The Shameless Plug #7: The Running Mag

8:25Nick de Semlyen:It's incredible Brisket access that you've had.

8:28Chris Hewitt:It's a world exclusive. And you know, we talk regularly in the show about how sometimes you'll see something or do something on the set visit, but you can't fit it into the feature. That was it. Brisket. Yeah, Brisket. Because I thought immediately once it happened I was like, okay, this is going into the feature. Brisket, one of the most famous movie dogs in the world, is on my lap. And then I thought there's no way to write that without sounding pervy. But it just didn't organically make its way into the feature. Brisket will be on the Empire cover at some point. Absolutely.

8:55Nick de Semlyen:Let me ask you a quick question. When Stallone made Rocky, he had a dog, a apparently very smelly dog called Butkus that he put into the movie. Yes. Did Brisket get a cameo? Are we going to get to see Brisket on screen?

9:10Chris Hewitt:I think I can exclusively reveal that Brisket is getting a cameo in The Running Man. That's huge. You heard it here first on the show. In fact, Nick, the day that you and I were on set, Brisket was shooting that cameo. That's amazing. Wow. Which you have clearly forgotten. Well, it was overwhelming to me, so I've forgotten.

9:28Nick de Semlyen:No, because all I can remember from that day is we met, I didn't meet Brisket, but I met a we got to meet a giant hamster we did called Hammy we did yeah who there's another game show yeah it's we'll hopefully make it to the final cut yes yeah one of the other lethal game shows has a mascot called Hammy who is a gigantic hamster and very impressive to see yes they kind of built a version of it yes they did so

9:55Chris Hewitt:we got to shake hands with Hammy Hammy the hamster and this is a game show I'm not going to say anything else but it's a game show called Speed the Wheel. So, you know, check that out. And again, hopefully it will make the final cut. But yeah, it's very, very exciting. I'm very excited for this film. So I was on set for three days and I met Brisket and Glenn Powell and Glenn Powell is this incredible mix of just staggering charisma but also he's incredibly personable and very approachable and very, very down to earth. And so I had some lovely chats with him both at Leavesden and in Bulgaria which was where I went for the third time, the third and final time I visited the set of The Running Man.

10:36Chris Hewitt:I went to Sofia in Bulgaria, and then about an hour outside Bulgaria, they were filming a scene in which Glenn Powell actually jumped off a bridge. And he did it again and again and again and again until the bridge gave up. And it was just wonderful. And I sat down with Edgar then as well. and it was just you know it's two two or three sentences that really gave me a sense of the energy that this movie is going to have it is going to be I hope a relentless thrill ride in which we are with Ben Richards from beginning to end as he goes around his journey I mean no one does action like

11:18Nick de Semlyen:Edgar Wright we previously had Scott Pilgrim vs. the World on the cover and I got to go to Toronto this is Ben Powell vs. the World Indeed, yeah. But I got to go to Toronto and I got to see the Roxy fight from Scott Pilgrim. You know, the one where Mary Elizabeth Winstead's got the giant mallet. And yeah, it's pretty amazing getting to see him, you know, pull off these big action set pieces. And it's also kind of meticulously choreographed and high energy. Yeah, absolutely. Sounds great. Talking of which, let's talk about the running mag. Shall we? Talking of minutely choreographed. we basically set you this was yesterday we did this to promote the running man issue we set you and our social media editor Harry Stainer loose on the streets of London it wasn't choreographed at all it was mayhem it was mayhem it was fun right

12:06Chris Hewitt:so about what was it three weeks ago four weeks ago you called me and you said Naves I've had an idea the running mag the idea is generous

12:17Nick de Semlyen:yeah it was a you said

12:18Chris Hewitt:I've got three words yeah the running mag yeah and I went Pretty much instantly, I went, I go in the run around London, readers try to find me. Yeah, it was amazing how you genuinely came up with it that quickly.

12:30Nick de Semlyen:I said those words and you immediately had the idea. Yeah. So, I mean, I just genuinely just came up with it.

