Home//Empire/September 2015/In This Issue
Empire|September 2015EDITOR’S LETTERAPOLOGIES TO SPIDER-MAN, BUT THE TWO GREAT comic-book heroes — the ones who have always transcended the lushly coloured boxes their creators tried to cage them in — are in many ways complete opposites, an implacable hatred of villainy aside. Superman lives by day; wields his omnipotence responsibly; and as he lines up with the military to take on General Zod in Man Of Steel, looks comfortable on the side of the establishment. Batman is solidly nocturnal; his powers are manmade, not super; and at its best, his relationship with the law is uneasy tolerance. But mano a mano, who would triumph? Superman is the odds-on favourite, but would you bet against Batman springing a surprise?You might get a clue on the outcome from our exclusive Batman V Superman: Dawn…1 min
Empire|September 201517 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT... COMIC CON1 SHE’S AGENTHAYLEY ATWELL ON WHY SHE JUST GETS CARTERHAYLEY ATWELL’S come a long way since nerves caused her to throw up on her way to audition for the role of peggy Carter in the first Captain America movie. “That must have been a very vomity time for me,” she laughs. “I also threw up on the first day of training.”Since then, the 33 year-old Brit has returned to the no-nonsense British spy across more Marvel movies, a short, and now her own show, Agent Carter, which is finally on UK screens. Not bad for a supposed one-off. “I went on Twitter and noticed there were so many Peggy fans,” she says of the moment she realised Carter was an unstoppable machine. “And a year later, about 20 people were…23 min
Empire|September 2015THE VISITNOT FOR M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN YOUR run-of-the-mill horror baddies. He prefers the challenge of turning something resolutely non-scary into nightmares. Like wind in The Happening or, in The Visit, a pair of doddery old duffers. “It’s so delicious to watch with an audience,” laughs the writer-director of his found-footage riff on Hansel and Gretel in which two children are terrorised by “Grandma” and “Pop Pop” while staying on their remote farm. “People are gasping and giggling and whispering. At its centre it’s a very dark, twisted comedy.” There are quirks aplenty: the boy is a wannabe rapper, while his sister is a budding filmmaker. “Both kids are me,” he admits.A return to low budget, Shyamalan says The Visit “feels like a big change of direction. I’ve always wanted to do…1 min
Empire|September 2015HOW TO BE... ARI GOLDWANT TO KNOW MORE?Then you can check out — of course — all 96 episodes of the HBO show, plus the new totally-written-by-Ari-honest ‘autobiography’, The Gold Standard.EDUCATIONAri studied at Harvard as an undergraduate — his degree programme is unspecified but we know he at least took a class in business ethics.SUITING UPAri’s Italian power suits are all tailored by designer Domenico Vacca. Off the peg, they start at $4,000. Piven wears them in real life, too.GO IT ALONEAri is based on real-life agent Ari Emanuel, who started at ICM, then set up his own successful agency, Endeavour, and eventually merged with the William Morris Agency. Not all ten percenters are this successful.TrainingThe big agencies have trainee programmes for which you need to be a graduate. United Talent pay about C11…2 min
Empire|September 2015BEST OF TIMES/WORST OF TIMESCOSTUMEI’ve had some very nice suits over the years. I still have them. The last lot of suits from G.I. Joe: Retaliation, I had a very nice Brioni dinner jacket, and a couple of other Brioni suits.Sam Lowry’s flying suit, which was unbearable. I had a mild panic attack. The nurse said, “Would you like some Valium?” There are sequences where I am high in the clouds, but I am also high on Valium!PIECE OF DIRECTIONTerry Gilliam. “Yeah, just do it.” That was it. It freed me from the tyranny that I’d put myself under. Terry gave you energy and he instilled energy into you.On my first day on The Affair Of The Necklace, the director (Charles Shyer) said, “Can you do it faster?” So I did. “Can you do…2 min
Empire|September 2015HOW TO GET AHEAD IN...EMPIRE MEETS THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE SCENESFROM GUARDIANS Of The Galaxy to Kingsman: The Secret Service and The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Reg Poerscout-Edgerton is one of the most eagerly sought-after casting directors around. We met him in his London office...What does a casting director do?It differs a bit, job to job. But you get the script, talk through the characters with the director, and then go forth and see who’s available, and come up with ideas. You can be as creative and weird and wonderful as possible. There’s also the technical side, and the money side — how much we’re going to pay, size of trailer....Do you have a signature style?I love to find new people, like Toby Kebbell on RocknRolla, through to Taron Egerton on Kingsman. Sometimes a director…2 min
Empire|September 2015BLAME IT ON THE BOOGIEETHAN HAWKE may have been the nominal star of Scott Derrickson’s Sinister, back in 2012, but the film belonged to Bughuul, aka Mr. Boogie, the bad guy behind all that bumping in the night. He’s back in this month’s Sinister 2, so we got his true origin story from some of his creators...Scott Derrickson (writer/director, Sinister): The original concept of the movie came from my writing partner C. Robert Cargill, and it was for a boogieman that the kids call Mr Boogie. We came up with ‘Bughuul’ much later.Ciarán Foy (director, Sinister 2): I liked that the name is a combination of ‘boogie’ and ‘ghoul’Derrickson: Neither Cargill nor I wanted the mythology to be rooted in anything religious. We didn’t want a demon; we liked the idea of a pagan…2 min
Empire|September 2015FIVE THING JACK WHITEHALL1 HE’S THE NEW INBETWEENERSBad Education, the hit BBC comedy co-written by Whitehall, gets the feature-length treatment this month, with Whitehall’s useless teacher Alfie leading a disastrous school trip. “Our film wouldn’t have been made if The Inbetweeners hadn’t been so successful,” he admits.2 HE SUFFERS FOR HIS ARTThe opening scene got Whitehall in some bother in Amsterdam. “One of the kids spikes me with mushrooms and I start running through the streets. In one square a guy decided he was going to make a hero of himself and wrestled me to the ground. My Dutch isn’t great so it was hard to explain. He went in hard.”3 HE’S IN FROZEN. KINDAWhitehall’s film debut nearly came in Frozen, for which he voiced a troll. “I went to see it expecting…2 min
Empire|September 2015HOW MUCH IS A PINT OF MILK?What’s the worst thing you’ve ever put in your mouth? A co*ckroach. To make Tom Hollander barf.Who were you in your first school play? The Scarecrow. I was trying to get hold of Dorothy, but she ran off with the Tin Man.Have you ever kept any souvenirs from a movie shoot? Every shoot. My favourite is Thomas Button’s chair from Benjamin Button.There’s a zombie apocalypse. Where do you hole up? Hide out in an abandoned house at the Colony in Malibu. There’s nothing in front of you but the ocean, so you’d only have to guard one way.How much is a pint of milk? I’m in Los Angeles at the moment, so 89 cents.Aliens land and ask to see a Jason Flemyng double bill. What would you want to show…2 min
