Live At London Podfest: September 2026 (ft. Corin Hardy)

14:49Corin Hardy:So this is Oh yeah No Coran, that's worse Oh my god This is the

14:58Chris Hewitt:Oh, okay. Oh. That's great. That was a very good ooh, by the way. I like that. Why don't we put that poster over a big hole in the wall and nobody will know. If anyone wants to escape from this podcast, this man can get you out. The problem is it takes 30 years. But seriously, how often do you really look at a man's shoes? Yeah, not that often. Exactly, right? Although I look at a man's shoes much more often now because of the Shawshank Redemption. Yes.

15:31Corin Hardy:What other quotes from movies taught you something that you now have taken into your life?

15:37Chris Hewitt:Never rub another man's rhubarb. Before Batman, I was constantly... Rubbing the rhubarb? Rubbing another man's rhubarb. How do I get out of this chicken shit outfit is the one that springs to mind, if I'm honest with you. So would you just go into their gardens? Sure, Helen. Let's go with that, shall we? Go for the questions.

16:03Corin Hardy:A real phrase, though, to rub rhubarb. I mean, where did that come from, I wonder? Or did Jack Nicholson just make it up?

16:09Chris Hewitt:It has the feel of an ad-lib about it. What about yourself? What other movie quotes do you live and die by? Do you get busy living... Groovy. Oh, yeah. Groovy. I get a lot of shit at Empire for my reviews writing, for some reason. I don't know why it made me retire from the reviews writing business, but apart from the Attack of the Clones fiasco, I wrote a review of Shawshank years ago in our Final Cut section. No, that's what it's called now because it's good and I edited it. But back when it was shit, I wrote a Shawshank review. What did you give it? I gave it five stars because it's one of the greatest movies ever made and it's one of my top ten films of all time.

16:52Chris Hewitt:And I will be at the Cine Supper and it's going to be amazing. and I didn't realise it's pronounced Chidding Lai so that's good, thank you for that and I started this review with if you haven't seen Shawshank, chances are you're beyond redemption and I ended it with get busy living, get busy buying and I was so

17:15Chris Hewitt:I was so proud of that little Chris when I had hair and I was like, oh, and dreams and hopes, before the cracks I was so, yeah. My pockets were filled with crack. I just rubbed another man's rhubarb, but I was so happy. And then those lines came out of me, and I thought, this is great. This is a pinnacle. This is exactly what Empire has been missing. Good writing. And then I've been, I lambasted. Yeah, it was a bit hot. Lambasted publicly for that for many, many years. But anyway, hey-ho. So, Corinne, what are you going to do with this poster? Is this...

17:52Corin Hardy:Well, I just wanted to say that the Shawshank Redemption Cine Supper, if anyone's interested in coming down, you go on to thechiddinglifefestival.co.uk or look on my Instagram and things like that. I'm posting links to it. There's also comedy and burlesque. I don't know if anyone saw the movie Lee, which I believe I talked about a couple of years ago. Tony Penrose, who's the son of Lee Miller, is presenting a making of the Lee Miller film as well as an event starts it off. So there's all sorts of, there's jazz, there's poetry, and there's the Cine Supper. So chillinglifefestival.co.uk.

18:29Chris Hewitt:So tickets are available there right now. And you didn't just bring this poster for your health, did you?

18:35Corin Hardy:No, but I've brought other things to, you know, because I feel like if I come here, I've got to kind of pay my way with some kind of gifts and things like that. So, I mean, this is not the Cine Supper, though. This is to do with Whistle.

18:50Chris Hewitt:Okay. Wow, wow, wow.

18:52Corin Hardy:All right. I brought some gifts. Do you guys like free things? Some handouts. Well, I brought a Whistle Blu-ray to give to the lucky winner of a question or something. All right.

19:04Chris Hewitt:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

19:05Corin Hardy:And I also brought this, which is a very recent thing. It's a... Thank you. I just did a music video for one of the songs in the film Whistle, which is Spider-Man Gunship. and it's... Who can see the reference on here? Huh? Escape from New York. Thank you. Yes, so it's an Escape from New York style gunship synth wave whistle poster signed by the band because it's for their cover of Time After Time. So I brought this along. So if anyone would like this poster and this movie, Chris is going to ask you a competition question. I'm going to ask a question of some script.

19:48Chris Hewitt:I thought you were going to ask a competition question type thing. All right. Who has seen Whistle, by the way? Which is Corrin's movie. Thank you. Came out this year. Has one of the most astonishing deaths I've ever seen in a horror film. Woo! Actually, two. But the car crash one? Jesus Christ. We just did a big feature in that in Empire. Yeah, that was nice. Thank you. Picking Corrin's brains about how they did that because it's kind of incredible. It's also on Prime Video, by the way. If you haven't seen it, check it out. Thank you. It's a ton of fun. Right, so Whistle That's not the question by the way Alright Who Directed Whistle Who I want hands up for this I don't want this free for all chaos of shouting out If you know the answer Who stars in Whistle Okay There was one rule One rule You had one job One job Who let Phil Tippett in here, honestly?

20:52Chris Hewitt:I'm going to do a different question Just in case people heard that All right Corrin, give me the DVDs So I can see the cast list

21:01Chris Hewitt:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah I got it, I got it Yep, I got it Who has a supporting role in this Hands up, but don't shout it out Who has a supporting role And hands went up immediately I love that your hand is up before he's asked the question That is some brilliant psychic shit and I'm here for it Okay, alright, I'll play your sick game Go on Your hand went up first Okay What do you think I was going to ask? Was that? She's got me Shit She's got me So it wasn't by a specific supporting role? but you just said she's got me so she's got you again she's got me again got you there Helen she has that's my lawyer I think you have to give it is this legally binding yeah pretty much alright fuck it you've won Wesley

21:59Corin Hardy:wait wait wait no I've got I've got a second question I've got a second I've got a second question second question okay

22:04Chris Hewitt:can we give this back it's about 10 rows 12 rows 15 rows anyway you'll get it

22:09Corin Hardy:there's a there's a there's a great making of on there if anyone's if anyone watches things like making-ofs anymore. There's a great making-of that is on there. The second question for the poster is I guess is it hands-up thing again? Yeah, hands-up. Anyone know what I'm going to ask? Who sang the original Time After Time? Helen. You can choose. The sort of corally shirt back at the back? Correct.

22:45Chris Hewitt:There you go. Well done. You have won the amazing Whistle Gunship poster.

22:54Corin Hardy:Come and grab it. Thank you. Thank you so much. It's like when I was at TV game shows where you win prizes.

23:02Chris Hewitt:Yes, it pretty much is. So the poster's going back. We're good. The question I was going to ask, by the way, who has a supporting role in Whistle as a teacher. And the hand went up at the back. Yes. Nick Cross. There we go. Now what did they win? You directed the movie. Our admiration. I don't have enough a prize. Our admiration. So, Karin, what's your year been like? Because Whistle came out earlier in the year and seems to have found its family now. Yeah, I'm very happy. It did really, really well. was number one horror film for two weeks?

23:40Corin Hardy:Yeah, when it came out on Amazon, it suddenly went to number one on the Amazon trending number one horror movie for a couple of weeks. And then it stayed in that sort of top 10 for a while, which was just nice to know. Because when it came out of the cinema, I don't think people really knew it was out. Yeah. But I hope anyone who hasn't seen it, I hope you enjoy it if you watch it. Yeah, very much so.

24:00Chris Hewitt:Are you working on anything at the moment?

24:02Corin Hardy:I've been working away on my next feature film and TV show. lots of horror and some vampires and some assassins and serial killers and things like that in different projects if that's all one of the best film ever I like the idea of them being in the same one yeah that would kind of work what's your feeling on vampires what are you like in a vampire movie are you a purist are you here for sparkles I think you know that answer I'm a I'm a sort of near dark Dracula lost boys area of vampirism Team Edward is what I'm hearing that sort of thing yeah and I've also been finally after maybe 20 years I've got all my VHS's DVD's Blu-rays 4K's in a room called the Emporium the physical media Emporium and finally have a room for it all, which is really quite exciting.

25:09Chris Hewitt:How many do you have, roughly? I haven't counted them.

25:13Corin Hardy:Probably I don't know, like maybe 4 ,000 or something? I'm guessing. What's your system? So we've talked about this backstage in some detail. And we have a similar psychotic system. You start with the things you love the most and radiate outwards. Like that, like a starburst. But my question is to you. what is the title that you put in first what is the epicenter you know what it was in the VHS's it was The Blob and Shocker because at the time of my life when I was buying them and Bad Taste Peter Jackson I would go up to London after all the paper rounds and the pocket money and save up to get the VHS tapes that weren't available that you could buy with the big cases.