12:34Chris Hewitt:We should do brainstorming sessions more often.

12:37Nick de Semlyen:But it was like, it immediately kind of hatched. And then we were like, this is deranged, but it seemed perfect. You know, it's exactly syncs with the film. You're getting hunted by readers. And we have prizes and we're giving away signed copies of the magazine, signed by Edgar and tickets to an early screening. So it just felt like a cool, one-off, perfect way to promote this issue.

12:57Chris Hewitt:Yeah, and that's exactly what happened yesterday. So Harry and I, I guess I was the face of the franchise, but Harry was behind the camera making it all happen as well. He was your brisket. He was my brisket, although he did not sit in my lap, no matter how much I asked him to. And we went around London clutching a box full of magazines. Edgar, the prize is a signed copy of the magazine, signed by Edgar Wright. He is currently editing the film, so he hadn't yet had time to sign them. So I had to give people a symbolic copy of the magazine. It was a rhetorical prize. Yes, it was a rhetorical prize.

13:31Chris Hewitt:It was a metaphorical prize. Plus tickets to a Running Man screening, plus tickets to our next live show, which is on September 13th at King's Place.

13:39Nick de Semlyen:And we had clues from the Empire team. Yes, we did. Edgar kindly recorded a video for us setting the whole thing up. I mean, it was really fun. I mean, we were very nervous the day before because we were looking at the weather reports. Oh, it was horrible. The one day that we're, you know, setting ourselves loose on the streets of London and asking people to come and find us was the day where there was like 100 % chance of rain.

13:59Chris Hewitt:Yeah, that 100 % chance receded to about a 45 % chance and then the weather was very kind to us. And so very, very quick because we've got a lot to talk about as well. But we started off in Greenwich. Regular listeners may know that's where I live. So it was very, very easy to get to. We started off the Cutty Sark, the big T-Clipper, the massive ship that's in the middle of Greenwich. We started there. And we were found within about three minutes after putting up the first clue. So we would get to a location and put up a clue on social media. And then it wasn't so much a case of I wasn't running around trying not to be found.

14:33Chris Hewitt:I was actively trying to be found for this thing. So I was just standing around and this guy, I could see this guy kind of looking at me furtively. You were the gesticulating wildly man.

14:41Nick de Semlyen:I was pointing at myself going, someone shout the running mag at me.

14:44Chris Hewitt:No, this guy, this guy, Phil, who said that he worked nearby at the old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, said that we'd put up a clue the previous day, basically saying we were going to be in Greenwich for the first one. And he said, I was hoping that you would be somewhere nearby. And he came running around and furtively looked at me. I was like, is that you? Came running over, said the words to running mag. And I've never felt so relieved in my life because it's such a leap into the unknown. We've never done anything like this before.

15:12Nick de Semlyen:No, we've never done anything like this. It's funny. It seemed like such a fun, mad idea, but we had no idea if anyone was actually going to take us out. And so thank you to everyone who did. Absolutely. And by the end, I mean, it was amazing. By the time you got to Clue, location four, the two-cam pub, there was people waiting outside for you.

15:28Chris Hewitt:Well, yeah, but that was... So we went five locations. We went Greenwich, then we hopped on a boat, and we went to Babassie Power Station. Yes, we got on the wrong boat,

15:37Nick de Semlyen:which delayed our arrival. Don't expect it. That'd be amazing if Glenn Powell does that in the film.

15:42Chris Hewitt:There's 10 minutes to the film where it just goes the wrong way. It's the backtrack. It actually helps him afraid the hunters because he's just incompetent. So we got on the boat. We went to Battersea Power Station. We were spotted there immediately because we had put the clue up and then got on the wrong boat.

15:55Nick de Semlyen:So by the time you arrived, people were waiting for us, which was great. So it meant we could go.