Empire|September 2015IN CINEMASUNMISSABLEEXCELLENTGOODPOORTRAGICMission: Impossible — Rogue NationOUT NOW / CERT. PG / TBC MINS.DIRECTOR Christopher McQuarrieCAST Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Alec Baldwin, Jeremy Renner, Ving Rhames, Sean HarrisPLOT ETHAN HUNT (CRUISE) AND HIS TEAM MUST GO IT ALONE TO STOP THE SYNDICATE, THE ANTI-IMF, CAUSING GLOBAL CHAOS.“Are you sure, you’re okay to drive?” enquires Benji Dunn (still played with barely supressed gulps of panic by Simon Pegg) to his best friend and indefatigable superspy, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise). “A minute ago you were dead.” Naturally, a barely conscious Hunt is about to do just that: grab the wheel and commence a high-speed chase, comprised of an about-to-be-trashed Beamer and about a dozen enemy motorbikes, through the back streets of Casablanca having recently been defibrillated back into possession of a heartbeat.…33 min
Empire|September 2015BLAME IT ON THE BOOGIEETHAN HAWKE may have been the nominal star of Scott Derrickson’s Sinister, back in 2012, but the film belonged to Bughuul, aka Mr. Boogie, the bad guy behind all that bumping in the night. He’s back in this month’s Sinister 2, so we got his true origin story from some of his creators... Scott Derrickson (writer/director, Sinister): The original concept of the movie came from my writing partner C. Robert Cargill, and it was for a boogieman that the kids call Mr Boogie. We came up with ‘Bughuul’ much later. Ciarán Foy (director, Sinister 2): I liked that the name is a combination of ‘boogie’ and ‘ghoul’. Derrickson: Neither Cargill nor I wanted the mythology to be rooted in anything religious. We didn’t want a demon; we liked the idea…2 min
Empire|September 2015FIVE THING JACK WHITEHALL• DAN BURN-FORTI/CONTOUR BY GETTY I.AGES 1 HE’S THE NEW INBETWEENERS Bad Education, the hit BBC comedy co-written by Whitehall, gets the feature-length treatment this month, with Whitehall’s useless teacher Alfie leading a disastrous school trip. “Our film wouldn’t have been made if The Inbetweeners hadn’t been so successful,” he admits. 2 HE SUFFERS FOR HIS ART The opening scene got Whitehall in some bother in Amsterdam. “One of the kids spikes me with mushrooms and I start running through the streets. In one square a guy decided he was going to make a hero of himself and wrestled me to the ground. My Dutch isn’t great so it was hard to explain. He went in hard.” 3 HE’S IN FROZEN. KINDA Whitehall’s film debut nearly came in Frozen, for…1 min
Empire|September 2015In Bed With AmyBY THE TIME YOU READ THIS, Amy Schumer may be the most famous person in the world. She will perhaps have another armful of awards to go with the ones she’s already won in 2015. She will probably be a box-office star in America. Maybe she will be president of a small country, or have branched out and started curing disease. If you still don’t know who she is then you’re about to, because eventually everyone will. She’s that good. Right now, there seems no limit to how high Amy Schumer might go.“I DON’T THINK ANYBODY KNOWS who the f*ck I am.” Schumer is sitting on the corner of a residential street on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, between takes on her first movie, Trainwreck. It’s late evening on July 17,…9 min
Empire|September 2015IN CINEMASUNMISSABLE EXCELLENT GOOD POOR TRAGIC Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation OUT NOW / CERT. PG / TBC MINS. DIRECTOR Christopher McQuarrie CAST Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Alec Baldwin, Jeremy Renner, Ving Rhames, Sean Harris PLOT ETHAN HUNT (CRUISE) AND HIS TEAM MUST GO IT ALONE TO STOP THE SYNDICATE, THE ANTI-IMF, CAUSING GLOBAL CHAOS. “Are you sure, you’re okay to drive?” enquires Benji Dunn (still played with barely supressed gulps of panic by Simon Pegg) to his best friend and indefatigable superspy, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise). “A minute ago you were dead.” Naturally, a barely conscious Hunt is about to do just that: grab the wheel and commence a high-speed chase, comprised of an about-to-be-trashed Beamer and about a dozen enemy motorbikes, through the back streets of Casablanca…32 min
Empire|September 2015THE CAPE WARCHRISTIAN BALE V TOM WELLINGSwoon’ome former Abercrombie model Welling wa’ a ’ma’h a’ Clark in 218 epi’ode’ of the excellent Smallville. But, ysknow, hes’ up again’t Bale. Out he goe’WINNER! CHRISTIAN BALEROBERT LOWERY V BUD COLLYERs40’ action-man Lowery ’tarred in the New Adventure’ Of Batman And Robin in 1949. But Collyer played Supe’ on radio and in two animated ’erie’WINNER! BUD COLLYERWILL ARNETT V CHANNING TATUMTatums’ a charmer a’ the voice of Superman in The LEGO Movie, but Arnett had far more ’creen time and i’ even getting hi’ own LEGO Batman movie in 2017.WINNER! WILL ARNETTVAL KILMER V CHRISTOPHER REEVEKilmers’ ’ingle appearance a’ the Caped Cru’ader in Batman Forever (1995) wa’ marred by on-’et tantrum’. Chri’topher Reeves’, er, wa’nst.WINNER! CHRISTOPHER REEVECHRISTIAN BALE V BUD COLLYERNo-ones’ played either character more…3 min
Empire|September 2015Spoof of conceptDOUBLE SUNDANCE WINNER. THREE words to strike fear into the heart of any regular multiplex-goer. A catch-all category phrase that at best invokes Bryan Cranston shouting, at worst calls to mind a) aggressive whimsy, b) intense navel-gazing or c) both. But Me And Earl And The Dying Girl is the exception that proves the rule. It’s the story of teenage filmmaker Greg Gaines (Thomas Mann), who is coerced into befriending leukaemia-stricken Rachel (Olivia Cooke). So far, so Fault In Our Stars. But while the A plot peddles a fresh brand of smarts, comedy, satire, poignancy and gut-wrenching emotion, Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s charmer of an indie also delivers a neat affectionate sideline in movie-buff gamesmanship through the little films made by acned auteur Greg and his “co-worker”, Earl Jackson (RJ Cyler).The idea…6 min
Empire|September 201515 SMARTEST CAMEOS1 Christopher Lloyd in A Million Ways To Die In The West (2014) A genius sight gag in Seth MacFarlane’s genius-lite comedy Western. A white-haired man sheepishly covers a DeLorean with a sheet. “What’s that?” asks Seth Mac. “A weather experiment,” says Lloyd, as Doc Brown in all but name. It’s not only a nod to the Western-set Back To The Future: Part III, but to BTTF itself, in which he uses the same line on a suspicious 1955 cop. WORD UP Lloyd has also Doc Browned for adverts, theme-park rides and a 1990 US TV special for Earth Day. 2 Sean Connery in Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves (1991) “I will not allow this wedding to prosheed,” says Sir Sean, in a last-minute appearance at the marriage of Robin…7 min