26:05Corin Hardy:So it was quite thrilling getting them all out because I've hung on to them and tried really hard not to throw them away or get rid of them. Because the amount of love and money that I spent on all of these, they're all very specific, so they all hold a kind of nostalgic thing. So yeah, I think The Blob was such a special movie. It still is. But maybe we can ask the audience this. I need to organise them still. They're all up, but I haven't put them in order. Do I put them in, like I've got Jaws on VHS and I've got it on DVD and then a special edition and I've got the Blu-ray or whatever. Do I put them all together or do I separate them?

26:49Corin Hardy:And do I organise them all in genre or alphabetically? I mean, how do I do it? It's getting quite stressful.

26:56Chris Hewitt:All right, should we do shows of hands for this? Because this is important shit. It is. And this says a lot about yourself as well. For example, my DVDs at home are organised in a unique system I like to call, which makes it really difficult to find shit when I need to. Okay, so, you're psychotic. Yeah, mine's psychotic, yeah. Explain for the people who don't know. Colour? Oh, yeah. Do you remember the colour of the spine of the film that you want to watch? No, not always. No. Yours is red. Why?

27:31Corin Hardy:It's like a blue out of a spine and then a red. You do end up with too much blue, especially in the Blu-ray section because every fucking blue is blue, right? And so that is a problem. But I get a pleasant rainbow effect on like two shelves and it doesn't at all drive my librarian sister or husband mad that they can't find anything. It's fine. Who here has a physical media collection? Yeah. That's pretty good.

27:59Chris Hewitt:You are my people.

28:00Corin Hardy:Yeah, because it's going to be the way when the apocalypse has happened, we can still watch them.

28:06Chris Hewitt:Apocalypses. 76 minutes, 45 seconds until the apocalypse, if that clock is accurate. I am a big fan of genre rather than alphabetical because then if you're like, I'm kind of in the mood for this, then you can sort of mooch along. I had mine by genre for a long time and I really enjoyed it. This was when I had time, was a thing that was available to me. I had them organised in a way where it was like comedy and then comedy horror and then the line from comedy horror to horror comedy and so did you like

28:41Corin Hardy:sometimes move them across and then kind of decide to move them back

28:44Chris Hewitt:this is causing me physical pain this is Shaun of the Dead is a horror comedy primarily a comedy operating in the guise of horror whereas Whereas Evil Dead 2 is a horror using the beats of comedy. Cabin in the Woods is kind of in the middle. Jesus. So wait, big John Doe's diary energy. I'll be honest with you. I do want to say, though, in my defence, most comedies, and especially rom-coms, have white spines. And most action movies have black spines. So it kind of does work.

29:18Corin Hardy:What about directors, though? Do you give the directors a special area for the Ridley Scott movies, the Tarantino movies? Or do you separate them? I'm sorry for asking this question I used to

29:31Chris Hewitt:sometimes when I was younger and I had VHS collection I would do franchises but if I had a shelf now for the MCU it would go through the floor I think with the sheer weight of it but I used to have all my bonds together as one but in chronological order so Yeah, duh. So, yeah, but now I just kind of do them higgledy-piggledy because you keep adding to them. And then, so if you have alphabetical and then you get more Blu-rays, it's a faff to put, to rearrange everything alphabetically. So I just kind of go, there you go. That's your new home now, DVD. And one day I'll need to look at you for something and I won't remember where I put you.

30:16Chris Hewitt:But that's okay.

30:17Corin Hardy:Sorry I asked that question.

30:19Chris Hewitt:Well, should we take it to the audience, as you said? All right, so, Corin, do you want to give them...

30:25Corin Hardy:So do we put them in order of genre, hands up? Oh, okay. Do we put them in just general alphabetical order all through? All right. Anal retentives. I'm mainstream. Do we put them in the colour of the spine? Yes, my people. Love you both. Two people. By director. Yeah, my people. And what others? Chronologically? We said alphabet. Chronologically. Yeah, chronological. Oh, my God. No? One person.

31:00Chris Hewitt:Really?

31:01Corin Hardy:Dr. Sam Suggles. And what about by format? Format? Separate format. Yeah, because otherwise you get... The shelves look chaotic.

31:10Chris Hewitt:Oh, God, I'm getting upset. That's giving me anxiety. All right, this will separate the wheat from the chaff. Length. Duration. Running time. That's right. I'm in the mood for a 237 minute long film I know exactly where to find it

31:25Corin Hardy:that's quite good actually it is isn't it take a while to get and what about the shape because sometimes you get those like they felt good when you bought the box set of something in a funny shape and then it's too high like the early Simpsons seasons where they did them in the head shape of the fact I have some of those nightmare yeah

31:41Chris Hewitt:they're awful but they look pretty anyway yeah I've got the Die Hard box set oh the Nakatomi Plaza the Nakatomi Plaza Die Hard box set It's an absolute horror show to display. It's just dreadful. I mean, it's a great film. I'm talking about Good Day to Die Hard, obviously. But yeah, it's just this massive Nakatomi Plaza thing that just doesn't really fit on any shelf whatsoever. So that's a shame.

32:06Corin Hardy:You were asking the question, right, about the Christmas question. Yeah. Why does no one ask that about the second film? Because they're both Christmas movies. Exactly. And nobody asks it about Lethal Weapon. No, that's the Christmas movie. Or any other Christmas movie. it's so stupid. Is Whistle a Christmas movie? Say again? Is Whistle a Christmas movie? Whistle's a Halloween movie. That's why it's a good one to watch in a month's time.

32:28Chris Hewitt:Where do you stand on the nightmare before Christmas? Halloween. There we go. Settled. We're going to do one very special thing right now with Corrin and the assembled crew. But before we do, one thing that came up in my conversation with Corrin yesterday when I said, hey, what are you doing tomorrow night? And which was that Corin has been a more live Empire podcasts than anyone else. But yes. Really? Oh, wow. Thank you. By my reckoning, I think this is either your fifth or your sixth. I couldn't be bothered looking it up, I'll be honest. But I think it's your fifth or your sixth appearance.

33:10Corin Hardy:I'm sorry about that. I should point out, Corin has also been on the Pilot TV podcast. On the what? The Pilot TV podcast. I've never heard of a mate. Have I? It doesn't ring a bell. What do you have an ask? You did, you did, you did. Oh, it did? Oh, okay, all right. I can't remember.

33:28Chris Hewitt:I like this man. You paid him to say that, didn't you, Chris? He can stay. You can go. It was great, I loved it.

33:35Corin Hardy:Thank you. Yeah. Yes. We talked about gangs of London. We did. Yeah, it's all coming back. It's all coming back now. Oh, dear.

33:42Chris Hewitt:Anyway, so Corrin said, hey, listen, if this is true, then do I get a trophy or a prize? And the answer, folks, is yes, he does.

33:52Corin Hardy:Oh, really?

33:52Chris Hewitt:Oh, yes.

33:53Corin Hardy:I thought the answer was no. Oh, yeah.

33:54Chris Hewitt:Get ready to woo your fucking heads off. All right, Corrin, if you would. What do I do? Close your eyes.

34:00Corin Hardy:Oh. Slightly scary. It should be. It's like the Wicker Man.

34:12Corin Hardy:What's happening? Procured at great expense from Amazon.com yesterday.

34:18Chris Hewitt:Is that real? Corin, I present to you the golden podcast microphone. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

34:28Corin Hardy:Oh, my God. No expense has been spared. Look at that. Treasure it. Speech, speech, speech. Oh, yeah, speech, speech. I'm going to put this into my biography. It's going to go out as the last statement that I won the special guest award for the most... The special guest award.

34:49Chris Hewitt:What is the award for? The most live Empire podcast appearances. It's a coveted award. We did it. Yeah, take that, Hiddleston. Corin Hardy has won. It's real gold as well. The golden podcast award. No word of a lie. When this arrived yesterday, this was in two pieces. Is my name on it? Can you engrave it? Does anyone have a pen? Or a sharpie? or a scalpel. We'll engrave it later on. But there you go. Well done, Corrin! Thank you. Thank you so much.

35:24Corin Hardy:It's been my honour. All right. I've got a thanks list. I can now get my thanks list out and go through... In fact, if you blow into that, it will summon Chris's death.

35:39Chris Hewitt:I mean, I've died on stage already, so I don't think... We need to worry about that. How will I die? I told her... I mean, it's... You can see the glue. Corrin, it was£6.99, man. What do you want? £6.99. I know. Anyway, thank you. I typed in trophy and loads of trophies came up and it was like, they're all crap. I mean, that's what I kind of wanted. And then I typed in trophy podcast.

35:59Corin Hardy:Cheapest trophy with a microphone.