15:59Chris Hewitt:Then we went to King's Cross St. Pancras again, and then we put up a clue. Someone ran down from where they worked to come and find me, which was wonderful. And then we got into a cab and drove down. The fourth clue was the Toucan pub. The Toucan pub. Now, it's the only properly Edgar Wright-related clue, which the Toucan pub is literally in Last Night in Soho. And the clue actually had the word Toucan in the clue. So we figured people would figure it out. But at the same time, as we were approaching it, Harry went, I'm going to film you just in case anyone's beaten us to it. And we walked around the corner and there was a crowd of people shouting the running mag at me the second I came around the corner.

16:41Chris Hewitt:That was great. And then the fifth one was Leicester Square.

16:43Nick de Semlyen:Which was very appropriate because the final location was the Mr. Bean statue in Leicester Square. And the whole thing was Mr. Bean-esque

16:50Chris Hewitt:in its execution and conception, frankly.

16:54Nick de Semlyen:So thank you for everyone who came. Well done to everyone who successfully nabbed Chris. And yeah, it was a fun thing. We'd never done anything like that. We had a touch of our old video blogger's own madness. It did, yeah. So we might do more stuff like that. We might do more stuff like that. They were great.

17:08Chris Hewitt:All right. So let's get into the rest of the magazine. But first, I'm going to give myself the treatment. Every month, I read out the first line of the features in my weird feature man voice. And I'm not going to spare myself. You've heard of Elf on the Shelf. You've heard of, but hopefully not participated in, Boar on the Floor. and you may have tried but failed to forget about the cat in the hat. But they all pale in comparison next to Powell in a towel.

17:44Nick de Semlyen:My God. We've reached the final form of this podcast.

17:48Chris Hewitt:You mocking your own opening.

17:50Nick de Semlyen:It's fantastic. This is a great read. It's stuffed with cool information and the set visit color is amazing. Yes, there are great puns. Kudos also to Alex Godfrey, our features editor for the headline, The Fast Show. The Fast Show. which is amazing.

18:05Chris Hewitt:But yeah, great read.

18:06Nick de Semlyen:And yeah, this is, I think, our third Edgar cover feature. Although that's not counting. We put Shaun of the Dead, we did a sort of greatest characters issue and put Shaun from Shaun of the Dead on. But yeah, Hot Fuzz. Scott Pilgrim Vest the World. Yeah. And now, The Running Man.

18:22Chris Hewitt:Really? We didn't put World's End on the cover?

18:24Nick de Semlyen:That's interesting.

18:25Chris Hewitt:All right.

18:26Nick de Semlyen:I thought we had.

18:27Chris Hewitt:All right. So the next feature, next up, is Hayley Campbell on The Smashing Machine, which sounds like a Wallace and Gromit movie. And I think that's the joke I made in the contents page. But this is the new film starring Dwayne Johnson, and this is the film that might propel Dwayne Johnson into Oscar contention. And it is a true life tale. He plays a UFC fighter called Mark Kerr. Not Brian Smashing.

18:57Nick de Semlyen:Not Brian Smashing. I'm extremely jealous of John Nugent our reviews editor who's currently out in Venice

19:03Chris Hewitt:oh yeah he is

19:04Nick de Semlyen:and he's seen this film and I'm extremely jealous I still remember seeing Uncut Gems the Safdie brothers is Uncut Gems in Toronto on my last day there at that film festival and having my mind blown by it the Safdies are super interesting this is Benny Safdie doing it on his own but by all accounts this is this is smashing

19:22Chris Hewitt:what does it feel like to lose Benny Safdie wants to show you and then there's a quote from Benny Safdie which I loved it

19:30Nick de Semlyen:yeah it's a really great interview I've got to say that Hayley did super emotional and yeah made me really want to see it Benny Safdie of course also the star of Happy Gilmore 2 what a year

19:40Chris Hewitt:I mean literally who isn't yes I think I'm in that film as well great great feature here is a fantastic retro kind of anniversary feature this is wonderful this is a feature about Neil Marshall's The Descent 20 years ago this movie came out absolutely terrific movie if you haven't seen it it'll put the willies up you and then some and you'll never go spelunking again and it's wonderful and this is a feature in which Sophie Butcher talks to Neil Marshall and pretty much his entire cast