Empire|September 2015ROUGHED-OUT JUSTICEWonder Woman AKA: Princess Diana of Themyscira, Diana Prince ORIGIN: Amazonian warrior princess. POWERS: Super-strength and agility, flight, owns the Bracelets Of Submission, the Lasso Of Truth, a super-sharp sword. Also an invisible jet. THE CHALLENGE: Fitting the pseudo-Greek myth into Snyder’s ‘real’ world; keeping her micro-skirt semi-decent; the invisible jet. The Flash AKA: Barry Allen. Or Wally West. Or Jay Garrick. Or Bart Allen. ORIGIN: Depends on which Flash. If Ezra Miller’s playing Barry, then he’s a scientist transformed by lightning-struck chemicals. POWERS: Super-duper speed. THE CHALLENGE: The CW’s bright, breezy Flash TV show is already proving popular. Would a ‘darker’ take wash? Aquaman AKA: Arthur Curry. Or Orin, The King Of The Seven Seas. ORIGIN: His dad’s human, his mum’s from Atlantis. POWERS: Underwater breathing, super-swimming, sealife control.…1 min
Empire|September 2015THE CAPE WARYES. WE RIGGED THE DRAW. CHRISTIAN BALE V TOM WELLING Swoon’ome former Abercrombie model Welling wa’ a ’ma’h a’ Clark in 218 epi’ode’ of the excellent Smallville. But, ysknow, hes’ up again’t Bale. Out he goe’. WINNER! CHRISTIAN BALE ROBERT LOWERY V BUD COLLYER s40’ action-man Lowery ’tarred in the New Adventure’ Of Batman And Robin in 1949. But Collyer played Supe’ on radio and in two animated ’erie’. WINNER! BUD COLLYER WILL ARNETT V CHANNING TATUM Tatums’ a charmer a’ the voice of Superman in The LEGO Movie, but Arnett had far more ’creen time and i’ even getting hi’ own LEGO Batman movie in 2017. WINNER! WILL ARNETT VAL KILMER V CHRISTOPHER REEVE Kilmers’ ’ingle appearance a’ the Caped Cru’ader in Batman Forever (1995) wa’ marred by on-’et…3 min
Empire|September 2015BATTLE OF THE BRANDSApple V Android: Dawn Of Not-Just-OS Steve Jobs’ mobile operating system seemed set to be the world-beating conversation annihilator. But then Google went and designed their own. LIKELY VICTOR: The Cupertino Crusher, Apple. Less evil. Probably. Pepsi V Coca-Cola: Dawn Of Best-Served-With-Ice The war of the tooth-rotters has rumbled since upstart Pepsi entered the market a mere seven years after an Atlanta boffin patented Coca-Cola, his “potion for mental and physical disorders”, in 1886. LIKELY VICTOR: Pepsi consistently wins in blind taste tests until people find out what it is. So it’s The Real Thing. The X-Factor V Strictly Come Dancing: Dance Of Justice Surviving even the retirement of Bruce ‘Bruce’ Forsyth, the battle betwixt ITV’s talent fandango and the BBC’s ballroom smackdown regularly turns living rooms into battlegrounds. LIKELY…1 min
Empire|September 2015Spoof of conceptDOUBLE SUNDANCE WINNER. THREE words to strike fear into the heart of any regular multiplex-goer. A catch-all category phrase that at best invokes Bryan Cranston shouting, at worst calls to mind a) aggressive whimsy, b) intense navel-gazing or c) both. But Me And Earl And The Dying Girl is the exception that proves the rule. It’s the story of teenage filmmaker Greg Gaines (Thomas Mann), who is coerced into befriending leukaemia-stricken Rachel (Olivia Cooke). So far, so Fault In Our Stars. But while the A plot peddles a fresh brand of smarts, comedy, satire, poignancy and gut-wrenching emotion, Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s charmer of an indie also delivers a neat affectionate sideline in movie-buff gamesmanship through the little films made by acned auteur Greg and his “co-worker”, Earl Jackson (RJ Cyler). The…6 min
Empire|September 2015RELATIVE VALUESThe Day Of The Locust (1975) Among the celebrity lookalikes attending the 1938 Tinseltown premiere that degenerates into a riot in John Schlesinger’s sour adaptation of Nathanael West’s uncompromising novel is Dick Powell Jr. — posing as his crooner father, star of many Busby Berkeley musicals and later a notable screen tough guy. Edith et Marcel (1983) Before Marion Cotillard won an Oscar playing songstress Edith Piaf, Evelyne Bouix took the role in this gossipy Claude Lelouch production which focuses on the romance between Piaf and boxer Marcel Cerdan, who was played by his own son, Marcel Cerdan Jr.. NB: Piaf wasn’t his mother, which is good because that would have been weird… Sophia Loren: Her Own Story (1990) In addition to playing herself in this TV movie biopic, Loren…1 min
Empire|September 2015A Q TO A KILLJUST DOWN THE road from Angel Tube station, Empire is ushered through a concealed door, down a makeshift flight of scaffold stairs, and into a vast open space that is completely invisible from street level. A series of pillars encircle several floors of grey concrete, like the bastard love child of Shakespeare’s Globe and a multi-storey car park. It couldn’t be more London, or more conducive to spying, making this defunct music hall an apt setting for a show called London Spy.“We’re trying to unpick London from a spy perspective,” says Child 44 author Tom Rob Smith, the creator of the new BBC series. “We want old, cobbled streets and surprising locations, not Big Ben and the London Eye.” This hunt for unique locales has paid off, with even the…3 min
Empire|September 2015ALSO OUTHouse Of Cards: Season 3FROM NOW / CERT. 15Placing Kevin Spacey’s devious Frank Underwood up where the buck stops means Beau Willimon’s political drama loses momentum, but it retains its slithery charm in Frank’s dealings with Lars Mikkelsen’s Russian premier and smartly keeps his relationship with wife Claire (Robin Wright) at the core. DJSense8FROM NOW / CERT. 18It might read like Heroes 2.0, but the Wachowskis’ superhuman series is a more subtle beast. Eight strangers, psychically linked, pop in and out of each other’s minds at will. The whys and hows are explored and a conspiracy unravels, but that takes a back seat to eight discrete character dramas that stand up just as well on their own. JDWayward PinesFROM NOW / CERT. 15Based on Blake Crouch’s novels, this Matt Dillon-starring…1 min
Empire|September 2015HOW TO MAKE A CINEMAScreen: A 72” screen can be had for £16.99 on eBay, or get a custom-sized ceiling recessed screen for £3,250 from puretheatre.com. Projector: From £30 secondhand on eBay to £5,849 for a 4k, Sony VPL-VW300ES from richersounds.com. Player: No purchase necessary — if there is an Empire reader without access to a DVD player, Blu-ray player or computer, we will make a hat from a LaserDisc and eat it. Sound system: Three speakers and an amplifier. Your home cinema set-up is fine for small venues; otherwise the Onkyo TX-NR3030 amp and the KEF R100 5.1 speakers come in at £5,348 from sevenoakssoundandvision.co.uk. Venue licence: From £100 annually, or from £10 (Scotland) or £21 (England,Wales; Northern Ireland depends on size of audience) for one-off events, if you’re not serving booze. Film…1 min
Empire|September 2015DYSTOPIA DISSECTEDTIPPING POINTS The current explosion of dystopian franchises like The Maze Runner, Hunger Games and Divergent is, believes Boxall, a result of our being at “a transitional point in world history. Those moments make dystopian imaginings spring up: the sense that we no longer understand the world we live in. That’s exciting, but the dystopian urge comes from everything being frightening because it’s changing.” TOTALITARIANISM The most frequent theme in dystopian fictions is the idea of despotic totalitarian forces oppressing us. “It’s almost always about control. In most dystopian scenarios you’ve got one person who intuits the possibility of freedom within a world where that’s been taken away. The Maze Runner fits into that tradition — that fear that we’re not controlling ourselves but being controlled by somebody else.” TECHNO-FEAR…1 min
