The Shameless Plug: Spider-Plug And His Amazing Plugs

5:43Nick de Semlyen:That's a good opening. You couldn't even ruin that with your voice.

5:47Chris Hewitt:You gave it your best, and you couldn't ruin it. I mean, it's me, Bruce, isn't it, really? This is a reference, of course, to the classic Spider-Man and his amazing friends cartoon, which I loved as a kid growing up. And I watched a couple of episodes of because it's now on Disney Plus. And I was like, oh my God, this is terrible. But hopefully this film will not be terrible. And this is very, very exciting indeed. Spider-Man, brand new day on the cover of Empire Magazine. One of the exciting things about this film is that Spider-Man is going to team up with the Punisher

6:20Nick de Semlyen:and we have an amazing image of the two of them together. And yeah, I think that's going to be an interesting dynamic because the Punisher is prone to murdering people and swearing a lot. Yes. Two things which I imagine we're not going to see much of in this film. So I think Peter Parker is going to have his work cut out getting him to behave. Yes. But there's really lovely stuff in the piece where Tom Holland and John Bonfell both talk about how they got to know each other. They made a film in 2015 called The Pilgrimage. and at the time Tom Holland was auditioning to be Spider-Man and John Bonfell was helping him with his auditions and then when John Bonfell was auditioning to play the Punisher Tom Holland was helping him so it's like really lovely and then now they're in a big ass film together they are

7:00Chris Hewitt:they're in a big ass film together they're not in a jackass film together but they could be if they wanted to because it seems like the jackass crew are hanging up their boots with the the next and last Jackass film Jackass Best and Last which is actually out very very soon in cinemas and we've done a feature talking to Team Jackass about saying goodbye in inimitable fashion yeah we talked to

7:29Nick de Semlyen:the whole crew Johnny Knoxville

7:32Chris Hewitt:Steve-O Spike Jones did we speak to you man?

7:35Nick de Semlyen:I don't think we did

7:37Chris Hewitt:I don't think we did off the top of my head but who knows

7:39Nick de Semlyen:there's a lot going on in this feature I mean it's an amazing story of the entire Jackass era and the many highs and lows often involving them putting things into their bottoms I mean there's a very real possibility they may put this issue up their bottoms

7:55Chris Hewitt:by the time this is printed I actually interviewed Johnny Knoxville and the director Jeff Tremaine you're seeing I didn't think of that I didn't think about taking this and seeing whether but Johnny Knoxville doesn't really do that stuff if you watch the jackass movies he's the cheerleader in chief he's the ringmaster general who gets other people to shove things up their arses.

8:17Nick de Semlyen:This piece gives you an amazing sense of the interplay between the guys, how they're kind of getting each other to top what the previous person's done, but also just the friendship that these guys just love each other. They're at an age where you wouldn't expect them to be doing the stuff that they're doing, because they're like a band of brothers. I should mention this was written by Ayanna Murray, who does an amazing job of painting a picture of this band of absolute lunatics. But yeah, their films are unlike anything. Thank God. I love these movies absolutely unreservedly.

8:53Chris Hewitt:How long would you last if you were in the Jackass crew? How long would you last?

8:58Nick de Semlyen:10 seconds. I got on a skateboard once and I ended up in A &E because I had to have 12 stitches put in my chin because my chin fell off essentially. So I would be out by the end of the day.

9:09Chris Hewitt:I went to the junket the other day and I was waiting to go in to talk to Johnny and Jeff, Jermaine, who's directed all these movies. And the publicist said, I was in the screening the other day and I got almost as much enjoyment from watching you watch the movie as watching the movie yourself because I was just, I was cackling with joy, but I was also, several times I threw my hands over my head and went, no, no, no, no. This sounds much like experiencing James Dyer watching West Side Story, but without the joy. I'd love to see James watching this

9:42Nick de Semlyen:because he's openly contemptuous.

9:46Chris Hewitt:He doesn't understand him.