20:15Nick de Semlyen:the female stars of the film are the one person who couldn't make it but it's a great read I gotta say because he was stuck in a cave

20:23Chris Hewitt:presumably in Cheddar Gorge but yeah there's something

20:26Nick de Semlyen:there's something really nice about this Last summer, we did an all-nighter at the Picturehouse Central, and members of the Empire team picked a film, I Showed the Frightness. Yours was The Quick and the Dead, right? That's correct, yes. And Sophie picked this film, The Descent, which she loves. And we showed it at like two in the morning, perfect time to watch The Descent. So yeah, it turns out this is the anniversary, and this idea came about with only a couple of weeks left on the issue. And it was one of those where we were like, Alex and I were looking at the flat plan and we were kind of missing, because we like to mix up formats, we like to mix up, just give a lot of variety to the section and it was all looking quite male.

21:06Nick de Semlyen:That's one thing we think about when we're kind of planning an issue. We don't want it just to be a total sausage fest. So we were like, oh, it'd be good to have something that's not totally male and also something that's a Q &A. And we were also missing something retro, like kind of looking back, celebrating something from the past, which we like to do sometimes. And so what did you do? We came up with this idea, which ticked every box. And we loved this film. And so we dropped a line to Neil Marshall and props to him. He was immediately up for it. And then, yeah, all of them jumped on board.

21:38Nick de Semlyen:I mean, literally within days of us having the idea, Sophie was on a Zoom call with all of them. And it's a great read. They're so fun and it's so nice to have them all chatting together. First time they've all chatted together for a long time.

21:51Chris Hewitt:So it's a really good read.

21:52Nick de Semlyen:that film remains fucking terrifying it really does I honestly like even before the little cave golems turn up I find that film so terrifying the claustrophobia oh my god but the cave golem the moment when it's revealed on the camera is absolutely chilling great great film there's great stuff in that there's great stuff about the golems in that film the actresses talk about how they were kept apart from the monsters the guys playing the monsters and how they were genuinely terrified when suddenly they were like put together and then yeah there's some really really fun stories in there about the making of this film

22:30Chris Hewitt:so the opening line sorry Sophie but here's the opening line spelunking not a hobby for everyone and one with even less appeal for those who have seen Neil Marshall's 2005 subterranean scare fest The Descent there you go yeah I think it enhances it

22:48Nick de Semlyen:yeah

22:49Chris Hewitt:you could argue that

22:52Nick de Semlyen:next feature tell me another British film this one's a new one and this is really special I think this feature this film is called I Swear and it's the story the real life story of a guy called John Davidson who has Tourette's and yeah Alex saw this film he got into an early screening of it and already kind of knew something about the subject because I think in the late 80s he had seen a QED doc called John's Not Mad which is about John Davidson and it really stuck with him. And he saw this film and absolutely loved it and came back. And I think this is a great example of what we try and do, as well as the big Hollywood stuff and the movies about cave golems, is we try and really find these little gems and support them.

23:34And this is a beautiful, really lovely...

23:40Nick de Semlyen:I went to see it after Alex came back raving about it and also thought it was phenomenal. And Alex has done such a great job. He's talked to the actor who plays John Davidson, Robert Aramea. He's talked to the director, Kirk Jones. And he's talked to the real-life John Davidson. And it's a really beautifully told story that is much more than just the making of a film. It's really about the whole of his life and how this film has affected him emotionally. It's a real rollercoaster experience. When he first saw the film, actually something kind of tragic happened. but then he was able to see it again.

24:19Nick de Semlyen:I don't want to give anything away because it's a really, really interesting story, and Alex tells it expertly, so I want to give him a lot of props for that. And see, I swear, it's genuinely a really, really wonderful film.