36:01Chris Hewitt:And then I typed in cheapest trophy imaginable. And that happened. Anyway, while Corrin's here, we're going to do one very, very special thing. Regular listeners of the podcast are here. All right. You may remember a few months ago we did a segment inspired by the hit BBC quiz show Mastermind. Oh God. Oh yes. In which our wonderful host Magneto Magnetason tested everybody on their specialist subjects. And we are going to, with your kind permission, we're going to do it anyway. We're going to do it again. It's time for Not Mastermind for Legal Reasons.

36:51Don't sue us! Why is that the most terrifying music on all of TV? Do you think it is? It really freaks me out. Were you just swatting up, James? No. Okay, just checking. This is for something else.

37:07Chris Hewitt:Oh, is it? Okay. All these guys have nominated their special subject and we're going to put two questions oh Helen do you have a clock or a watch or a thing I've got a watch I can do that can you time it and also can someone else keep track of the correct score all of you can keep track of the score am I allowed to two minutes on the clock for each section right I want someone to check keep track of the score because I won't be able to do that All right, because I don't store my DVDs alphabetically. All right, we're going to go...

37:46Corin Hardy:Do I get to ask the audience or anything like that, like any help? Phone a friend. That's a different show, man.

37:52Chris Hewitt:This is no Mastermind, man. What the fuck?

37:55Corin Hardy:All right. I am the weakest link.

37:58Chris Hewitt:That's another different show. Corinne, have you seen Mastermind? All right. It's been a while. Okay, it's been a while. All we need now is our special host, Magneto Magnetison and he's here hello everybody oh yes three people applauded three people applauded yes Magneto Magnetison I was hoping for the other Magneto call me Magneto Magneto call me Magneto if he's Irish wouldn't it be O-Magnet anyway

38:38Chris Hewitt:they're my people too Right. First up, yes, what is your name, young man? Ben Travis. Oh, yes, indeed. And what is your specialist subject? I believe my specialist subject is just the Star Wars sequels in general. That's what I have written here, the Star Wars sequels. In general. The Star Wars sequel trilogy in general. Okay. All right. General Kenobi. Wrong trilogy. Okay, are you ready? Two minutes. Fly your faults. How many films are there in the Star Wars sequel trilogy? Three. Incorrect. In the unofficial fan film The Rise of Skywalker, which weird little dude is voiced by Shirley Henderson?

39:28Chris Hewitt:Babu Freak. Correct. What are Han Solo's final words? Pass. Incorrect. I will give you the answers at the end. Somehow Palpatine returned is a line from which movie in the Star Wars sequel trilogy? The Rise of Skywalker. Correct. What planet does Palpatine somehow return on? Exegol. Yes. What does the J.J. stand for in J.J. Abrams? Just generally great. Don't question it. No, he stands for badly retconning the superior work of the previous director. Wrong. What was the name of the Colin Trafaro Star Wars sequel that was abandoned in favour of a vastly inferior movie? We don't know that, and the name was Duel of the Fates.

40:25Chris Hewitt:Correct. They fly now is a line referencing what? Stormtroopers. Correct, yes. Okay, thank you. What are fleeing from Kijimi, approaching the throne and the force is with you? Sorry, am I having an aneurysm? What are fleeing from Kijimi, approaching the throne and the force is with you? Are they all soundtrack titles from The Rise of Skywalker? That is correct, yes. Who does John Williams cameo as? He's a barman. Correct. There are lots of props. How many Oscars did The Rise of Skywalker win? Not enough. That's right. And, uh... Oh, no, I've started, so I'll finish. Um... What... is Rey's surname?

41:24Chris Hewitt:Whatever she wants it to be. She doesn't have one, that's right. And at the end of that round, Ben Travis has scored. please help me 7 7 8 whoa whoa whoa whoa 9 who you got said 9 it's either 7 8 or 9 how fitting for that trilogy

41:48Corin Hardy:can I just say I find your impression to be really intimidating intimidating

41:55Chris Hewitt:or arousing maybe I need to be facing the person James switch chairs By the way, what were Han Solo's last words? I know I know I'll kill you I know His last words are in the Rise of Skywalker Not The Force Awakens I don't know if everyone noticed there But all those questions were about the Rise of Skywalker Anyway Good movie That was good

42:21Corin Hardy:That was terrifying

42:22Chris Hewitt:Hello, my latest contestant Hello What's your name? James Dyer That is correct One point What is your specialist subject? My specialist subject is the 1986 movie Aliens.

42:42Chris Hewitt:And with a score of 10, James wins.

42:47Chris Hewitt:You're not going to get any of these wrong. Oh, God. Ready? Yes? Fly, you fools! Aliens is a sequel to which 1979 horror film? Alien. By which other name is the Exo-Moon LV426 known? Acheron. Who is the first colonial marine to die? Well, that's a complicated question. It's actually Frost, not Dietrich, even though she gets grabbed first. Frost is what I have written down here. Who is the last colonial marine to die? Hicks, but it's an Alien 3.

43:24But if you want it in this one, it's Gorman because he's standing behind Vasquez, so he dies a nanosecond later.

43:29Chris Hewitt:That is absolutely correct. In a deleted scene, we see Ripley's daughter Amanda, now an elderly woman. Who played her? Oh, it's Sigourney Weaver's mother. Her name? Mrs. Weaver. Elizabeth Inglis. And I thought you knew these movies. True or false, Sigourney Weaver received an Oscar nomination for her role? True. Correct. On what date did Aliens open in the US? Oh, you twat. Monday. That's not a date. Pass. We'll come back to that. What is the last line of Aliens? Yes, honey, I think we both can. Incorrect. And who says it? Sigourney Weaver. Incorrect. Which actor was replaced part... It is correct, but carry on.

44:22Chris Hewitt:It's not correct. Which actor was replaced partway through production for being... Well, I'll start it so I'll finish. Which actor was replaced partway through production for being off their tits on disco biscuits? James Remar. No, it was actually the Alien Queen. How many drops has Gorman made? 38 simulated. How many real? Two, including this one.

44:52Chris Hewitt:Oh, dearie me. I've not started so I'll finish. I've run out of questions but I'm going to give him one more what is James Cameron's middle name? Francis correct and at the end

45:09Chris Hewitt:and at the end of that round wait James Dyer has scored how many? third you had one job I had ten ten? okay she's doing her job you guys are not fucking sorted out alright

45:24Corin Hardy:you did say that one of them was wrong but it was right and they might have thought it was wrong

45:28Chris Hewitt:so I have checked I checked this the last line of aliens is said by Carrie Henn as Newton she says affirmative no it is not no she does she says that and then she says can I dream and Ripley says yes honey that's the other way around that is the end one anyway alright 10 or 12 well done 8 or 10 alright 8 or 10 I'll take it alright well done to James Dyer everybody thank you

45:55Chris Hewitt:All right. Next up, yes, please, Corin, take the chair.

46:01Corin Hardy:This is terrifying. After you, it's like going on after the top school athlete. Jesus. My next contestant, what is your name? Corin Hardy.

46:17Corin Hardy:Genuinely scared. Body language is like, no, get away. If anyone wants to whisper things when I can't remember things, that would be great.

46:24Chris Hewitt:Did you just get your name wrong? They said Corrin Enhardt. Okay. What is your special subject?

46:35Corin Hardy:The thing. Oh. It's not that specialist, though. It's just I like it. Then you may be fucked. So be it. Jedi.

46:51Chris Hewitt:Jedi.

46:56Chris Hewitt:Soviet Jedi? My name is Luke Skywalker. I am here to rescue you. Enough about Branagh and Mayday. Are we starting? Two minutes. Hang on, I've gone Soviet. Hang on.

47:15Chris Hewitt:I've lost him. I've lost him. My major. Yes, okay, got it back. Rivals, the thing... Someone is literally leaving. The thing is literally leaving. I mean, bye. Come on, come on. You can just start again. Start again. Oh, okay. Hang on, hang on. They might be going to the toilet. Okay, ready? I hope they're going to the toilet.

47:38Chris Hewitt:I mean, what would you expect from this show, really? Okay.

47:46Chris Hewitt:What are you doing? I mean, it's just film-related fun. All right. What are you doing? Okay, ready? Go. Player Fools. The Thing is based on a short story. What is its name? Who Goes There. And who wrote it? Oh. Hugh Goes There. Yeah. Let me tell you. It was indeed Hugo Was There. Hugo S. There. The screenwriter of The Thing, Bill, is the son of a Hollywood acting legend. Who is that legend? Fuck. Bill Lancaster. Anyone know? His name is Bill Lancaster. His dad is...

48:25Corin Hardy:Bert Lancaster, well done. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Yes, of course.

48:29Chris Hewitt:What is the name of the belated sequel to The Thing starring Joel Edgerton and Mary Elizabeth Winstead?

48:35Corin Hardy:The Thing...

48:36Chris Hewitt:Correct.

48:39Corin Hardy:That's it, right? Not The Thing Expanded. That was the recent documentary, yes. That's right.