9:47Nick de Semlyen:He's openly contemptuous of most things. Yeah, he doesn't understand him. Do you remember when Johnny Knoxville and Jeff Tremaine and Spike Jonze came into our old office in Covent Garden? We used to have people come in for web chats and they came in and Johnny Knoxville cut off a load of Spike Jonze's hair, sellotaped it to a bit of paper and gave it to Helen and said, this is so you can clone him in 20 years. And what happened to it? We cloned him. We did clone him? Yeah. We got a Spike Jones. Yeah. Where is he?

10:13Chris Hewitt:He's just running around here somewhere. Oh, yeah, okay. He found a little door somewhere and he went inside it and he's ended up in John Malkovich's brain. He was last seen just off the New Jersey Turnpike. Wow. Okay. This explains a lot. This explains a lot. So, Ianna Murray, let's give her the treatment. Since the birth of cinema, physical comedians have brought slapstick to the big screen. Yeah. I want to know more.

10:34Nick de Semlyen:Yeah.

10:35Chris Hewitt:I want to know more. Yeah. Well, read on, but not now. Not now, because we've got things to do.

10:38Nick de Semlyen:but great great headline work by Alex Godfrey features editor as always with Off Their Trolley Off Their Trolley

10:45Chris Hewitt:because the opening picture

10:46Nick de Semlyen:is indeed them in a gigantic shopping trolley

10:48Chris Hewitt:which is an image I absolutely love alright next feature we're racing through this stuff this week Minions and Monsters is coming out

10:57Nick de Semlyen:this is a deranged feature section just to say going from Jackass best and last into Minions and Monsters

11:03Chris Hewitt:Spider-Man Jackass Minions you've basically these are my three food groups these are the things that sustain me so this is I'm going to read out the opening line of this first because I think this is the best opening line in the in the entire issue and it's one I wish I had written

11:21Nick de Semlyen:yeah

11:21Chris Hewitt:here we go this is from Amelia Tate he had us at below not hello but below

11:30Nick de Semlyen:as in the things the minions say

11:32Chris Hewitt:because the minions

11:33Nick de Semlyen:are voiced by Nick Pierre Coffin correct Pierre Coffin a man who a frenchman who we have been trying to get into empire for years i'm not kidding he is one of our he has been one of our white whales um because you know he is the voice of the minions and we have long wanted to talk to him about it and be like why and how do you come up with those noises um what the hell is it all about and all of those questions and more are answered in this feature which is absolutely brilliant amelia is amelia tate is one of my favorite writers um and it's just joyous. It's really, really fun. And really emotional as well.

12:09Nick de Semlyen:You really go on a journey with this guy who co-created the Minions and then left the Minions for a while, and now he's back and he's directing and he's also doing all the burbles and noises. And you'll find out by reading it how he comes up, the interior logic of the Minions. And there is a 15-minute scene in the new Minions film where they're just talking Minionese, which is revealed in this as well.

12:31Chris Hewitt:The whole thing is super fun. I'm so excited about this movie. Minions and Monsters. It's going to be a lot of fun. And I hope that it never stops, never stopping.

12:43Nick de Semlyen:Good segue. I just turned the page. I didn't even know that the next feature was about pop star never stopping, never stopping.

12:50Chris Hewitt:No, I did.

12:52Nick de Semlyen:What can I say?

12:53Chris Hewitt:Because this is celebrating, Nick, the next feature, the 10th anniversary of one of the greatest comedies of the last, well, 10 years, which is pop star never stopping,

13:02Nick de Semlyen:never stopping from The Lonely Island. Amazing film. If you're not up on The Lonely Island, they're the guys who kind of revolutionized Saturday Night Live and online comedy with their digital shorts. And you'll find all of those on YouTube. They do a podcast every week at the moment where they go through them and have guests on. And they are absolutely brilliant and hilarious. And this is one of our favorite films in the office. Although it flopped. It didn't do well.

13:31Chris Hewitt:No.