Empire|September 2015ALSO OUTFocusFROM NOW / CERT. 15Hitch meets Hustle, this sees Will Smith play con-artist mentor to Margot Robbie’s rookie, teaching her the ropes before they become adversaries in a motor-racing scam. It’s lightweight, but the stars are engaging, the look is swish, the storytelling has neat quirks and BD Wong is off the hook in a memorable set-piece. IFThe GunmanFROM NOW / CERT. 15This globetrotting thriller tries to reinvent Sean Penn as a beefcake Bryan Mills. A corporate conspiracy unfolds involving Javier Bardem’s panto villain but, one fiery villa showdown aside, it all gets bogged down in sub-le Carré plotting. Sidney Lumet might have done something with this material. Pierre Morel is not Sidney Lumet. PDSRobot OverlordsFROM NOW / CERT. 12That it feels a little like a truncated late-’80s kids’ TV…1 min
Empire|September 2015CINDERELLAA Girl Walks Home Alone At Night 2015 / FROM NOW / CERT. 18 LET HER IN ON A FUN DVD ‘making of’, US-Iranian writer-director Ana Lily Amirpour describes her eye-catching feature debut as full of “boner sh*t I love”. She’s not wrong. A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night is Anne Rice scripted by ’80s Jim Jarmusch, shot by Sergio Leone and sound-designed by David Lynch. But, happily, Amirpour gracefully transcends the sum of her too-cool-for-school influences to create something truly unique. While the dialogue is in Farsi (there isn’t much of it), the action is set in Bad City, a dying oil town populated by misfits that doesn’t seem rooted in any particular country or time (the cars are ’50s, the iconography ’80s). The Girl (Sheila Vand) of…4 min
Empire|September 2015ALSO STREAMINGENEMYIf yousre in the mood to have your mind bent into intere’ting new ’hape’, you could do a lot wor’e than thi’ trippy noir, in which Jake Gyllenhaals’ hi’tory profe’’or encounter’ a doppelgänger of him’elf.(FROM NOW)STAR WARS: THE COMPLETE SAGAWith the Force awakening ’hortly, Sky ha’ provided the ultimate primer: all the film’, plu’ documentarie’, trailer’ and epi’ode’ of the Clone War’ animated ’erie’. Keep you bu’y, it will.(FROM NOW)INTERSTELLARChri’topher Nolans’ ’ci-fi epic i’ built for repeat viewing’. Recreate the IMAX experience by turning the volume way up, then ’itting on the floor with your no’e pre’’ed up again’t the TV.(FROM NOW)WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER: FIRST DAY OF CAMPThe cult 2001 comedy now ha’ a prequel, in the form of thi’ eight-part Netflix ’erie’. Enjoy the like’ of Paul Rudd…1 min
Empire|September 2015A Q TO A KILLJUST DOWN THE road from Angel Tube station, Empire is ushered through a concealed door, down a makeshift flight of scaffold stairs, and into a vast open space that is completely invisible from street level. A series of pillars encircle several floors of grey concrete, like the bastard love child of Shakespeare’s Globe and a multi-storey car park. It couldn’t be more London, or more conducive to spying, making this defunct music hall an apt setting for a show called London Spy. “We’re trying to unpick London from a spy perspective,” says Child 44 author Tom Rob Smith, the creator of the new BBC series. “We want old, cobbled streets and surprising locations, not Big Ben and the London Eye.” This hunt for unique locales has paid off, with even…2 min
Empire|September 2015THE CRIB SHEETFILM GUIDENATIONAL LAMPOON’S VACATION (1983)NATIONAL LAMPOON’S EUROPEAN VACATION (1985)NATIONAL LAMPOON’S CHRISTMAS VACATION (1989)VEGAS VACATION (1997)MOVIE SUMMARYClark W. Griswold (Chevy Chase) takes his family on a cross-country trip to Walley World, a theme park in LA, and slowly descends into a depressive spiral as everything goes wrong. Luckily, he’s bailed out by the benevolence of an old man.Clark W. Griswold takes his family on a relentlessly unfunny, deeply xenophobic tour of Europe’s hottest clichés. Everything goes wrong. Luckily, he’s bailed out by the intervention of Italian thieves, which allows him to play the hero.Clark W. Griswold tries to host the perfect extended family Christmas, only to descend into a psychotic spiral when everything goes horribly wrong. He’s bailed out by the benevolence of an old man.Clark W. Griswold takes his family…3 min
Empire|September 2015HANNIBAL1 DO SAY: “I can’t believe it’s been cancelled. If a company like Hulu or Amazon doesn’t bring it back, I’m going to start eating people.” 2 DON’T SAY: “Don’t worry about it being cancelled. I’ve got the novelisation back home.” 3 DO SAY: “MGM owns the rights to Clarice Starling, so Bryan Fuller joked he’d introduce a character called ‘Shmarlice Shmarling’. What a card.” 4 DON’T SAY: “Red Dragon, again? But Brett Ratner got it right the first time!” 5 DO SAY: “You’ve got to follow showrunner Bryan Fuller on Twitter. He posts freaky concept art, plus his profile pic features a stuffed rabbit.” 6 DON’T SAY: “It’s got something to do with elephants, right? I love ancient history.” 7 DO SAY: “Hannibal’s plastic kill-suit is a nod to…1 min
Empire|September 2015ALSO OUTHouse Of Cards: Season 3 FROM NOW / CERT. 15 Placing Kevin Spacey’s devious Frank Underwood up where the buck stops means Beau Willimon’s political drama loses momentum, but it retains its slithery charm in Frank’s dealings with Lars Mikkelsen’s Russian premier and smartly keeps his relationship with wife Claire (Robin Wright) at the core. DJ Sense8 FROM NOW / CERT. 18 It might read like Heroes 2.0, but the Wachowskis’ superhuman series is a more subtle beast. Eight strangers, psychically linked, pop in and out of each other’s minds at will. The whys and hows are explored and a conspiracy unravels, but that takes a back seat to eight discrete character dramas that stand up just as well on their own. JD Wayward Pines FROM NOW / CERT. 15…1 min
Empire|September 2015CREEDNEED TO KNOWA portion of the film was shot at Goodison Park, the home of Stallone’s favourite football team, Everton. The man sure does love an underdog.MICHAEL B. Jordan is not just the star of Creed, he plays the title character. But he’s a realist. He knows there’s another attraction on the title card, one that gives Creed the potential to be one of the most exciting movies of the year. “It’s Rocky,” he says, simply.And it is. After a 30-year career, encompassing triumphant victories over Mr. T, brain damage and communism, it seemed that Rocky Balboa had finally hung up his gloves in 2006 after one last eponymous hurrah. But the lovable old palooka is back, in the redoubtable shape of Sylvester Stallone. Yet Creed is not your dad’s…2 min