48:43Chris Hewitt:What is the last line of the movie?

48:46Corin Hardy:Let's just sit here and see what happens. Close enough.

48:49Chris Hewitt:In the famous... Wait, wait, wait. In the famous blood test scene, which character is revealed to be a thing? Spoilers for the thing, by the way. The famous what scene? The blood test scene. I don't know. Do that.

49:05Corin Hardy:God, who is it?

49:07Chris Hewitt:Is the answer in the palmer of your hand? Palmer. Palmer, there we go. Thank you.

49:13Corin Hardy:I like it.

49:14Chris Hewitt:Yeah, good. How many films have John Carpenter and Kurt Russell made together?

49:19Corin Hardy:Let me just have a think.

49:21Chris Hewitt:Five? Five films is correct. What is the name of the legendary Thing board game Infection at Outpost? 31. I've got it. Which legendary composer wrote the score? Okay, most of the score. Okay, some of the score.

49:35Corin Hardy:Innio Moriarty. Hooray! And John Carpenter.

49:38Chris Hewitt:The Thing takes place in the Arctic or the Antarctic?

49:42Corin Hardy:The Arctic.

49:44Chris Hewitt:Look at your T-shirt. Antarctic.

49:45Corin Hardy:Antarctic. God. I'll never work again after this

49:50Chris Hewitt:Which character says I know I'm sorry I'll finish Shut the fuck up phone Which character says I know you gentlemen Have been through a lot But when you find the time I'd rather not spend The rest of this winter On the fucking couch Gary Correct Well done There we go Thank God A totally unassisted nine Ten right All by himself Court has scored A wonderful nine points Well done, Gornhardt. Of course, thank you.

50:25Chris Hewitt:Last but not least. I mean least, possibly. He chose this subject, so. Only because you mentioned it last week as your favourite film of all time, along with all the other ones. Ready? Go. I'm ready. We're starting again. Okay. Sure. It's a reset button. Oh, there we have. I found her. Go. Fire, false. Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait. No, no. No, you've got to say who she is and what her special subject is. Okay. My latest contestant is your name? Helen O 'Hara. Hello. And what is your specialist subject? Apparently it's Cyrano de Bergerac, 1990. Give her one point already. You ready? Your time starts now.

51:17Chris Hewitt:Fire, false. Serrano de Bergerac is about a man with a particularly large body part. What is that body part? I believe the nose. His nose, correct. Who directed the movie? Jean-Paul Rapinoe. Jean-Paul Rapinoe, who just passed away. Literally just passed away. So, we can all have a minute's silence, please.

51:51Reminds me of the Beastie Boys. Sabotage. This is so disrespectful.

51:56Chris Hewitt:A man just died. Bingo.

52:03Chris Hewitt:That was on your bingo card? A man dying? Close enough. Okay, so, very sad. Who plays Cyrano in the movie? Gerard Deputu. Gerard Deputu. And who plays Bergerac in the hit 1980s BBC TV show? Ian McShane?

52:20Corin Hardy:John Nettles.

52:21Chris Hewitt:John Nettles. John Nettles. Who played the role in Joe Wright's recent musical version? Oh, fucking hell. Tyrion Lannister. Yes. Who wrote the original 1897 play on which the film is based? Edmund Rostand. Who? Rostand. Close enough. In which year does the film take place? 16... I don't know. At one point, Cyrano de Brojac walks in front of a pair of curtains. What colour are those curtains? White. Correct? In the superior adaptation... That's all the fucks. In the superior adaptation, Roxanne, what's the name of Steve Martin's firefighter? J... He's... CB. CB. Close enough. In 2010, the movie was ranked number 43 in a list of the 100 best films in world cinema by which British film publication?

53:18Empire?

53:19Chris Hewitt:Correct. And I have started, so I'll finish. How many times has Helen O 'Hara written an Empire masterpiece dedicated to this movie? Two. With more to come. There we go.

53:36I spent so long looking up all its Oscar nominations. Really? Yes.

53:41Chris Hewitt:How many? It had six nominations and only one costume. Fuck, that was a question. that was genuinely a question let's get for that as well there we go how many points? 11 11? are you counting the minutes there's a minute silence in the middle of that I'm just that good alright, okay I'll just interrupt briefly here and say that we spoke about this beforehand and we thought it was deeply unfair that you were going to quiz us on the film so I have composed my own quiz for you Yeah Helen if you would mind starting the timer Please state your name. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Yeah, you do the voice.

54:25Corin Hardy:No Absolutely not You should answer in the voice Okay, okay, are you ready?

54:34Chris Hewitt:Oh, you gotta do the thing. What is your name? My name is Peter Lorre Oh, I don't know. Minus point, minus point. It's the correct answer. Your specialist subject, Peter, is Event Horizon and the films of Paul W.S. Anderson. Oh, fuck. Your time starts now. What is the name of the ship sent to rescue the Event Horizon? R.D. Lewis and Clark. Correct. According to Sean Pertwee, what is this ship? Farked. Correct. What is the Latin for save yourself from hell? Liberate Trutme Ex Inferis. Correct. Who composed the score for Event Horizon? Oh, that's a great question. I'm so glad you asked it. Let me have a little rummage to my mind palace.

55:27Chris Hewitt:Was it John Williams? The great answer was Michael Kamen. When Michael Kamen died in 2003, What headline did I use for his obituary on the Empire website? Came and went. True story.

55:47Where we're going, what won't we need?

55:53Eyes to see. Correct. What was the film's tagline?

55:58Chris Hewitt:Infinite space, infinite terror. Correct. In what year is Event Horizon set? I will accept a decade.

56:09Chris Hewitt:2070. 2047. I was close. According to Dr. William Weir, what is hell? Oh, wait a minute. Oh, it's a dimension of pure chaos. Only a word. The reality is much, much worse. The reality is much worse. The gateway machine at the Event Horizon's core featured a golden spiky sphere with rotating interlocking rings. It was designed as an homage to a key prop in which iconic horror movie? In which iconic Hellraiser? Indeed, it's the lament configuration. Say that again. Hellraiser? Hellraiser. It's not a question, but carry on. Paul W.S. Anderson's muse is famously his real-life wife, Milie Jovovich. In how many films has he directed her?

56:55And name them.

56:59Chris Hewitt:Resident Evil's... You've started, so I'll finish. Okay. They met on Resident Evil? Correct. Did he direct her in the next one? Yes, which is called... Resident Evil 2? Resident Evil Afterlife, but I will allow it. Next. Resident Evil, the final chapter? No, but this is the third on this list, and that is a clue. The third on this list? Yes. And it's a clue? It's a clue. Is it another Resident Evil movie? It's The Three Musketeers. Ah, yes, I remember. I did a press conference with them. Three Musketeers, A Monster Hunter? That is one of them, yes. There are two more Resident Evils. Resident Evil 5?

57:47Extinction Afterlife Retribution And the final chapter One more film It's a recent one Is it an unwatchable piece of shit? Correct That is the right answer In the Lost Lands Well done Hooray

58:09What did Chris get? Anyone? It was like a charitable eight You think eight? Eight? Yeah we're rounding up 12? 12? For a bonus point who is the best Paul Anderson film director? Oh sorry

58:23Chris Hewitt:Helen cover your ears Paul W.S. Anderson is the right answer Hooray! All right All y 'all are going to be kicked out of film journalism for that one No, no, no we'll be giving prizes like the golden podcast trophy There you go Love is Mastermind folks

58:46Chris Hewitt:sorry Helen is absolutely right for legal reasons that was not mastermind folks there we go alright let me see what we're doing next what are we doing next Corin leaves oh

59:03Corin Hardy:can you say it any nicer

59:04Chris Hewitt:I wrote it in caps if that helps shall I just leave then yeah go on then no wait wait wait guys wait bitches leave before

59:23Chris Hewitt:before Corrin leaves we want to thank him very very sincerely for coming along tonight thank you so much indeed please give a big round of applause to Corrin for that

59:36Chris Hewitt:but there's one last thing one last thing If anyone follows Corrin on social media, they will know that he has a trademark move, a signature... If Corrin were in a fighting game, this would be the killer move that you use to take out the bad guys. Corrin, what is it? What do you do?

1:00:01Corin Hardy:Well, when I was young, I used to love kung fu movies. and I thought that the ultimate thing to be was a ninja. So I sort of studied my whole life from trying to do a great kung fu kick.

1:00:19Chris Hewitt:So there we go. Corin will regularly post pictures of himself doing a flying kung fu kick on the sets of his movies and his TV shows or in Tesco's, wherever he just happens to be. And when he came here tonight, I said, hey, as you're about to leave, would you do a flying kung fu kick? And you said to me, hell yeah. Yeah! Well, that is it.

1:00:48Corin Hardy:I mean, that's if everyone here wants to see a kung fu kick.