24:29Chris Hewitt:Sorry, Alex. Here it comes. It was a cold and wet Wednesday on November 9th, 2022, when Bristolian director Kirk Jones, who over the years has worked with Robert De Niro, Tom Hanks, and Jennifer Lopez, turned up at John Davidson's door in Gallashields, an unassuming town in the Scottish borders. Next feature is the return of Paul Greengrass.

24:57Nick de Semlyen:He's back. He's back, back, back. Yeah, this is, I don't think this is a spoiler to say this is a return to form for Paul Greengrass. I think he's, you know, he is one of those filmmakers who is unbeatable when it comes to dramatizing intense real life scenarios um you know united 93 for instance a film that i you know was one of the most intense films i've ever seen in the cinema and uh yeah with with the lost bus he is bringing to life the real life story of a california wildfire that just sprung out of nowhere and became a complete inferno and um it's based on a book but the bus element is only a small part of the book but he's pulled that out and made it

25:41Chris Hewitt:a bigger one but this isn't quite the way that uh it worked on green zone for example which was a project he originated uh this wasn't originated by paul greengrass this was actually originated by jamie lee curtis of all people and uh producer jason blum as well yeah you're right this is you

25:57Nick de Semlyen:know we've been talking about paul greengrass but really this film exists because of jamie lee Curtis who I think it was about three years ago came across a non-fiction book by Lizzie Johnson which is about paradise, the town of paradise and what happened with the wildfire and she was the one who was looking at that book and started reading about the bus and was like that's the film so she was out there, she's a producer and she is really a main voice, she starts and closes this feature, Ian Frears spoke to her and And it's made even more poignant by the fact that when they were finishing the film, obviously the LA wildfires, another huge natural disaster in California, were happening and Jamie Lee Curtis was very affected by that fire.

26:42Nick de Semlyen:And yeah, it's a very emotional story and film. But yeah, even for respect to Matthew McConaughey, who stars the bus driver, America Ferrara who is also you know plays a teacher who is aboard the bus as well he's a busload of kids we spoke to Paul Greengrass and yeah

27:02Chris Hewitt:it's a really

27:02Nick de Semlyen:really interesting and Paul Greengrass is is you know this is a perfect film for him to do

27:08Chris Hewitt:yeah very much so here's the opening line as wildfires started raging through her Californian community in the Pacific Palisades Jamie Lee Curtis was on a plane to New York next up NAPES is an interview with Harris Dickinson. We like him. He's on the rise. He told me once he listens to this podcast, maybe not this podcast, I'm sure he doesn't listen to the shameless plug, but if he does, hello, Harris Dickinson. All you need is plug. All you need is plug. How's the Scouse accent coming along? Because he's playing John Lennon,

27:38Nick de Semlyen:in case people don't know. Yeah, so this is one of our Empire Focus. This is going to be a digital cover. This article is going to be online as well. Don't let that stop you buying the magazine. Lovely. And yeah, we caught Harris Dickinson as he's rehearsing for the Beatles movie, the four Beatles movies. He's playing John Lennon for Sam Mendes. And, you know, he's been very busy. He has directed his first film, Urchin. And we took the opportunity to do a pretty great photo shoot with him in London. And also to talk to him. And we got Beth Webb to do it. Our news editor, she has got real rapport with him.

28:15Nick de Semlyen:She's interviewed him a couple of times, I think, on stage for the Empire Podcast Live. and she's got a fantastic, really candid, interesting interview out of him.

28:27Chris Hewitt:She does indeed. Yeah. Yeah, she does indeed. He's a fascinating figure, Harris Dickinson. Very, very smart guy. Very, very young still, but he is fiercely ambitious and I think someone who has absolutely got an idea of what he wants to do as an actor and as a filmmaker as well. Here is Beth's opening line. for the best part of a decade Harris Dickinson has used a screen to portray masculinity in all of its shades indeed there's some great goat

28:55Nick de Semlyen:based analogy stuff in this interview he found a quote from him he compared Urchin being accepted into Cannes as like taking your prized goat to the goat fair and he expands on that in very funny fashion in this interview to quote Edgar Wright's

29:15Chris Hewitt:Okay, so final feature this month is the Empire Deep Dive, which explores a slice of previously unexplored cinema lore. This month, Nick, what the fuck is it? I haven't read this one yet.