13:31Nick de Semlyen:And I remember seeing this in America It came out the same weekend as The Shallows, and I happened to be in LA for something, and I went to a double bill of The Shallows, and Popstar Never Stop Never Stopping, and there was one other person in the screening with me. And it was sad, because it was like, this is a film that's meant to be seen with an audience. And I still haven't had that experience of watching this film. I almost chose it for All Nighter, and then went with The Frighteners instead. But I really want to see this with a crowd. It's such a funny film. And we talked to them. Andy Samberg, Yomitikoni, Akiva Shaffa.

14:05Nick de Semlyen:And it's pretty damn fun. John Nugent. Where?

14:11Chris Hewitt:John Nugent talked to them.

14:13Nick de Semlyen:And if you listen to their podcast, you'll know that they have a little sort of greeting. If you see one of the Lonely Island in the wild, you are supposed to shout Quaid Army at them for reasons that are too convoluted for this podcast. And to which they will reply, Righteous Kill for reasons that are also. and so yeah John started the interview with them discussing what would be the British version I think Quid Army is the British version and they were discussing what would be the British version of Righteous Kill I think John suggested Splendid Splendid Kill but anyway this is all very confusing if you're not up on your Lonely Island but it is a it is a banging film and it's a really fun Q &A absolutely

14:55Chris Hewitt:and I love this movie I I prefer their first Lonely Island movie Hot Rod no to this but it'd be a great double bill and they're absolutely terrific terrific comedies and because they both tanked they haven't really done one since no it's a shame

15:12Nick de Semlyen:but it's one of the people love them and love this film and by the way in a massive Empire exclusive we talked to Michael Bolton we talked to Michael Bolton for this piece from Office Space not that one oh okay not that one

15:25Chris Hewitt:the other the other less significant Michael Bolton the other Michael Bolton

15:27Nick de Semlyen:so Michael Bolton has collaborated with them on SNL and also has an amazing guest appearance in Popstar and we we talked to him in this issue

15:38Chris Hewitt:that is reason enough to buy it he sings incredible thoughts which is a tremendous song here's John's opening line ever since I was born I was dope up next Nicholas we have Supergirl Supergirl so we were on set of Supergirl we sent Helen Helen our fellow Supergirl

16:00Nick de Semlyen:and Helen O 'Hara and yeah, tell us more. Yes, so Helen went on set here in the UK and they were filming a Kryptonian funeral scene. Oh, but who is dead? And can you die if you're from Krypton?

16:15Chris Hewitt:Yeah, of course you can. Oh, right.

16:16Nick de Semlyen:Yeah, especially if you're on Krypton. Oh yeah, you're well dead.

16:18Chris Hewitt:Yeah.

16:19Nick de Semlyen:So anyway, you will find out what a Kryptonian funeral will look like by picking up this issue. Yeah. But yeah, there are aliens in this movie. This feels quite Guardians of the galaxy-ish in tone and yeah this sort of Supergirl ends up going out into space and encountering all kinds of gnarly creatures there's a really fun sequence I'm looking forward to which is like on a kind of intergalactic bus it's like an intergalactic greyhound with a load of sort of schlubby aliens and that turns into a big action scene but yeah

16:52Chris Hewitt:we were on set and we decided for Jason Momoa as Lobo Lobo

16:57Nick de Semlyen:yeah

16:58Chris Hewitt:not Aquaman this is completely different this is a reboot this is the second movie in James Gunn's DCU following hot on the heels of last year's Superman Supergirl of course is Superman's cousin yeah so that is exciting yeah yeah yeah we shall see it's out very soon very soon next week in fact next week wow

17:19Nick de Semlyen:yes if Jason Momoa is riding a fish Aquaman he's riding a bike that's how I remember I had to write that down yes

17:27Chris Hewitt:so yes very excited to see this one and to see how Millie Alcock fares as Supergirl here's Helen's opening line when Millie Alcock was invited to a screen test for Supergirl in James Gunn's Superman and the wider DC Universe she was sick to her stomach with nerves that's good yeah it was good I want to know why was she sick to her stomach with nerves yeah

17:53Nick de Semlyen:what happened did you see Dean Cain the worst Superman was attempting to troll this film and going

17:59Chris Hewitt:how could she have pierced her ears if she's a super girl because you can't pierce the skin of course you can

18:04Nick de Semlyen:yeah of course you can I believe James Gunn came and just shut it down immediately with logic yeah

18:10Chris Hewitt:piss off Dean Cain yeah he's the worst yes indeed he is the worst superman I tell you who might have been a good superman Nick on my segway powers are in full effect but he was never given the chance Timothy Ollivant who has amazing hair and he is the subject of one of our nice great big old sit down and have a big old chat about your career interview type pieces.