1:00:51Chris Hewitt:Do you want to see... For you to kick, right? Do you want to see the director of Whistle do a flying kung fu kick live on stage? All right.

1:01:03Corin Hardy:Is this what you came for tonight? Yeah.

1:01:08Chris Hewitt:Refunds are available at the box office. All right. So I'm genuinely worried about Corrin's safety here. But he has assured me he's limbered up. He has stretched. This could be the greatest thing that has ever happened in the history of this podcast. This could be the end of everything. Where should we be? I feel like I'm in the way I say. I think we should clear the stage. minimum safe distance. I think if I do it, one of you guys should do it. Feel free to take pictures. Feel free to... Oh, my God. All right. James, you could probably do this, right? You're quite limber physically. I don't feel particularly spry.

1:01:54Chris Hewitt:Do you want me to do a flying kick at you? Is this what you're asking? No, not at me, but, you know. So how do you do it, Karim? What's your technique? What's your strategy?

1:02:02Corin Hardy:The audience is doing like a 3-2-1.

1:02:05Chris Hewitt:Right.

1:02:05Corin Hardy:Everyone who's got phones needs to do a photo so that this moment might be my last. We're going to catch your death live on stage. I promise not to do it off the stage. It's very quick, so you have to get the wrong angle. Okay. I'm genuinely afraid. Oh, my God. Do you want, like, a slow clap in or just a three, two, one? Three, two, one. Okay. I have a big clap on. Okay, yeah. Okay. Are you ready? Alright. Are you ready? He's never done this on a live...

1:02:44Chris Hewitt:He's never done it in front of people before. Okay. Ready? I'm so fucking nervous. Alright. Okay. Ready? I don't think we're insured. Let's go. Cornhardy. What are we doing? Three? Big countdown, everyone. Three. Two One Go Hooray Hooray Hooray Hooray Hooray Hooray Hooray Hooray Hooray Hooray Hooray Well, one more That was a trial He's addicted to the thrill Okay, this is the one Three, two, one, right? Oh, hang on Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa Can someone take a picture from behind? Oh, sure Steady Hi Um Hang on over with you All right, I'm going to try and capture Corrin as he flies through the frame.

1:03:40Chris Hewitt:All right, here we go. Three, two, one. Go!

1:03:52Chris Hewitt:Corrin Hardy, everybody!

1:03:58Chris Hewitt:Winner of the Golden Podcast Trophy!

1:04:06Thank you.

1:04:23Chris Hewitt:Jesus, man, you're milking it. Come on. Come on.

1:04:33Chris Hewitt:All right. Okay. All right, so Corrin leaves. Orgy? Question mark, question mark? All right, so obviously this isn't a regular episode of the Empire podcast, but should we do something that we do in the podcast, which is... I miss Corrin so much. That empty chair is just staring at me. Oh, Corrin. He lived so bright. Shall we talk about movie news? Is there any movie news you want to talk about? I mean it was a little bit Should we review a film? No It's not a great week It was actually a pretty good week It was a good week It was good Should we do a Mount Rushmore? Yeah

1:05:28Of what?

1:05:29Chris Hewitt:that one lady is fucking ecstatic. Everyone else is like, I'm not so sure. I'm not so sure. All right, because you were like the only person in this room who was even vaguely happy to hear those words. Thank you. You can choose a topic.

1:05:49Chris Hewitt:Now, now, now! Do you know what Mount Rushmore is, folks? Mountain, correct. It's a big mountain. It's got people's faces on it. Do not ask me to tell you whose people's faces they are. There's a Lincoln. Yes. And a Jefferson. A Washington. And a Trump. No. A Martian. Not yet. Poor Martians. A General Sod. Has that given you enough time? Yeah. Best Marvel Villains. Best Marvel Villains. Villains. I'm trying. All right. So we all get one choice each. I'm thinking Thanos to myself. Yeah, I was going to choose Thanos. I was going to choose Thanos, yeah. Ben, were you going to choose Thanos? Yeah, I kind of want to go in first and just swoop it.

1:06:41Four Thanoses. Each sexier than the other. This is what James would do if he got the Infinity Gauntlet. 100%. Jimbo. Yes. Are you going for Thanos? Yes. Explain yourself. Thick Thanos. You know the one from the meme? That one. Hey, I know you've seen it. Yeah, sexy Thanos. Why are you choosing... He has a chin for the ages. In terms of chiseled jaws, he absolutely has one. And I think, regardless of your personal feelings towards the mighty Thanos, the hero of the Infinity Saga, that chin alone is everything. Imagine how much chiseling it's going to take. My God, think of the workers. Yeah. so Thanos wow what a shock James I never saw that coming I wanted to throw a real curveball yeah something really different new for us we just moved around I don't like this

1:07:41okay

1:07:43Chris Hewitt:so James Thanos yeah yes that is my choice alright so Thanos' big old bum chin up there on Mount Rushmore looking good yes that took far too much energy. Ben? Can I pass for now? I'm thinking of a couple of options and I just want to see where you guys land and fill in some gaps. This is strategic. That's the coward's way out. No, it's fine. That's like the fade out in a song. When we did the Mount episode in the studio, you went to me first and I just I like to stew. I like to stew it up. He wants to ponder. He likes to sit back and watch, see where the bodies fall. Ben, Ben, take Sunny Birch.

1:08:27Is he a villain or is he the real hero?

1:08:29Chris Hewitt:I mean, that's the question. Oh, he's very much a villain. As you know, Chris, I love stories where villains aren't really villains. They kind of have a point and ultimately they're redeemed, you know, to some degree. So I'm going to say Loki. Loki. All right. Even though all of that applies to him. But he has style. he has a really cool hair flip that he does quite a lot in that first Avengers movie he just does it for badness like just to fuck up people's lives like just hey what if I did this just for lols he's like the god of mischief it's just a bit of mischief it's in his nature so I have to go with him I've always wanted to know what the end of the sentence would have been in the Avengers.

1:09:21Chris Hewitt:When he goes, I am a god, you dull creature. And then the Hulk grabs him and starts Hulk smashing him. What was he going to say? Please welcome to finish our sentence, Tom Hiddleston. Nope, he didn't answer my text. Alright, okay, that's fine. I don't have his number, I just guessed. Anyway, so Loki. Someone in the back row going, that's what that text is. You got Loki ghosted. Oh, come on. someone going, what does special looky fun times mean? I'm feeling real horny right now. Anyway, Ben. Okay, so I kind of think objectively the answer is probably Killmonger. I just think in terms of like great villain, incredible performance, just like a really worthy antagonist in those movies.

1:10:13So I really want to plump for Killmonger, But I'm also really hung up on the high evolutionary because fuck that guy. From? From Guardians of the Galaxy 3. He's a horrible man who experiments on animals and experiments on many other things. And at the end, his face gets ripped off and it feels so good to watch that because he's just a horrible, horrible, horrible, horrible man. So you're saying have him with or without face? See, if he's on the Mount Rushmore, he could have his face ripped off. Wow, so you can actually take his face off. You couldn't just chisel in an extra layer where his outer head would have been.

1:10:51It's kind of his face. So the round here is intact and it's kind of all stapled on and it gets like... I'd love to hear you brief the artisans who are putting this together.

1:11:01Chris Hewitt:How would this work? I mean, Mount Rushmore is massive. So how are you doing this? Is there like a giant lever that people pull? Maybe we put him up with his face and then it's like a ceremony where we all cheer as his face is ripped off. The mountain? Avalanche. Yeah, like maybe a series of small explosions. The kind of... What about the budget for this? What about the tourists, man? Yeah. They're watching from a safe... Health and safety is just going to have a field day with this one. What if this had been the end of North by Northwest? And there's Cary Grant hanging off the evolutionary space and suddenly, whoop, avalanche.

1:11:45Chris Hewitt:And that's it. That's all she wrote. That, Alfred Hitchcock, is how you improve your movie. Oh, okay. Whoa, those are fighting words. But, I mean, let's be honest. True, right? Because that would be a good ending to any movie. It would not be a good ending to... Cary Grant Living is a good ending to literally every movie. All right, okay. What about Jaws? So they're fighting the shark. Avalanche. better movie I haven't worked out the details yeah but I'm on it I'm on it I look forward to hearing more I've been thinking long and hard about this there are so many great villains in the Marvel Cinematic Universe oh god Jeff Bridges of course as Obadiah Stane in Iron Man Tim Roth in The Incredible Hulk Tony Stark put those faces on a cave with a pile of scraps with a box of stones there's of course Mickey Rourke in Iron Man 2 you're going to list all of them in order yes Helen that's exactly what I'm going to do Hugo Weaving as the Red Skull in Captain America the First Avenger then we have Thor of course who was a bad guy in Thor you mentioned him Loki I think I'm going to go for an Ant-Man villain but not the one you think not Sonny Birch who in many ways is the beating heart of the MCU he wears moccasins with no socks I mean that man is pure evil and he'll be seen soon of course in the Armor Wars movie which will definitely happen co-starring the Eternals and Harry Styles I think I'm going to go for Modok from Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania, played of course by Corey Stoll, he is Darren Cross, Yellow Jacket from the first movie, who has been sent into the quantum realm and somewhat how should we say, repackaged and squished into what I now understand is bad CG and at the time I thought it was a groundbreaking visual choice by the director, Peyton Reed.