29:30Nick de Semlyen:It's monkey business. The tag for it is the Ape Suit King. This was a pitch from a writer called Brian J. Robb. He previously did a deep dive for us on Mr. Electric, a guy who created crazy electrical effects for the old Frankenstein movies and stuff like that. If you have a pitch for any old shit,

29:51Chris Hewitt:just get in touch with Nick and Alex.

29:54Nick de Semlyen:No, no, no. Genuinely, we have done research and the deep dive is one of the most popular things in the magazine. And it's really heartening because we're trying to come up with a new regular feature and we just thought, let's do something where we go into really bizarre little pockets of cinema lore and give them six pages and deep, go really, as we say, dive deep. So people really love them. Can I pitch one? You can. Are you going to pitch it now? I'm going to pitch it right now. Okay. Have you heard of the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

30:26Chris Hewitt:Denied. Damn it! So close.

30:29Nick de Semlyen:I was so close to getting something about the MCU into the magazine. I've done a couple of these. They're really fun to do. This one is about Charles Gamora. Yes. He became like Hollywood's premium ape. Like he basically spent his entire life he was in a Laurel and Hardy movie he was in a Bela Lugosi movie called Murders in the Room which basically if your movie back in the day needed a monkey needed a gorilla you would call Charles Gamora and this is absolutely fascinating it goes into so much detail about the evolution he would build the suits he would use the latest in monkey suit technology all of his adventures and this man genuinely spent his life in a monkey suit and it's a really interesting weird thing that I had no idea about that sounds amazing it's really really fun

31:18Chris Hewitt:so basically Nick Brian J. Robb has asked and answered some of the big questions of our time namely where is Gamora who is Gamora and I'll do you one better why is Gamora there we go we got the MCU in there somehow here's the first line the jungle drums beat and the exotic dancing girls shimmy in followed closely by a skulking but strangely human looking

31:45Nick de Semlyen:gorilla

31:46Chris Hewitt:now I'm

31:47Nick de Semlyen:I'm grabbed you got me you got me by the Jaffas

31:50Chris Hewitt:right by the Jaffas what a great feature section yeah alright what do you want to highlight from Beth Webb's section the news section first word right at the front of the magazine Nicholas well we got some

32:02Nick de Semlyen:big exclusives we got Ryan Johnson talking about Knives Out Wake Up Dead Man come on we have John M. Chu talking about Wicked Part 2.

32:12Chris Hewitt:Yes, that's the opener. That is the main story. Helen O 'Hara and I spoke to John M. Chu. We have Slow Horses,

32:21Nick de Semlyen:which, you know, we've been trying to cover Slow Horses for a while. It's surprisingly tricky. I think because they are constantly... No, well, quite the opposite. They are churning out these seasons at a furious clip. They really are. Weirdly, until now, the only interview we had done for Slow Horses was Mick Jagger. Like, we got Mick Jagger quite easily. Yeah, I did Mick Jagger.

32:38Chris Hewitt:Yeah, you did it, didn't you? Yeah, and it was amazing. to talk about the theme tune

32:41Nick de Semlyen:but we love slow horses we really genuinely do so we've got the showrunner Will Smith not that one talking about it it's a really great read we've got

32:50Chris Hewitt:so The Path to Pandora this month features Brendan Cowell aka Mick Scoresby if you can't get out of it get into it he's back back back along with Jermaine Clement as insert name of Jermaine Clement's character here and they're back back back and that's really really fun and exciting

33:07Nick de Semlyen:got a picture of Jermaine Clement in a diving suit looking like he's come out the abyss. And yeah, Scoresby, Brendan Cowell, wonderful actor, brilliant character, based on, and I spoke to James Cameron about this, but I have not had anywhere to put this, based on an Australian scuba diving instructor mate of his. Wow. He basically based that character, and presumably not as evil as Scoresby and is not trying to murder animals. We've got a great interview with Billy Zane, former Empire agony uncle, Billy Zane, talking about playing Marlon Brando that Alex did. We've got Cillian Murphy talking about his new film, Steve.