18:36Nick de Semlyen:Our folk empire focus.

18:37Chris Hewitt:There was a more pithy name for it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

18:40Nick de Semlyen:We went out and we did an incredible photo shoot. I mean, the man is just ludicrously cool. He's nearly 60.

18:47Chris Hewitt:He's nearly 60.

18:48Nick de Semlyen:Yeah.

18:49Chris Hewitt:Look at him. Look at him, Nick. Walk around him.

18:52Nick de Semlyen:Yeah. His aura. His aura is strong. He has. he has much aura yeah we we dispatched Jamie Graham Jamie Graham yes our furry own Tim Feelephant Graham Jamie Jamie's got great hair as well

19:07Chris Hewitt:he has hair yeah he has a lot of hair

19:09Nick de Semlyen:he's got a lot of hair there's no question about it so anyway yeah Tim Feelephant he talks about all kinds of stuff he talks about Justified he talks about the Mandalorian and he talks about he was amazing in Alien F I thought I'm excited for he teases what we're going to get next in season two. Which is, he says, shit's going to get weird. I imagine shit's going to get weird. It was pretty weird the first time. Yeah.

19:33Chris Hewitt:I love him. I think he's absolutely tremendous. Very cool dude. Very, very, very cool dude indeed. In fact, that is what Jamie focused on in his opening sentence, which is as follows, Timothy Olyphant is one cool dude. There you go. Simple. I knew I got it from somewhere. Yes. Straight to the point. and next up I think lastly we have the Empire Deep Dive which is a kind of exploration of the kind of I don't know the more weird unusual esoteric side of Hollywood and this month it's about Houdini Houdini which sounds like something the minions would say

20:11Nick de Semlyen:hang on this feature has just disappeared in front of my eyes where is it no it's here I just dropped it yes Houdini I didn't know any of this I didn't know

20:19Chris Hewitt:Houdini made movies

20:20Nick de Semlyen:and And I don't know, Houdini almost died in a plane crash, apparently, or did he? This is really fascinating. I always enjoy reading these deep dives. We just basically set a writer loose on quite an obscure topic, and you end up learning a lot of stuff, even about ravens. But yeah, this is all about Harry Houdini, and it is by Brian J. Robb. Brian J. Robb. Brian J. Robb. And yeah, the research is amazing. I believe he's he's written a book called Houdini Unlocked he has so he knows his stuff and yeah you can read all about it you can read all about the highs and lows and why he was forced to retire and all that yes

21:04Chris Hewitt:didn't he die when he was someone punched him in the stomach without him being because he I think he boasted that he could absorb blows to the stomach but he had to prepare himself he had to gird himself before he was punched and then some prick punched him without him. When he wasn't ready. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Burst something inside him and not even Harry Houdini could escape. From the Grim Reaper. No. Which is not Brian's opening line, but it's close. His opening line is, High above Los Angeles, Harry Houdini was fighting for his life. That's a grabber. It's a grabber. That's a grabber. It could only have been improved by the word bello.

21:44Nick de Semlyen:Hello!

21:45Chris Hewitt:If it had been in Minion Eve. Harry Houdini was one cool dude until something in his stomach burst oh no it was a long time ago no no no it's fine but yeah that's exciting that's exciting we don't just talk about the feature section in this shameless plug though folks we talk about some of the other sections should we talk about Beth's

22:08Nick de Semlyen:Beth's

22:08Chris Hewitt:Beth's section first word which is the news section is very exciting

22:15Nick de Semlyen:It lives up to its name with a very exciting, exclusive interview with Brad Bird, the great bad... Brad Bird. The great bad bird. The great bad bird. Yes. Jimmy the Raven. No, Brad Bird is back. He is... He's been working on an animated film and it's called Ray Gunn. Brad Bird working on an animated film?