1:14:08Chris Hewitt:I was like, it's incredible that they make him look like a video screen. It's like, no, that's unfinished. I mean, I see. I understand now. But MODOK is just a little flying, he's a little dude, he's a little agent of chaos who just flies around, and he gets his little, tiny little bum out. So I would like to suggest, for the first time on Mount Rushmore, that we have three faces and an arse. So that's what I would like. I want Thanos' big bum chin. I want Loki with horns. Sure. Yeah. I want the high evolutionary with an avalanche crushing those poor tourists. I'm sorry, school trip. You knew the rules.

1:14:49Chris Hewitt:And last but not least, MODOK and his tiny little bum. There you go. That is it. The Marvel villains at Mount Rushmore.

1:15:03Chris Hewitt:And last but not least, we have about 29 minutes to go. And what we tend to do at the end of live shows is we throw it open to you guys. We throw the floor open to you. Can we bring the lights up, please, so we can see people's hands and faces? A hand over there immediately. We have microphones going around the room. There's a hand over there. it's your chance to ask us questions ask us anything except that thank you yes please, who has a microphone? hey Chris, what's a crack? hey bite you Eman I believe you're au fait with crack is this correct? au fait with a certain type of crack Chris oh yes, C-R-A-I-C see we're from Northern Ireland and that's how you spell crack which is a thing we do over there and it makes us happy That feels weird But anyway, yes, hello sir I've got a code switch slightly now You were speaking earlier with Corn Hardy Corn Hardy, was he here a second ago?

1:16:06Chris Hewitt:Apparently He's here right now, he's still in the audience Hello Corn Hardy Corn Hardy About physical media And I'm just curious about Some more of your reflections on that Do you think that DVDs will still Have their place going forward Or will it be an increasingly niche market. I know I sort of collect them because I'm afraid, I don't trust the streamers, not just in terms of removing content, but editing it. And I just like having physical items. But one of the problems I'm having is, you know, do I sort of throw things out? Because it just gets too hard to... Never. Yeah. Well, I don't, exactly.

1:16:45But my wife has other ideas.

1:16:48Chris Hewitt:Is she here right now? No, she's not. You've come alone? Exactly. Okay, yeah. Welcome to the Emperor Podcast. Thank you.

1:16:58I thought we could have some rhubarb time and I didn't want her here for that.

1:17:01Chris Hewitt:Oh, I knew I recognized you. Okay, anyway. Just when I saw your face, I was like, no, but then I heard the voice and the rhubarb. Anyway, I think there's absolutely that physical media, DVDs, Blu-rays, LaserDisc, infest and that, smart, is, for me, sacrosanct, and I think it'll always be around in the same way, I think it'll become the final of films going forward. But my worry with that is that it deteriorates over time as well. And I remember having a box set of the Godfather trilogy and I went to watch it. There's one of those ones, this was back in the early days of DVD, where they couldn't fit the Godfather Part 2 onto one disc.

1:17:47Chris Hewitt:And I went to watch disc two of the Godfather Part 2 and it wouldn't work. It's a gamble, right? So you want to get these things to safeguard against things like buying a film from Apple or Amazon or Sky. This happens to me quite a lot, actually downloading things off Sky or Prime. And then the rights that they have for that film elapse. And so one day you go to watch something like Top Secret and it is no longer there. And of course, you're not really buying it. If you check the T's and C's, you're kind of just leasing it. And so that happens. And then you want to safeguard against that with physical media, but that's not entirely foolproof as well.

1:18:33Chris Hewitt:So I really don't know what the solution is, but I think, yes, yes, yes, physical media. And also it looks fucking awesome when you display it in your living room or your office or wherever in a way that obviously streaming will not. You don't get someone to stand by your TV and go, watch this. Look at this. Look at this little library, huh? Look at that beauty. Oh, that's gone. Oh, fuck. I will say also, it looks better on the screen. Like when you watch even just a Blu-ray at home, like the uncompressed Blu-ray viewed through a Blu-ray player or like a games console or something looks so much better than even the compressed 4K streaming that you get.

1:19:11I ended up watching tons of Blu-rays when I was on paternity leave because I had a big stack in my office. and it requires that extra little bit of intentionality. You're not just scrolling through the apps. It's like, I have this thing on disc. I'm going to watch this tonight, and it had been piling up in my office, so I took it all downstairs into the lounge. We're staying up all hours, and I would just put in disc after disc, and everything looked amazing and so crisp and so vibrant. The colors of everything really, really stood out. I don't really have many 4K discs at the moment because they're really expensive, and most of my collection is on Blu-ray, but I could not believe how great Blu-rays alone looked on a TV having got used to how everything looks.

1:19:56Yeah, the bit rate is much, much higher. The quality is much higher. But then you get slightly torn because you've got your Blu-rays of the MCU ones but then if you go on Disney Plus they've got the IMAX formatted ones which are full screen and I quite like those as well. So you get a little bit torn there. But I think for me it was like when I was a teenager it was like I had all my VHS tapes fucking thousands of things in this but it's not like oh I really am going to watch Nuns on the Run every third week it's not going to happen but I really wanted these films on display because as a teenager when you're a teenager you're trying to work out who you are what's your identity and your identity more often than not is the things you love and being able to display those films it's like this is me these are the things I love this is my identity and I feel sorry for kids nowadays who don't have that ability to just have all the shit they want physically in their room because as you say going through someone's Spotify playlist is not the same thing yeah I think there's I think you're right about the word niche though I think there is an element of it was like everybody had some DVDs for a while there like in early noughties like everybody was buying VHS VHS in the 90s DVDs in the noughties and it seemed like normal people had a little stack in their houses and I don't think that's necessarily the way going forward I think it's going to be us like I think it's going to be film fans who go out and physically buy this stuff in this like it's it's going to be like in that sense it's going to be like the vinyl yeah you know the other thing i'm seeing though and it makes me so old considering this because it means that i am not young anymore but seeing on my tiktok feed it was such a thing a huge thing earlier in the year would be teenage film fans or film fans in their like early 20s who thinking about it really have grown up in the last like 10 years where everything primarily will have been on streaming, most likely their parents will have had access to a bunch of streaming services.

1:21:45And so they won't have had DVDs around the house. They won't have been saving up to go out and buy DVDs. And I was getting so many videos on my feed of young people going to charity shops and being like, I just bought 10 DVDs for a pound. I own 10 films. These were 10p each. And it's all the stuff that is in your local charity shop that you may have donated to your local charity shop, either if you got rid of all your physical media or if you were upgrading your Blu-rays to DVDs. Or the other way around. What, you're downgrading? No, you do not downgrade. Anyway. Did I say it the wrong way around?

1:22:20You did, yeah. I've been podcasting a lot today. But it really warms my heart and it just made me think that is something, you know, that generation really did miss out on the experience of physically owning things, of honing a collection, of going to the shop and just seeing what was there and buying things that they already know and buying things that they've never seen before. And I think we're at sort of that part of the cycle as well. I think for new films, we're seeing more incredible like Criterion, Arrow, Second Sight, 88 films, 101 films. All of those labels are amazing. And people with adult money are buying those, but the kids are going to charity shops and hoovering up all our old DVDs.

1:23:00We work for Empire, Ben. What is adult money? Yes. but I think the other side of that is also availability, so there was a statistic, it's a few years old now, but about half of the films released on VHS never made it to DVD and the percentage of DVDs that made it to Blu-ray at that point was about 20 % Let it be known, that was on the run, not available

1:23:25Chris Hewitt:on Blu-ray. Well there you go, what a damning indictment The Blob, Corrin was talking about The Blob earlier on. I think it's just about to come out in the US, right? I think. On a shock factory. A German Blu-ray. A German Blu-ray. That's Blob. Der Blob, yes. But yeah, you're right. Things are not available on all the formats. That's why there are people out there who are holding on to all their VHS. It's not just Corin who has some VHS, but collectors trying to get everything. alright, that was all the time we have I'm afraid Helen you choose the next question please well I can see a mic in close proximity to the hand over there I'm just speeding through

1:24:14Corin Hardy:I had some time to think about this and I think I decided on this question with the Oscars earlier in the year and the other award ceremonies that happened what is your stance and this might be a bit of a specialist question on the sweepstakes that happen kind of with horror and specifically Sinners taking over the Oscars winning and how do you think that will progress later down the line? I would like to think that the not overwhelming success of Sinners but considerable success of Sinners means that Oscars is becoming a bit more genre agnostic. I don't think they are though. I think that's one of those exceptions that comes up every now and again, like a Return of the King or a Silence of the Lambs, which...