33:44Nick de Semlyen:Steve! Gummy Bears! And I spoke to Shane Black about his new movie, Play Dirty,

33:50Chris Hewitt:which is an adaptation of the Parker novels, but not a direct adaptation, more inspired by starring Mark Wahlberg as Parker. And that's going to be on Prime Video in October. And it's always a joy to talk to Shane Black, who is absolutely one of my heroes. And this month's pint of milk is Timothy Olyphant, star of Alien Earth. my pancake game is very strong it's so strong but not as strong as this Harry game, this Harry game is incredible alright let's move ahead to the best section of the magazine which is the back section, the final cut section, it is my section and this month we got some absolute bangers in there as well so the four page Q &A that traditionally starts the final cut section is Jake Schreier who is the director of course of Thunderbolts which I think is one of the best Marvel movies of recent years and clearly has caught the eye of Kevin Feige because the day before I interviewed Jake Schreier for this piece, Kevin Feige had essentially confirmed him as the director of X-Men.

34:47Chris Hewitt:Did you ask him about it? It came up towards the end.

34:50Nick de Semlyen:Okay. Yeah, so... Was it him going, Chris, I want to tell you all about the movie and you were like, we're out of time. We're out of time, Jake Schreier.

34:57Chris Hewitt:No, I want to talk about Thunderbolts and Robot and Frank, and that is it.

35:01Nick de Semlyen:No, but Chris, I want to tell you something really exciting. You know, so Cyclops died the first five minutes. No! You hung up. No, Jake Schreier!

35:09Chris Hewitt:But yeah, I always enjoy talking to Jake Schreier and that's a ton of fun, that one. Hey, I also spoke, I say we, I say it was me, I spoke to Saktopovsky and Adam B. Stein, the directors of Final Destination Bloodlines who must be sick to the back teeth of me because this is about the fourth time I spoke to them this year about the incredible opening of Final Destination Bloodlines in which a lot of people

35:33Nick de Semlyen:have a very, very bad day. one of my favorite films of this year still. Yeah, I love it so much.

35:38Chris Hewitt:I really like that film. I adore it.

35:40Nick de Semlyen:I absolutely adore it. Don't forget Guy Pearce, Time Capsule. How could I forget? You've tattooed it on your body so you wouldn't. I've written,

35:48Chris Hewitt:do not trust Nick's lies. Nick will tell you there's a Guy Pearce Time Capsule and I'm honestly not so sure. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, I sat down and spoke to Guy Pearce. Quite often what happens with Time Capsule, Nick? I don't know whether readers and listeners are interested in this or not, but quite often it is a two for one package deal in fact I'm doing one later on today so by that I mean I will interview someone for the podcast and then do a time capsule with them time capsule is where I select pictures from their story career and I show them to the person and then they hopefully it jogs their memory and they go oh yes I remember shooting that scene and that's right and then there was Alfred Hitchcock was just off out of shot murdering a puppy and things like that so you do the two things together do the two things together

36:35Nick de Semlyen:that's almost interesting fuck you

36:38Chris Hewitt:honestly been doing this for seven months now what's the point

36:42Nick de Semlyen:what's the point

36:43Chris Hewitt:yesterday I was I was running around London I was having a great time now look at me I'm in here stuck here with you

36:49Nick de Semlyen:oh you've ruined it I haven't yeah so that's

36:54Chris Hewitt:that's how those are done quite often because time capsule takes quite a bit of time Sophie Butcher's done a really great masterpiece this month by the way on the talent at Mr. Ripley and our ranking is the TV shows of the MCU. Oh, hey, Empire Quiz this month is Stephen King movies written by me. Fiendishly difficult. Well, I try and get them somewhere between difficult and horrifically difficult. That's the sweet spot. Here's a sample question for you, Nick. Only one person has won an Oscar for starring in a King adaptation. Who is it? For which movie?