22:36Chris Hewitt:Tell me more. But this is not a Pixar film, right? This is like... Is this an independent film? Is this... What is this? This film. Netflix. Netflix Netflix

22:46Nick de Semlyen:yeah Netflix

22:48Chris Hewitt:wow so Brad Bird has left the bosom of Luxo Jr. and gone for the bosom of ta-dum

22:55Nick de Semlyen:but this looks this looks very cool this looks very up my up my alley my dark shadowy alley because it's a noir inspired animation yeah and the hero is indeed called Ray Gun

23:07Chris Hewitt:not to be confused with Ronald Ray Gun but a man called Ray Gun who at one point in this picture here holds a Ray Gunn which is exciting he's voiced by Sam Rockwell Scarlett Johansson's also in a Tom Waits

23:20Nick de Semlyen:Tom Waits is everywhere this year he's in all kinds of stuff including something I know which I'm not allowed to say but what's he building in there he's running his voice doing all kinds of stuff doesn't sound like Tom Waits but he yeah he's having a year

23:34Chris Hewitt:he's having a moment he is that's exciting that's very exciting so yeah

23:38Nick de Semlyen:I'm absolutely

23:39Chris Hewitt:on board for this

23:40Nick de Semlyen:I like noir films I like Brad Bird and I like

23:44Chris Hewitt:animation. I like Netflix. I like punny names. I like puns.

23:49Nick de Semlyen:I like characters who are holding things that have the same name as them.

23:51Chris Hewitt:I like people voiced by Sam Rockwell. I like

23:54Nick de Semlyen:pages and I like words.

23:55Chris Hewitt:I like Scarlett Johansson. This is fantastic.

23:58Nick de Semlyen:This is very exciting. Michael Leder wrote that. He is an animation

24:04Chris Hewitt:leader. He's a thought leader. He's a leader. That's exciting. Also in the issue, we have a look at the upcoming film from Jane Schoenbrunn who directed of course I Saw the TV Glow and this is called Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma

24:23Nick de Semlyen:I call it T-S-A-D-A-C-M for short it's only slightly shorter but you trim my second off I have seen this film I think I can reveal that can you? I think I can it's screened at festivals and shit it's been out

24:37Chris Hewitt:and this film will

24:39Nick de Semlyen:this film will melt your mind and then solidify it again. It's a mind melter. And then explode it. Holy shit. It's a melter and exploder. It's a crazy film and it's got to be experienced. It's so original and crazy and intense. I saw it at lunchtime screening. Whenever we see a film at lunchtime, we walk on down Soho and see it in a little screening room and it is always the craziest film. Basically, you come out and you have to answer emails and you don't know where you are. when you see something like The Greasy Strangler or Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma it's very hard to recover you need a bit of processing time you do it's hard to just launch straight back into a working day but anyway the fact that you've mentioned this in the same breath as The Greasy Strangler has got me it's a very different film very interesting I mean it's a very different kind of film and it's nowhere near as comedic as that but it's just in terms of originality and in terms of impact and you just sit up straight because you're seeing things you never thought you'd see and Jane Schoenberg is terrific I thought I saw the TV glow was one of the best films of that year and they have they've outdone it

25:52Chris Hewitt:that's exciting this next story is very cool this next story is very cool yeah I didn't write a lot in this issue for which there would be much rejoicing but I was just coming back from a big holiday and that's kind of affected the last the next couple of issues as well I don't write a lot on the next issue either so you'd be rushing out to buy that also but I did write something pretty cool which was this happened two days after I arrived back from holiday so I was in I just got back from the big old cruise and I got a phone call or a text from Beth Webb who edits this section saying would you like to go to North Wales to interview members of Monty Python about a Terry Jones statue that is being unveiled in North Wales.