Empire|September 2015LEGENDA BAKING AUGUST day, and yet somehow the Café de Paris, a hop, skip and jump from the Empire office, is even warmer on the inside. That’s because the interior of the London nightspot has been crammed full of hot lights by the crew of Brian Helgeland’s Legend, hellbent on transforming it into… well, a different London nightspot.The Hideaway was the name of a club procured by Ronnie and Reggie Kray, lords of the London underworld, back in the ’60s. And it’s here, today, where Ronnie — the baddest of the bad brothers — is holding court at a booth. Alongside him, two of his lieutenants (played by Taron Egerton and Charley Palmer Merkell) cackle at his every thuggish word, but then it’s down to business as Sam Spruell’s sweaty,…2 min
Empire|September 2015Chris ColumbusEXPERIENCE1984 GremlinsWriterI’d run the pages to Steven Spielberg’ office, he’d write some edits in the margins while I waited as he was having a meeting with someone like Harrison Ford. It was a graduate school of filmmaking.1985 The GooniesWriterWhen I was doing Harry Potter, the 21-year-olds on the set would say, “That film changed my life.” I thought they meant Home Alone, but it was always Goonies.1985 Young Sherlock HolmesWriter I’m a Sherlock Holmes fanatic. I was obsessed with David Lean when I was writing and saw Great Expectations and Oliver Twist, and I thought, “I want to set this in Victorian England.” I did a lot of research in the era, I wanted it to be authentic and when I finished the script I felt it was the best…2 min
Empire|September 2015#5 STRANGE MAGICWhat is it? It’s George Lucas’ latest, an animated yarn directed by ILM sound guru Gary Rydstrom.Didn’t Lucas retire after Red Tails? No, he’s still a producer. This is a magical yarn based loosely on A Midsummer Night’s Dream, in which warrior princess Marianne (Evan Rachel Wood) falls for forest king Bog (Alan Cumming).Cumming and Wood, eh? Doesn’t sound suitable for kids. On the contrary: Lucas says it was designed for 12 year-old girls.Who are into ELO? Well, it is named after an ELO song, but there are other tunes. Ever wanted to hear Deep Purple’s Mistreated sung by Alan Cumming?Now that’s strange magic! You’ll like it. Not a lot, though, judging from its iffy US reception earlier this year...STRANGE MAGIC IS OUT ON AUGUST 28.…1 min
Empire|September 2015BRIDGE OF SPIES“IT’S A REAL symbiotic, comfortable, thrilling collaboration to watch,” says producer Marc Platt about Bridge Of Spies, the latest film to unite Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. Spies centres on real-life attorney James D. Donovan (Hanks), who was assigned to represent captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance) in 1957. The US government later asked him to negotiate the release of imprisoned U2 bomber pilot Gary Powers using Abel as a bargaining chip, all in the political cauldron of East Berlin.“James Powers is well known but the James Donovan story is more of a footnote,” says Platt. “I think that he was a common citizen thrust onto an unexpected stage attracted Steven and Tom.”With the Coen brothers adding “a special sauce of character and tone” to Matt Charman’s screenplay, expect…1 min
Empire|September 2015THE VISITNOT FOR M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN YOUR run-of-the-mill horror baddies. He prefers the challenge of turning something resolutely non-scary into nightmares. Like wind in The Happening or, in The Visit, a pair of doddery old duffers. “It’s so delicious to watch with an audience,” laughs the writer-director of his found-footage riff on Hansel and Gretel in which two children are terrorised by “Grandma” and “Pop Pop” while staying on their remote farm. “People are gasping and giggling and whispering. At its centre it’s a very dark, twisted comedy.” There are quirks aplenty: the boy is a wannabe rapper, while his sister is a budding filmmaker. “Both kids are me,” he admits. A return to low budget, Shyamalan says The Visit “feels like a big change of direction. I’ve always wanted to…1 min
Empire|September 2015FANTASTIC FOUR1 #FF THE FFWANT TO HEAR THE NEW FAB FOUR SQUEEZE JUICE FROM THEIR MIND GRAPES?@MILES_TELLER (416K FOLLOWERS)@KATEMARA (188K)@MICHAELB4JORDAN (222K)@1JAMIEBELL (137K)2 COMICSEarlier this year, Marvel cancelled the Fantastic Four with issue 645, 54 years after it first launched. Classic runs await, though — issues 48-50 of the original comic, and Ultimate Fantastic Four, which so inspired Trank, are great places to start.3 The ‘other’ moviesYou can still find the Tim Story mid-2000s movies if you look hard enough (try Sky). But all the gold in Latveria won’t get you a copy of the infamous 1994 Roger Corman cheapie.4 THE ’70S CARTOONThe world’s greatest heroes (self-styled) have hit the small screen in the ’60s, ’90s and noughties, but we have a soft spot for the ’70s show, which featured the flying…1 min
Empire|September 2015#5 STRANGE MAGICWhat is it? It’s George Lucas’ latest, an animated yarn directed by ILM sound guru Gary Rydstrom. Didn’t Lucas retire after Red Tails? No, he’s still a producer. This is a magical yarn based loosely on A Midsummer Night’s Dream, in which warrior princess Marianne (Evan Rachel Wood) falls for forest king Bog (Alan Cumming). Cumming and Wood, eh? Doesn’t sound suitable for kids. On the contrary: Lucas says it was designed for 12 year-old girls. Who are into ELO? Well, it is named after an ELO song, but there are other tunes. Ever wanted to hear Deep Purple’s Mistreated sung by Alan Cumming? Now that’s strange magic! You’ll like it. Not a lot, though, judging from its iffy US reception earlier this year... STRANGE MAGIC IS OUT ON AUGUST…1 min
Empire|September 2015BEST OF TIMES/WORST OF TIMESCOSTUME I’ve had some very nice suits over the years. I still have them. The last lot of suits from G.I. Joe: Retaliation, I had a very nice Brioni dinner jacket, and a couple of other Brioni suits. Sam Lowry’s flying suit, which was unbearable. I had a mild panic attack. The nurse said, “Would you like some Valium?” There are sequences where I am high in the clouds, but I am also high on Valium! PIECE OF DIRECTION Terry Gilliam. “Yeah, just do it.” That was it. It freed me from the tyranny that I’d put myself under. Terry gave you energy and he instilled energy into you. On my first day on The Affair Of The Necklace, the director (Charles Shyer) said, “Can you do it faster?” So…2 min
Empire|September 2015HOW TO GET AHEAD IN...EMPIRE MEETS THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE SCENES FROM GUARDIANS Of The Galaxy to Kingsman: The Secret Service and The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Reg Poerscout-Edgerton is one of the most eagerly sought-after casting directors around. We met him in his London office... What does a casting director do? It differs a bit, job to job. But you get the script, talk through the characters with the director, and then go forth and see who’s available, and come up with ideas. You can be as creative and weird and wonderful as possible. There’s also the technical side, and the money side — how much we’re going to pay, size of trailer.... Do you have a signature style? I love to find new people, like Toby Kebbell on RocknRolla, through to Taron Egerton…2 min