1:25:05Corin Hardy:Or Aliens, in fact. Nominated, though, but not a big winner of the big prizes. And I don't know that it means they are actually going to give, for example, horror performances the credit that they deserve. And I don't know if it means... Like Indie Navarette might get a nomination for Obsession. I don't know that she'll be considered a front runner by any of the pundits. Whereas, I mean, at least at this point in the year, she would be my best actress. Really? See, we're only just starting Oscar season. Darlings, Venice has barely gotten underway. But I think it's an incredible performance on so many levels.

1:25:49And yeah, it's the kind of thing that Oscar absolutely pays no mind to whatsoever. I'm kind of torn between the ideas of like I felt more personally invested in the Oscars this year also as the person at Empire who had to stay up and watch them and write about them I was like ooh I might see the ugly stepsister get an Oscar which if you've not seen that is an absolutely disgusting European body horror riff on Cinderella it is incredible no film has ever made me feel so physically sick and it was nominated for makeup effects so that and Frankenstein and Sinners, it was like hey I kind of feel like I'm in the Oscar race a bit this year with all of those I like when the Oscars acknowledge it but I also kind of feel like the horror's been doing well enough without needing that attention from the Oscars part of me feels like my back's up a little bit about the Academy kind of deigning to suddenly acknowledge that horror exists.

1:26:49But it's not just horror, I mean it's sci-fi fantasy, it's all the genres basically they tend to poo-poo

1:26:54Chris Hewitt:It feels to me that if they really truly opened their doors to horror the Academy that best actress would pretty much be all horror films I think it was a couple of years ago where it was like Nell Tiger Free in the first Omen oh my god Naomi Scott and Smile 2 there's other ones that are escaping my attention right now, but these are extraordinary performances, incredibly physically committed, incredibly emotional, and they tend to be in horror films, roles that are written for women. I don't think male horror movie heroes tend to have the same emotional canvas to paint on, but it's been a huge bugbear of mine over the years.

1:27:46Chris Hewitt:I don't really pay much attention to the Oscars anymore. because it's a nonsense. But also, you know, it would overlook things that I loved, like comedy and horror, and comedy in particular. I think now that horror is getting its flowers, comedy is not. And I think a lot of actors will tell you that it's harder to make people laugh than it is to make people cry. And there are some amazing performances. Now again and again, the Oscars will throw a supporting actor or a supporting actress award to a comedic performance, whether it's Marissa Tomei and My Cousin Vinny or Kevin Kline and A Fish Called Wanda but the fact I've had to go back 40 years for those shows that it doesn't really happen these days but for me Brick Tamland, Steve Carell in Anchorman that performance is every bit as brilliant as the people who were eligible for something in 2004 but it won't get the plaudits, it won't get the accolades from the Oscars but it's the one we all remember now.

1:28:46Chris Hewitt:But anyway, that's just me getting on my little hobby horse about comedy. It's very difficult. Difficult to make people laugh as I've demonstrated. It's been amply this evening. Yeah. Happy enough? I agree entirely. James agrees entirely. Excellent. Jimbo, you can choose the next question. Use with the cap. Just to make it... Keep your hand up. Keep your hand up so we can get the microphone to you. Don't lob the microphone generally. if everyone passing it along if you could all just say one word of a question and then it'll finish oh that would be amazing we've never done that before hello when it comes to reviewing films a lot of places do it out of 10 or out of 5 which do you prefer because with Empire when it's out of 5 stars it's kind of hard to tell whether it's a good film or not because if it's a 3 it could be like a 6 or a 7 if it's out of 10 or vice versa you know I don't know if any of you play video games that normally scored out of 100 right what is the difference i ask you between an 83 and an 84 and who makes that arbitrary decision like it gets incredibly random and then it gets to the point where really only things over 85 are actually any good and it's just like it becomes its own weird little leaker system so i mean five is kind of traditional for films i think works quite well there's more nuance obviously in 10 and we talk about like high threes low threes nailed on fours scrapes a four one star five star five star one star we have our own little fucking lexicon um but i mean Ratings are entirely arbitrary anyway.

1:30:13Attack of the Clones five stars, for example. Oh, is it? Yeah, five star film. Well, that sounds good. I should watch it. Before I came out. Yeah, excellent, brilliant. Yeah, it's really just vibes at the end of the day. And there have been a lot of reviews where I have written the review and gone, I guess three. But if you feel like it reads like a two, we can talk about it. Do you start with the rating or do you always write it and then think, oh, I think I wrote a four and some four on it? It depends. Sometimes I have a strong sense of what the rating is and not always. We actually have writers who will write the review and not put a rating as anyone, I think.

1:30:52But writes a review, doesn't put a rating on it. It's like, put the rating that you think this review has earned. And you're like, five stars. Yeah, it is really hard. I know for sure I will have written reviews that a lot of you disagree with in this room. Hi, Ben. I will say it is really hard and you're in an interesting position often when all you have to go on is how you felt when you're seeing stuff early it's kind of the best and the hardest way to review things because you don't know how anyone else is going to react but also you go in with no noise, no pre-buzz you just go in and you go how did that make me feel?

1:31:29what did I like? what did I not like? and you kind of have to go with that and you know the half stars can be helpful. I've recently started letterboxding a bit more, and I'm enjoying the fun of half stars. But I think there's something within Empire that it works to have just the five-star system, to have clean stars, and also to rely on the writing, because it's not all about the stars. The stars are to back up what you've written in the piece. And I will say, I don't know about you guys, three-star reviews are the hardest to write. Something is just fine, because you think, meh. When you write all the stuff that's good about it, then you go, well, that sounds really good, but it wasn't really good.

1:32:11Or if you focus on the negative, sometimes it's something you are really looking forward to. And you liked it overall, but you end up picking out more of the nitpicks and it reads more negatively than you mean. So it's a hard balance to strike. My thing is always, yes, look at the star rating, but read the review. We've written hundreds of words to back up what that star rating is. And as somebody whose job it is often to be on our Facebook page, you know some people read the reviews some people will just write massive comments having just seen the star rating or just gone off vibes or whatever and it's like no there's the article that tells you why we thought the way we thought and that's neat well because a lot of the number of gaming publications don't put star they've taken off the ratings now they will only deliver the copy and it's like fucking read it or don't we're not giving you a you know a shortcut well that's because they get more hate even than we do they do they get crazy amounts of hate I wrote for a principally gaming site recently about TV and they asked me to do a little video talking about my first review of the season because they found that putting a face on their critics means they get less horrible online abuse so that was fun.

1:33:19I just didn't read any of the comments so I don't know if I got abused or not. Probably. House of the Dragon, IGN. Anyway but yeah it's a weird thing. I think it is just vibes and what I try to do sometimes when we're talking on the podcast or just talking about films to people is sort of put it in context. It's like if this is a Friday night and your brain is fried, then this is the dumb action movie that you want to watch, but otherwise avoid it like the plague kind of a thing, you know?

1:33:47Chris Hewitt:So if my five-star review of Attack of the Clones in 2002, it's been 84 years, had been accompanied by a little shot of me going, people might not have reacted so negatively. Pulling a lightsaber with a Star Wars t-shirt on. I'm one of you guys. I think in that case, it just would have made it easier to hunt you down. That's true. I do hide my light under a bushel. All right, Ben, it's your turn to choose a questioner. I saw this hand go up very quickly, the Technoar t-shirt. Very cool. There's a microphone. Oh, thank you. Hi. Just going back to the whole physical media thing. Do you remember the first physical media film you bought or was given to you?

1:34:32For me, I was probably 10 when I got my first video and it was octopussy, by the way. It was a Christmas present and living daylights. It was a two for the two. And yeah, just wanted to know what the first VHS or DVD you had and do you still own it? I genuinely remember this. I don't remember the first VHS or anything like that, but I do remember the first DVDs I bought for myself. Before I owned my own DVD player, I just figured I'd go over to a friend's house and I'd be able to be like, hey, do you want to watch Fight Club or Gladiator?

1:35:08Chris Hewitt:Arranged in colour of spine like a psychopath. Those are the first two that I bought. They seemed essential. The first VHS I bought, you'd be shocked to hear, was Aliens. This was when I rented it from my local... It was Ritz, not even Blockbuster, Ritz video. I'd rented it over 50 times. and it got to the point where they went, just buy the fucking tape. You're killing us here. So they sold me the tape and the first DVD I bought was Devil's Advocate. The reason being, don't laugh, the reason being... God is an absentee landlord. Exactly. But you remember the sculpture, there was a whole legal thing about whether they could use the sculpture, which gets animated at the end.