26:43Chris Hewitt:And as chance would have it, I was in Manchester and I was like, if, yes, if things can be worked out so I don't have to go back to London and I can stay in Manchester and I can then drive to North Wales on this Friday and go to Colwyn Bay in North Wales, I will do this. And that's what happened. So this was a very exciting way to come back from holiday. Yeah. To go to Colwyn Bay, which is the place where Terry Jones, one of the members of Monty Python, who passed away a couple of years ago was being immortalized on the beach there with a statue of him, a bronze statue of him from Monty Python's blackmail sketch where he was completely starker.

27:22Chris Hewitt:So this is a statue of Terry Jones in the nude. I have to say,

27:26Nick de Semlyen:your first line is fantastic. I'm going to read it out. Oh, okay. Can you do a voice? Yeah, I'm going to try. If you want to rub Terry Jones's bum and who in their right mind wouldn't, here's how you should go about it. There we go. Thank you.

27:40Chris Hewitt:Even I couldn't ruin that. I couldn't ruin that. Thanks, Nick. That's a great line.

27:44Nick de Semlyen:Thank you.

27:44Chris Hewitt:I was being so sad. Thank you. Thank you very much. I loved writing this piece. I'm a huge, huge, huge Monty Python fan. I jumped at the chance to do this. I'm so glad this worked out logistically because it wasn't just going to see the statue being unfailed. It was seeing the statue being unfailed in front of a crowd of about 2 ,000 ardent Monty Python fans, many of whom had made the journey to North Wales and were in costume dressed up as either the Spanish Inquisition, which I did not expect. Yeah. Didn't expect that, Nick. Or dressed as a shrubbery or dressed as one of the Knights of Knee or something.

28:19Chris Hewitt:I love the details.

28:20Nick de Semlyen:There's like this little boy who's dressed as the Black Knight saying, you shall not pass. Yes.

28:25Chris Hewitt:It's amazing. Unshall pass.

28:26Nick de Semlyen:It's a really, really fun piece.

28:28Chris Hewitt:But also I got a chance to talk to some members of Python. I got the chance to talk to Sir Michael Palin. I got the chance to talk to Terry Gilliam, who was there. Susie Eddie Izzard, who's a huge Python fan and actually contributed to the crowdfunding of the statue, was there also. And Carol Cleveland, who I guess is the honorary seventh Python, was also there. And it was just an incredible day. The sun came out. It was a beautiful, beautiful day in, I think it was late April in Colwyn Bay, which is a gorgeous, gorgeous town. And I was just so overjoyed to have this experience. I'd interviewed Terry Jones a number of times over the years.

29:04Chris Hewitt:and I was so sad when he died recently and so I was so, so glad that I could do this.

29:09Nick de Semlyen:I think I've only interviewed John Cleese. He's the one I haven't interviewed. John Cleese, James and I went and he was putting out a documentary about lemurs and so James and I went to a hotel and spoke to John Cleese about lemurs.

29:22Chris Hewitt:Lemurs or llamas? Lemurs. Lemurs?

29:24Nick de Semlyen:As in the Madagascan monkey things. Which was unexpected, but we threw in some other questions. Oh my God. But yeah, Michael Palin and I have, said hello to and shaken his hand but not interviewed

29:36Chris Hewitt:he wasn't very happy I've done no more only Graham Chapman remains elusive I haven't interviewed I haven't interviewed

29:44Nick de Semlyen:John Cleese but hopefully I will take him on my list you asked a very inspired question of Michael Palin which is what Monty Python sketch would you have if you were a statue you have to buy the issue

29:56Chris Hewitt:have to buy the issue to find out oh yeah it's exciting next page is also me talking to the director of Evil Dead Burn if you know anything about this show and about me you'll know I'm a huge Evil Dead fan so I'm very excited about that Sebastian Fanacek is his name and kind of figuring out what he's doing with some of the touchstones of that franchise Evil Dead burned out in a couple weeks time

30:17Nick de Semlyen:Ben Travis spoke to Leslie Hedlund because the Acolyte the Star Wars TV show on Disney Plus suddenly had a resurgence and shot up the charts and so that's the joyous thing about working for a film magazine is you can just say ask someone do you want to talk about it and so we sent a message to Leslie Hadland and she was like, yeah, I'll talk about it. And then, you know, it was a really interesting chat and she's hopeful that she might get to do another season, a second season. But yeah, that's super interesting.