Empire|September 2015ALSO OUTGemma BoveryOUT AUGUST 21 / CERT. 15 / 99 MINS.DIRECTOR Anne FontaineCAST Fabrice Luchini, Gemma Arterton, Jason FlemyngFabrice Luchini turns Gallic cliché to his advantage as the baker piqued by newcomer Arterton’s romantic escapades. But, while the Norman vistas are glorious, the storytelling lacks wit and charm. PPThe TreatmentOUT AUGUST 21 / CERT. 18 / 131 MINS.DIRECTOR Hans HerbotsCAST Geert Van Rampelberg, Ina GeertsCop Geert Van Rampelberg, traumatised by the unsolved disappearance of his young brother, investigates a series of horrific home invasions. Tough stuff, but worth a look for Eurocrime fans. KNTheebOUT AUGUST 14 / CERT. TBC / 100 MINS.DIRECTOR Naji Abu NowarCAST Jacir Eid, Hassan Mutlag, Hussein SalamehThis confident debut explores the passing of the nomadic Bedouin lifestyle while accompanying a young boy and his older brother on…2 min
Empire|September 2015HOW MUCH IS A PINT OF MILK?What’s the worst thing you’ve ever put in your mouth? A co*ckroach. To make Tom Hollander barf. Who were you in your first school play? The Scarecrow. I was trying to get hold of Dorothy, but she ran off with the Tin Man. Have you ever kept any souvenirs from a movie shoot? Every shoot. My favourite is Thomas Button’s chair from Benjamin Button. There’s a zombie apocalypse. Where do you hole up? Hide out in an abandoned house at the Colony in Malibu. There’s nothing in front of you but the ocean, so you’d only have to guard one way. How much is a pint of milk? I’m in Los Angeles at the moment, so 89 cents. Aliens land and ask to see a Jason Flemyng double bill. What…2 min
Empire|September 2015THE CALENDARAUGUST 1 “Sam Mendes! ( Wah-wahwaaaah ) He’s the man, the man with a birthday cake!” Yep, the Spectre director turns 50 — or 0050 — today. AUGUST 2 In 2003, Jim and Michelle finally have an American wedding in, erm, American Wedding. AUGUST 3 On this day in 2032, Simon Phoenix escapes from prison in Demolition Man. It’ll take a sly one to catch him. AUGUST 4 Skynet goes online in 1997. Don’t worry, we’re sure nothing bad will come of it. AUGUST 5 “To Benedict, or not to Benedict…” Yes, Mr. Cumberbatch debuts as the tortured Danish Prince in The Barbican’s Hamlet. Good luck getting a ticket.hamlet-barbican.com AUGUST 6 The brilliant outdoor film festival, Film4 Summer Screen, begins at London’s Somerset House with the premiere of Gemma Bovery.…3 min
Empire|September 2015ROUGHED-OUT JUSTICEWonder WomanAKA: Princess Diana of Themyscira, Diana PrinceORIGIN: Amazonian warrior princess.POWERS: Super-strength and agility, flight, owns the Bracelets Of Submission, the Lasso Of Truth, a super-sharp sword. Also an invisible jet.THE CHALLENGE: Fitting the pseudo-Greek myth into Snyder’s ‘real’ world; keeping her micro-skirt semi-decent; the invisible jet.The FlashAKA: Barry Allen. Or Wally West. Or Jay Garrick. Or Bart Allen.ORIGIN: Depends on which Flash. If Ezra Miller’s playing Barry, then he’s a scientist transformed by lightning-struck chemicals.POWERS: Super-duper speed.THE CHALLENGE: The CW’s bright, breezy Flash TV show is already proving popular. Would a ‘darker’ take wash?AquamanAKA: Arthur Curry. Or Orin, The King Of The Seven Seas.ORIGIN: His dad’s human, his mum’s from Atlantis.POWERS: Underwater breathing, super-swimming, sealife control.THE CHALLENGE: Thanks to Entourage, he’s a bit of a joke hero… Though Jason…1 min
Empire|September 2015“HE IS DRIVING A TANK THAT IS VERY SEXY-LOOKING…”1 “I have done two iconic things in my career. There was Godzilla ( for Roland Emmerich in 1998 ), which wasn’t very well received. Hopefully, people will like the Batmobile better. It was the first thing I designed. I mean, I am not going to start with Lois’ apartment. I did some sketches, which placed it in the Batcave. There were two or three designs afterwards, but in the end my first sketch was the Batmobile we used…”2 “It is truly an emotional process — it’s about what feels right. I showed Zack and Zack said, ‘Cool.’ Sometimes it just clicks. These films are very grounded. There will be tons of CG, but also a lot of real stuff — especially with Batman. Of course, building a car from…3 min
Empire|September 2015THE NWA-TEAMBRIEFINGSTRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTONRELEASED: August 28DIRECTOR:F. Gary GraySTARRING: O’Shea Jackson Jr., Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, Neil Brown Jr., Aldis Hodge, Paul GiamattiSTORY: The formation of LA rap/ hip-hop group N.W.A in the mid-’80s, who not only enjoyed huge success, but also proved notoriously controversial.OH, I FORGOT ABOUT DRE… Unbelievable. But still, in that case, this movie’s for you.Raging from the opening track of the debut N.W.A album, we’re left in no uncertainty as to what’s confronting us. This wasn’t a band, or a group, or a hip-hop ‘outfit’. Cube, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, MC Ren and DJ Yella self-identified as a gang. A representative voice of disaffected youth coming straight outta South Central Los Angeles, with no less an agenda than to force the world to “witness the strength of street knowledge”In…10 min
Empire|September 2015ENDOR’S GAMEFar out in the unknown regions of the Moddell Sector of the Outer Rim Territories lies a small, unregarded green moon.Its inhabitants refer to it as any one of a number of bizarre chirps, squeaks or roars, but to the rest of the galaxy far, far away, it’s known as Endor. A long time ago (1983, in fact) it was an outpost of the Empire: the construction base for the second Death Star, which the Rebellion destroyed before its completion in Return Of The Jedi. But Star Wars’ sixth episode wasn’t our only visit to the verdant home of the Ewoks. Even disregarding the multiple further adventures detailed in Star Wars’ ‘Expanded Universe’ of novels, comics, games and animations, audiences were granted two return visits in 1984 and 1985.J. J.…10 min
Empire|September 2015STATE OF THE MOVIE NATIONI all statistics are for the uK in 2014, unless otherwise stated3,947ScreensNumber of commercial cinema screens in the UK, found across 743 sites. 3,112 of those screens are in the 322 multiplexes across the kingdom.The Movie WeekWant more seat choice and less overhead chomping of popcorn?Go to the movies on Mondays.Monday: 9.1 per centTuesday: 9.4 per centWednesday: 12.4 per centThursday: 9.8 per centFriday: 15.3 per centSaturday: 25.2 per centSunday: 18.8 per cent52THE RED CARPET GOES DOWN ONCE A WEEK, EVERY WEEK: THERE WERE 52 PREMIERES IN LEICESTER SQUARE IN 2014. SET-UP CAN BEGIN AT 6AM; NO TRACE MUST BE LEFT AFTER 11.30PM.Ad Campaigns£188,624,649Film distributors’ total media ad spend.TV£97,227,466 – 51.5 per centOUTDOOR£61,765,298 – 32.8 per centPRESS£23,131,397 – 12.3 per centRADIO£4,962,097 – 2.6 per centOTHER£325,974 – 0.2 per cent157,499,641AdmissionsTotal UK cinema…3 min
