Fire and Crimson Tide, to Déjà Vu and Unstoppable. The director and star had a real creative chemistry spanning years, right up until Scott’s untimely death in 2012. And now, for the second time, Washington is collaborating with Scott’s similarly legendary filmmaker brother Ridley, stepping into Gladiator II – their first work together since 2007’s American Gangster. This time, Washington is donning ancient Roman gear as Macrinus, a wealthy arms dealer who “wants to be Emperor and he’s willing to do anything…

Over the years, the world of cinema has given us some exceptional movie family dynasties. The Coppolas, the Skarsgårds, the Sheens, the Carradines, and the Arquettes to name but a few. Now, with Netflix’s upcoming August Wilson play adaptation The Piano Lesson, the Washingtons are set to solidify their place amongst them. Directed by first-time feature filmmaker Malcolm Washington, son of Denzel, and starring Tenet and BlacKkKlansman’s John David Washington (Malcolm’s older brother), the movie — which also stars Samuel L. Jackson, Danielle Deadwyler, and Ray Fisher — looks set to honour Wilson’s seminal exploration of racial identity, familial legacy,…