30:46Chris Hewitt:And we have a really interesting piece. It's a very, very sad origins. The great artist Tony Stella passed away a few weeks ago and he had done some work for Empire over the last couple of years. an incredible incredible artist he also did a lot of posters and a lot of DVD cover art illustrations and he was a huge Columbo fan I had long long planned to buy one of his prints of Columbo with his dog but sadly we'll never do that now and he passed away very suddenly a couple months ago and Alex reached out to James Mangold who for whom he had done some work in the past Tony Stella that it is not Alex and they spoke together about Tony Stella so it's a lovely tribute to Tony Stella.

31:35Chris Hewitt:Yeah, it's a really nice

31:36Nick de Semlyen:full circle thing. I mean, we did a Copland feature which Alex wrote and Tony Stella created this amazing piece of art so he did subscriber covers for us. Genius artist just had such a unique, beautiful, elegant kind of style and yeah, James Mangold talks very movingly about him and they're working together and he really did something unique so it's a real loss.

31:59Chris Hewitt:Yeah. Very much so. Just a couple of last things. In the news section, there is a little piece about a restored version of Gremlins, which has got people all kinds of excited. A look at another upcoming animated film called Forgotten Island. There is a bit of speculation about what might happen with the next Hunger Games movie, which is exciting. There is a piece about a film that was apparently shot by a dog.

32:33Nick de Semlyen:Yes, this is an amazing piece. Beth went to the premiere of this short film made by a dog. It is about Hitler's dog. Wow. It's about Hitler's dog. But Beth went to a screening where there were lots of dogs sitting on the seats and it was a very unique experience and it's a really interesting piece about it. Very good piece, 10 out of 10.

32:58Chris Hewitt:They're good dogs. They're good dog pieces, Brent. 14 out of 10. All right. So, and the how much is a pint of milk subject this month is Jemaine Clement from Flight of the Conchords and Alice and Steve, which is on Disney Plus right now. And as you would expect, it is a deadpan joy. John Mugent's section, the reviews section, has all the reviews of films, TVs, TV shows, books, and games that you could possibly wish to read. it is a cracker so check it out five stars for Spider Noir which I need to watch it's another TV show I have so many TV shows I haven't got around to it I know because we probably should do a spoiler special on that as well we did do spoiler specials weekly ones in fact for Daredevil Born Again season two and that is kind of where we start the best section of the magazine quite frankly it's the final cut section edited by oh Chris Hewitt yeah it's certainly the place to go if you want to read about Serrano de Bezurek.

33:59Chris Hewitt:That's me. It turns out.

34:00Nick de Semlyen:Should we get the Serrano de Bezurek elephant in the room? No, no, no.

34:05Chris Hewitt:No, we're going to get to that. We're going to get to that because Final Cut starts with an in-depth interview with Charlie Cox that I did. Charlie Cox, of course, is Daredevil. He is Matt Murdock and this contains big old spoilers for Daredevil Born Again Season 2 but it is a really fun interview. Had a lot of time. Had a lot of time? Had a lot of time. Had a lot of time. I had a lot of time talking to Charlie and not as much as I would have liked but he is a really really cool fun guy so this issue we talk yeah he is so we talked to Daredevil

34:39Nick de Semlyen:we talked to the Punisher and we talked to Spider-Man do you think

34:42Chris Hewitt:Daredevil will there are rumours that Daredevil will pop up in

34:45Nick de Semlyen:a brand new day I think he will you think he will I think he will alright