Empire|September 2015HOW TO MAKE A CINEMAScreen: A 72” screen can be had for £16.99 on eBay, or get a custom-sized ceiling recessed screen for £3,250 from puretheatre.com. Projector: From £30 secondhand on eBay to £5,849 for a 4k, Sony VPL-VW300ES from richersounds.com.Player: No purchase necessary — if there is an Empire reader without access to a DVD player, Blu-ray player or computer, we will make a hat from a LaserDisc and eat it.Sound system: Three speakers and an amplifier. Your home cinema set-up is fine for small venues; otherwise the Onkyo TX-NR3030 amp and the KEF R100 5.1 speakers come in at £5,348 from sevenoakssoundandvision.co.uk.Venue licence: From £100 annually, or from £10 (Scotland) or £21 (England,Wales; Northern Ireland depends on size of audience) for one-off events, if you’re not serving booze. Film licence: From £75…1 min
Empire|September 2015“HE IS DRIVING A TANK THAT IS VERY SEXY-LOOKING…”1 “I have done two iconic things in my career. There was Godzilla ( for Roland Emmerich in 1998 ), which wasn’t very well received. Hopefully, people will like the Batmobile better. It was the first thing I designed. I mean, I am not going to start with Lois’ apartment. I did some sketches, which placed it in the Batcave. There were two or three designs afterwards, but in the end my first sketch was the Batmobile we used…” 2 “It is truly an emotional process — it’s about what feels right. I showed Zack and Zack said, ‘Cool.’ Sometimes it just clicks. These films are very grounded. There will be tons of CG, but also a lot of real stuff — especially with Batman. Of course, building a car…3 min
Empire|September 2015SOMETHING WILDON THE NIGHT of March 30, 1992, beneath the cascading chandeliers of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the Academy Awards stopped making sense. Jonathan Demme, a few rows from the stage, was flabbergasted. “We were amazed just to be there,” he recalls. “We knew we weren’t going to get any awards for our horror movie.”That horror movie had so far won Best Actor and Actress, and Adapted Screenplay. Demme saw Warren Beatty lean over to the person next to him and audibly whisper, “It is going to be a sweep.” But he couldn’t believe any of this was happening. Then came Best Director, and his name was read out.“I remember walking across this gigantic, endless stage,” he says. In the far distance was Kevin Costner with a golden statuette and a…11 min
Empire|September 2015ALSO OUTElectric Boogaloo: The Wild Untold Story Of Cannon FilmsFROM NOW / CERT. 18Throughout the ’80s, Cannon Films unleashed an astonishing schlock-wave on the world. Space-vampires, aerobics-ninjas, feuding break-dancers and Chuck Norris’ beard: all feature in this fun, pacy documentary. The stories are great, the clips even better. NDSMiss MeadowsFROM NOW / CERT. 15Ever wished Katie Holmes would play a tap-dancing serial killer? Thought not. Someone did, though, and so we have this lumpy satire about a troubled teacher who turns into Charles Bronson out of class. An inadvertent companion piece to the better The Voices, it features a CG bluebird, an excess of rhyming couplets and a dearth of wit. NDSThe FallingFROM AUGUST 17 / CERT. 15Carol Morley follows up Dreams Of A Life with another captivating head-trip, this time…1 min
Empire|September 2015EMPIRE VIEWING GUIDE1 Lavender’s Blue (Chapter 1, 3:58)the film starts with hayley atwell singing Lavender’s Blue, an old english folk song. “It’s a catchy and haunting tune,” says director Kenneth Branagh. “and you can’t quite place where you heard it. simple things don’t have to be simplistic.” otherwise, Branagh had a strict rule: no songs from the 1950 animated movie, even though “disney owned the rights to them all, and Lily James knew them all by heart. she would often offer up a take where she was humming them under her breath.”2 “Have courage and be kind” (Chapter 1, 5:10)As her mother lays dying, Ella is given this soupçon of advice, which holds true throughout the movie. “That’s a Chris Weitz line,” says Branagh of the movie’s writer. “In Lily’s performance, I…3 min
Empire|September 2015NO REST FOR THE WICKETOne Ewok film you’re not likely to see anytime soon is Return Of The Ewok: a 24-minute short directed by David Tomblin during the production of The Return Of The Jedi. Starring Warwick Davis, it offers a peculiar, fictionalised version of how Davis came to be cast as Wicket. Davis believes he owns the only copy. Tomblin was a second unit and assistant director on Return Of The Jedi, giving him and Davis enviable access to the cast and crew for their side project. Mostly shot during lunch breaks and weekends, Tomblin and Davis were able to press gang Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels, David Prowse, Peter Mayhew, Frank Oz, Jeremy Bulloch and others into playing along. Their story follows Davis first pursuing his dream of becoming…1 min
Empire|September 2015STATE OF THE MOVIE NATIONI all statistics are for the uK in 2014, unless otherwise stated 3,947 Screens Number of commercial cinema screens in the UK, found across 743 sites. 3,112 of those screens are in the 322 multiplexes across the kingdom. The Movie Week Want more seat choice and less overhead chomping of popcorn? Go to the movies on Mondays. Monday: 9.1 per cent Tuesday: 9.4 per cent Wednesday: 12.4 per cent Thursday: 9.8 per cent Friday: 15.3 per cent Saturday: 25.2 per cent Sunday: 18.8 per cent 52 THE RED CARPET GOES DOWN ONCE A WEEK, EVERY WEEK: THERE WERE 52 PREMIERES IN LEICESTER SQUARE IN 2014. SET-UP CAN BEGIN AT 6AM; NO TRACE MUST BE LEFT AFTER 11.30PM. Ad Campaigns £188,624,649 Film distributors’ total media ad spend. TV £97,227,466 – 51.5…2 min
Empire|September 2015ALSO OUTGood KillFROM AUGUST 3 / CERT. 15Ethan Hawke stars as a reluctant drone pilot in Andrew Niccol’s thought-provoking exploration of modern warfare. Torn between his Vegas family-guy existence and his day job killing targets thousands of miles away, Hawke perfectly captures a decent man falling apart in the face of impossible moral quandaries. LBTimbuktuFROM AUGUST 10 / CERT. 12With stunning insight and huge restraint, Abderrahmane Sissako takes on religious extremism as Islamic fundamentalists invade the titular city. Although it doesn’t shrink from harsh realities, it is far from a slog. A love of humanity shines through this engaging film, which avoids crude conclusions and refuses to mire itself in misery. ESClouds of Sils MariaFROM NOW / CERT. 15A restless thespian is threatened by a younger model when she revisits the…1 min
Empire|September 2015Want!THE WIGHT STUFFDevastated there’s no more Game Of Thrones until 2016? Ease your sorrow by recreating the massacre at Hardhome with these excellent figurines of Jon Snow, a White Walker and a pesky wight. funko.com/collections/pop, £9.99 eachBATSUITS YOU, SIRStrike fear into the heart of local nogoodniks by strolling your neighbourhood in this Bat logo-adorned imitation leather jacket. Features two side pockets in which to stash batarangs and loose change. forbiddenplanet.com, £62.99HAMMER TIMEThe great Sir Christopher Lee is gone but not forgotten. Celebrate his legacy with this limited edition mini-bust of his signature role: Dracula. forbiddenplanet.com, £69.99EX APPEALEx Machina, Alex Garland’s terrific sci-fi thriller, boasts incredible design. So it’s good news that 2000AD are releasing a limited edition book (just 500 copies), featuring concepts by Jock. It puts the ‘art’ into…1 min