37:33Nick de Semlyen:should have been Christopher Walken for the Dead Zone no I have even looked this up because I read the page at the time but it's slipped up my brain

37:41Chris Hewitt:you dirty bird it's Kathy Bates in Misery oh yeah of course it is yeah that's okay that's pretty good yeah cool

37:50Nick de Semlyen:before I forget I want to give a shout out to the artist who created our Running Man subscriber cover Merugia it's just a really cool composition with one of the cameras has probably got a name, but the little floating cameras who chase Glenn Powell around, that's kind of the center of the shot. But it's a really cool bit of art that he's illustrated. I like it a lot. Yarp, yarp. Any comment on my contents page?

38:16Chris Hewitt:Any comments on that?

38:18Nick de Semlyen:Well, your Wallace and Gromit one is hard to surpass.

38:23Chris Hewitt:Smashing Machine, the movie that sounds like a Wallace and Gromit sequel. There we go.

38:28Nick de Semlyen:You're one for Harris Dickinson, the British actor turns director. it's your best work maybe the best work of your career that is the most will that do that's it's 6 o 'clock on press day

38:39Chris Hewitt:sometimes you can't if you have two lines and you're trying it can't always be funny and sometimes you just have to give the readers what they want which is a bit of information okay here's a good one

38:48Nick de Semlyen:yeah

38:48Chris Hewitt:Wake Up Dead Man Ryan Johnson on the Benoit Blanc movie that he in no way named but glancing at the back of U2's album Pop we were this close to Daniel Craig in discotheque it's a long run up but the payoff

38:59Nick de Semlyen:makes it worth

39:00Chris Hewitt:you have to have a working knowledge of the track listing of U2's album Pop for that to pop Chris your juice is worth the squeeze leave it at that

39:12Nick de Semlyen:there anyway and there's a lovely picture on that page of you and Liam Neeson and Pamela Ransom because you hosted the Naked Gun VIP screening I did I just want to say in vague terms because I can't say anything because things are like almost confirmed but not quite or not announced yet but we have a lot of VIP events coming up. We have some amazing ones coming up over the next few months. So if you're not an Empire VIP Club member, not to shill relentlessly. But this is a good time to sign up because we've got a whole cavalcade.

39:44Chris Hewitt:Empireonline.com forward slash VIP for details of how to sign up and you will not regret it. As Mick Scoresby once memorably said, if you can't get out of it, get into it! Indeed. There we go. Alright, I think sadly that brings another episode of the shameless plug to an end and it means that once again we have failed to answer any listener questions but we will do that Nick was off for a week I was away for a little bit so we haven't been able to align our schedules and there's a tube strike next week which is why we're recording this today because you may not be able to get in otherwise we do it next week but that will be happening as his own special show so do keep those questions coming to me on social media whether it's Twitter or Instagram or Threads or Blue Sky I'm Chris Hewitt on most of those platforms.

40:30Chris Hewitt:I'm CTAH1976 on threads and Instagram confusingly. But anyway, you'll figure it out. You're smart people. And speaking of smart people, it is time to say goodbye to my friend, my neighbor, my colleague, my hero? Huh?

40:46Nick de Semlyen:Oh, smart. He's left. He's left.

40:48Chris Hewitt:And only Nick has left. No, Nick, I'm looking around to see who you're talking to. But Chris,

40:53Nick de Semlyen:it's very, very flattering. Oh, come on, man. Please don't read anything I'd write out in that voice. I can't take it. sorry to all of our writers who have endured Chris reading their beautifully crafted prose out in that voice but yeah thanks for listening hope it was interesting and yeah throw your questions at us we will answer them soon alright I promise I will not do the voice again

41:15Chris Hewitt:anyway that's enough for this episode of the Shameless Plug thanks for listening see you next time bye bye bye

41:28Thank you.