34:49Chris Hewitt:so the Empire Masterpiece is Serana de Bergerac written by Helen O 'Hara which has been published here July 2026 and a reader wrote in to tell us that we also published an Empire Masterpiece on Surrounded to Bergerac also written by Helen O 'Hara 10 years ago this was deliberate people think that this was an oversight that I have a list of all the Empire Masterpieces and whenever someone pitches a masterpiece I type in the name and see whether it comes up in the list and if it doesn't come up in the list I will consider it and if it does come up in the list obviously I will reject it but in this in this case on this occasion this was entirely deliberate I thought you know what 10 years have passed since Helen last wrote about this film no it was a fuck up yeah I mean if you did it with Groundhog Day you could style that one out you could just keep every 10 years do a Groundhog Day

35:39Nick de Semlyen:that would be amazing you know what I can't give you too hard a time about this because when I was in charge of Masterpiece the same exact thing happened but with LA Confidential where I managed to recommission and I think it may even have been Dan Jolie writing it twice it was the same writer so I mean this is occasionally it's like The Matrix there's a glitch

35:57Chris Hewitt:but I do have a list this is the thing I do have a list the list is life you're not checking it twice I did check it twice Serrano de Bergerac didn't come up so unless it anyway for whatever reason it's a different piece it's a completely different piece Helen has written a completely different piece this is the same piece this is not the same piece Serrano de Bergerac Sherrard Depardieu those are the same

36:21Nick de Semlyen:we'll refund everyone for those words you have the les Yeah. They're all... There's probably the word nose in there somewhere. Nose is in there, French. Let us know, readers, if you have got both copies, let us know which is the better piece. How different it is as well. This is what I'm fascinated to see

36:37Chris Hewitt:because I spoke to Helen about this. I said, hey, Helen, did you know that you'd already written an Emperor Masterpiece on Serrano de Bergerac? She went, oh, I wonder why it felt so familiar.

36:47Nick de Semlyen:Only imagine how much Helen is writing about Serrano de Bergerac on an almost weekly basis.

36:52Chris Hewitt:See, this is how this works, just to pull the curtain back. Every now and again, I have a list of masterpieces, and we always have to commission the next month or next two months ahead of ourselves. So I will email these writers and say, can you pitch something to me? And they'll pitch some stuff, then we'll decide something that's very masterpiece-worthy. And Helen always pitches to Rana de Bergerac. So the next time I commission Helen, which would be probably a year or so from now, if she pitches to another Burjara again I'll know this time I'll be on to her I'll be on to her and her wily ways I'll sniff it out with my giant schnoz the ranking is the films of 1996 we have a piece in which we talked to Lawrence Kasdan about the re-release of Body Heat the great Body Heat I speak to the director of Jack Ryan Ghost War for our spoiler special Kim's cryptic up a storm in his column I spoke to Russell Mulcahy for Highlander about one of the great sword swinging showdowns from that and Mike Figgis is this month's time capsule the great English director and there we go It's stacked and a quiz on rom-coms

38:01Nick de Semlyen:Quiz on rom-coms

38:02Chris Hewitt:which ordinarily we would do I would throw a couple of questions at you but we have people banging on the door ready to kick us the hell out of here so we should probably go go by it right now all good evil virtual news agents sign up for the Empire VIP Club as well

38:15Nick de Semlyen:if you don't already do that I believe we have a pretty banging subscription deal going at the moment. So if you're not a subscriber, you'll get the issue ahead of everyone else. You can be really smug about that and you get some beautiful cover art that no one else gets and you can just say you're an Impa subscriber. It's pretty cool. So check it out. Check it out. I'd love to... And then also the VIP club. If you're not part of that, we have some very exciting screenings coming up. Very exciting. All right. All right.

38:43Chris Hewitt:Thanks for listening. Thank you so much for listening. This has been the Shameless Plug. But people wonder why we do this. It's because I was bitten by a radioactive plug. Was it shameless? It was shameless. And now I'm a shameless plug. This is my long life. Thank you so much for listening. Bye, Nick. Bye, guys. See you next time. Bye-bye.