1:35:49And there was a whole thing where they might be forced to digitally alter that scene. And the thought of having to watch The Devil's Advocate in a way that was not intended by the creators was so horrific to me that I imported the DVD from America so that I had the original.

1:36:05Chris Hewitt:I need to see Taylor Hackford's vision. A hundred percent. Yeah, I needed the authentic, original theatrical cut. Okay. No further questions, Your Honour. Actually, I've got lots of further questions. No, I'm not going to go there. Ben, Benjamin, Benny Travis, Benny T. I think the first one I bought with my own money of sorts was probably Monsters, Inc. On DVD. Can I have Monsters, Inc.? I'm only four years old. Was it like that? It was last year. It was last year. I think I had a Disney store voucher and I was like, no, I want to be able to watch Monsters, Inc. whenever I like, which I still feel that way.

1:36:54I really clung to DVD for a long time. We had loads of VHSs in the house growing up but they were bestowed upon me. That was the first one I remember really putting my own funds towards. I really clung to DVD for a long time, especially when I was a poor student. Blu-ray was really coming in but it was too expensive. I held out for as long as possible. The thing that made me switch was The Force Awakens. I bought The Force Awakens on Blu-ray and have been replacing as much of the collection as I can since then.

1:37:25Chris Hewitt:Autoglass repair, autoglass replace. So I don't remember VHS or Blu-ray. I actually had a HD DVD collection. You're back the winner. Yeah, guys, I've backed a ride horse. I mean, this is next to my Beat-A-Mac. We had one of those too. Yeah, my mom and dad chose poorly. I remember the first DVD I bought. When I got a DVD player, I moved back to Northern Ireland after university, and I had my own money, and I said, fuck you, mum and dad, I'm going to buy him a DVD player and have it upstairs in my room. And I bought Austin Powers' International Man of Mystery, and I regret nothing. Was it the DVD or the soundtrack that came with a pink suede case?

1:38:23Chris Hewitt:soundtrack I'm guessing but I had the soundtrack as well and I don't remember that Oh I had it, special edition maybe I don't know Another purchase for Chrissy Alright we have about five minutes left we have maybe time for two questions if we take them real quick Yes please over here, right here Really really quick, going back to physical media is it true that the soundtrack to Corin Hardy's movie Whistle is coming out on vinyl on the 18th of September on Made by Mutant are a plant, sir. And yes, it is. Yes, I've just Googled it on my computer. That's correct. The soundtrack to Whistle, composed by Simon over there, is available on final September 18th.

1:39:09Chris Hewitt:All right. Well, that was my question. Helen, really quick. We've got anybody over the side. Yes, third row, green shirt. Third row, green shirt. Hello. Hello, good evening. Are you okay with crack? Depends what day of the week. What's my question? Oh, what film would make a really good podcast? Like a subject for a podcast? No, as in it was just a radio drama. 12 Angry Men? I have long wanted to do, but I've not done because I'm lazy. a spoof and it's probably been done already someone's going to go Chris that's been done already but a spoof true crime podcast but based on the offense of a movie so like Die Hard but taking the story of Die Hard and treating it absolutely seriously and doing like an eight part deep dive investigation into what happened at the Nakatomi Plaza on that night and you have interviews with the surviving people.

1:40:19Chris Hewitt:And there's like one terrorist, two terrorists. Well, they're thieves, really. Who survives? Theo survives, right? And the security guard. No, the security guard gets killed at the end. But who gets knocked out? You're air dicking. Never rub another man's rhubarb. Someone gets knocked out at the end. Yes, I forget his name, but yeah. Yeah, he forgets, yeah. So I'd love to do that. So I think Die Hard, any film, can make a really, really boring podcast if you really put your mind to it, is what I'm saying. So if you want a film where you don't get any of the visuals, you're just getting the audio.

1:40:56So something like Buster Keaton's The General would be my pick for... I think it really works so well. So just the audio, no visuals. Just the audio, no visuals, just the dialogue. Yeah, that's right. Okay, great, great call. I guess it would work as a companion piece.

1:41:09Chris Hewitt:Do you know that they do all these re-watch podcasts now? And, you know, so they have Office Ladies, obviously, which I adore. Although how they dealt with the dreadful last season was interesting anyway. But, you know, and they have the Scrubs rewatch podcast with Zach Braff and Donald Fison. Could you do like movie rewatch podcasts with the cast? I would love to see a buried rewatch podcast with Ryan Reynolds in a coffin. That would be amazing. He'd have to be in the coffin. He'd have to be in the coffin for the podcast. Because he's in a fucking coffin in the film. And who's he going to be talking to?

1:41:49Himself. This is gold. So he's lying in the coffin, and in the top of the coffin is embedded a little tablet. A little screen. And a little microphone. And he just talks. Yeah. This is gold. Gold? Yeah, we'll put it on the back burner. Yeah. Just want some investment, man.

1:42:09Chris Hewitt:That's all. Just 20%. I feel like if you're doing the sort of true crime investigation-y route, I think Jaws would actually be a pretty cool one today. Oh. Because you could, you know, really get into the... So you blew up the shark? Did that seem, I don't know, appropriate? That sounds great. I'd host it for three, but I'd produce it and edit it for ten. Ten pounds. You know the audio description tracks that you get, where it's not just, you know... And they walk across the room, opens the door, and put down the glass. You know, those sort of things. Absolutely true. My mum was watching a film and she said, I found the narration so off-putting.

1:42:49She'd accidentally turned her TV onto this for three weeks. Three weeks. Everything she'd watched had had this description and she thought this was a bold new direction in programming. What was she watching? Extraordinary. I don't know. Fucking EastEnders or something. It was wild. Gaspar Noe's love. In. Out. In. Out.

1:43:07Chris Hewitt:In. Out. And on that note, I think that is pretty much it for this very, very special evening with the Empire Podcast. Before we say our thanks and before we say our goodbyes, don't forget we're doing a meet and greet out in the lobby immediately after this. If you want to come and say hello, come and say hello. We will say hello back. That's how it works. Then you say something else and then we say something else and so on. I am going to say, try and mark, who's got a calendar on them? Has anyone brought a calendar? No, that's cheating. Phones, Chris. Anyone bring an actual calendar, like a desktop calendar with them?

1:43:45Chris Hewitt:No? All right. Well, there's no point doing this now, is there? But if you have a phone with a calendar on it and you're interested in seeing another one of these shows, the Empire Podcast turns 15 next year. We are hoping to go on another tour. That's exciting. but we are obviously going to have a flagship anniversary celebration show here at King's Place in London, our spiritual home. And that is going to be an all-day extravaganza, just like episode 500. And that is going to be on Saturday, April 10th. It is already booked. It's good. No one's going on honeymoon at any time. Soon, right? No, no, no.

1:44:36I'm good for that.

1:44:37Chris Hewitt:You're good for that? All right. April, you got it in your diaries? I mean... I do now. Yeah, good. April 10th. So if you guys want to do that, tickets will be going on sale soon. We'll let you know on social media. But now we're letting you guys get the drop on everyone else so you can take time off and book flights if you need to book flights and hotels if you need to book hotels. So there you go. If they need to get out of the country before... If you need to fake your own death as well, which is what I will be doing. But anyway, the angry clock is flashing at me. So all I'm going to say very, very quickly is thank you, of course, to the wonderful staff here at King's Place.

1:45:08Chris Hewitt:This place is amazing. Jenny, the floor manager, Chris, Sally, Becca, everyone who invites us to do this every single year. Thank you so much. Thank you, of course, to our incredible guest, Corn Hardy.

1:45:27Chris Hewitt:And his incredible trophy. A man who has learned his lesson, never text Chris again. And of course, his thanks to you guys. Thank you so much for coming out. Yeah, give yourselves a round of applause, for God's sake. And last but not least, thanks to these guys. James Snyder! Say goodbye, James. Goodbye, James. Goodbye, James. And on the Pilot TV podcast this week. Oh, yes. Patrick Bramillon is very exciting. Patrick Bramble? Yeah, he doesn't want to talk about Colin from accounts but that's all we want to talk about. Oh, is that who he is? Right, yeah. Oh, Debra Rose Prada too. Yeah, that too.

1:46:09Chris Hewitt:Yeah, he's got a new serious show, hasn't he? It's a lot seen on Apple, yeah. Is it good? Yeah, it's fine. Okay. It's goodbye from Ben Travis. Bye. It's goodbye from Helen O 'Hara. Toodle-oo, bye-bye. It's goodbye from Chris Hewitt. It's goodbye from me. I'm off to score some crack and rub a dollar, the bounce of rhubarb. Thanks for listening. See you next time, bye bye!