Empire|September 2015WHERE TO FIND ICONIC LOCATIONS FROM TV AND FILM...1 The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (2015) Piazza di SpagnaGuy Ritchie’s latest knocks off more sites of historical note than bad guys. He shot brief daytime scenes at the Piazza Venezia, but more extensive night shoots took place at the Piazza di Spagna at the base of the Spanish Steps. Interestingly, John Keats lived there, but he was a rubbish spy next to Solo and Kuryakin.2 La Dolce Vita (1960) Trevi FountainQuite near the Piazza Di Spagna is this symbol of Rome, the site of maybe the coolest moment in movie history. After a night wandering the city’s alleyways, Anita Ekberg’s starlet wades into the Trevi and just dances. The polizia nowadays stop the millions of tourists trying to follow her lead.3 Hudson Hawk (1991) Palazzo della Civiltfi del LavoroThis striking,…1 min
Empire|September 2015ALSO OUTElectric Boogaloo: The Wild Untold Story Of Cannon Films FROM NOW / CERT. 18 Throughout the ’80s, Cannon Films unleashed an astonishing schlock-wave on the world. Space-vampires, aerobics-ninjas, feuding break-dancers and Chuck Norris’ beard: all feature in this fun, pacy documentary. The stories are great, the clips even better. NDS Miss Meadows FROM NOW / CERT. 15 Ever wished Katie Holmes would play a tap-dancing serial killer? Thought not. Someone did, though, and so we have this lumpy satire about a troubled teacher who turns into Charles Bronson out of class. An inadvertent companion piece to the better The Voices, it features a CG bluebird, an excess of rhyming couplets and a dearth of wit. NDS The Falling FROM AUGUST 17 / CERT. 15 Carol Morley follows up Dreams Of…1 min
Empire|September 2015EMPIRE VIEWING GUIDE1 Lavender’s Blue (Chapter 1, 3:58) the film starts with hayley atwell singing Lavender’s Blue, an old english folk song. “It’s a catchy and haunting tune,” says director Kenneth Branagh. “and you can’t quite place where you heard it. simple things don’t have to be simplistic.” otherwise, Branagh had a strict rule: no songs from the 1950 animated movie, even though “disney owned the rights to them all, and Lily James knew them all by heart. she would often offer up a take where she was humming them under her breath.” 2 “Have courage and be kind” (Chapter 1, 5:10) As her mother lays dying, Ella is given this soupçon of advice, which holds true throughout the movie. “That’s a Chris Weitz line,” says Branagh of the movie’s writer. “In…3 min
Empire|September 2015EDITOR’S LETTERIllustratIon: olly gIbbs APOLOGIES TO SPIDER-MAN, BUT THE TWO GREAT comic-book heroes — the ones who have always transcended the lushly coloured boxes their creators tried to cage them in — are in many ways complete opposites, an implacable hatred of villainy aside. Superman lives by day; wields his omnipotence responsibly; and as he lines up with the military to take on General Zod in Man Of Steel, looks comfortable on the side of the establishment. Batman is solidly nocturnal; his powers are manmade, not super; and at its best, his relationship with the law is uneasy tolerance. But mano a mano, who would triumph? Superman is the odds-on favourite, but would you bet against Batman springing a surprise? You might get a clue on the outcome from our exclusive…1 min
Empire|September 2015TOO MUCH INFORMATION AL PACINOHEAT VS. RIGHTEOUS KILLTONY MONTANA’S LITTLE FRIENDColt AR-15 with M203 Grenade Launcher attachmentPACINO BY NUMBERS5’ 7” HEIGHT9 “HOO-AH!”S IN SCENT OF A WOMAN4’ 33” DURATION OF HIS INCHES SPEECH IN ANY GIVEN SUNDAYOSCARS NOMINATIONS:1973: Best Supporting Actor, The Godfather1974: Best Actor, Serpico1975: Best Actor, The Godfather Part II1976: Best Actor, Dog Day Afternoon1980: Best Actor, ÉAnd Justice For All1991: Best Supporting Actor, Dick Tracy1993: Best Supporting Actor, Glengarry Glen RossOSCAR WINS:1993: Best Actor, Scent Of A WomanPEOPLE OFFED BY MICHAEL CORLEONE IN THE GODFATHER TRILOGY:* Killed by Michael Corleone’s own hands. The rest are murdered at his requestBOX OFFICE$134,966,411 THE GODFATHER$26,282 TWO BITSNumber of $100 million movies: 3 (The Godfather, Dick Tracy, Ocean’s Thirteen)THE AL PACINO VENN DIAGRAMTRIVIAHis maternal grandmother was born in… Corleone, SicilyHe studied acting under Charles LaughtonHe…1 min
Empire|September 201517 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT... COMIC CON• AUGUST 1 SHE’S AGENT HAYLEY ATWELL ON WHY SHE JUST GETS CARTER HAYLEY ATWELL’S come a long way since nerves caused her to throw up on her way to audition for the role of peggy Carter in the first Captain America movie. “That must have been a very vomity time for me,” she laughs. “I also threw up on the first day of training.” Since then, the 33 year-old Brit has returned to the no-nonsense British spy across more Marvel movies, a short, and now her own show, Agent Carter, which is finally on UK screens. Not bad for a supposed one-off. “I went on Twitter and noticed there were so many Peggy fans,” she says of the moment she realised Carter was an unstoppable machine. “And a year…22 min
Empire|September 2015CREEDNEED TO KNOW A portion of the film was shot at Goodison Park, the home of Stallone’s favourite football team, Everton. The man sure does love an underdog. MICHAEL B. Jordan is not just the star of Creed, he plays the title character. But he’s a realist. He knows there’s another attraction on the title card, one that gives Creed the potential to be one of the most exciting movies of the year. “It’s Rocky,” he says, simply. And it is. After a 30-year career, encompassing triumphant victories over Mr. T, brain damage and communism, it seemed that Rocky Balboa had finally hung up his gloves in 2006 after one last eponymous hurrah. But the lovable old palooka is back, in the redoubtable shape of Sylvester Stallone. Yet Creed is…2 min
Empire|September 2015TOO MUCH INFORMATION AL PACINOHEAT VS. RIGHTEOUS KILL TONY MONTANA’S LITTLE FRIEND Colt AR-15 with M203 Grenade Launcher attachment PACINO BY NUMBERS 5’ 7” HEIGHT 9 “HOO-AH!”S IN SCENT OF A WOMAN 4’ 33” DURATION OF HIS INCHES SPEECH IN ANY GIVEN SUNDAY OSCARS NOMINATIONS: 1973: Best Supporting Actor, The Godfather 1974: Best Actor, Serpico 1975: Best Actor, The Godfather Part II 1976: Best Actor, Dog Day Afternoon 1980: Best Actor, ÉAnd Justice For All 1991: Best Supporting Actor, Dick Tracy 1993: Best Supporting Actor, Glengarry Glen Ross OSCAR WINS: 1993: Best Actor, Scent Of A Woman PEOPLE OFFED BY MICHAEL CORLEONE IN THE GODFATHER TRILOGY: * Killed by Michael Corleone’s own hands. The rest are murdered at his request BOX OFFICE $134,966,411 THE GODFATHER $26,282 TWO BITS Number of $100 million movies: 3…1 min
Empire|September 2015LEGENDA BAKING AUGUST day, and yet somehow the Café de Paris, a hop, skip and jump from the Empire office, is even warmer on the inside. That’s because the interior of the London nightspot has been crammed full of hot lights by the crew of Brian Helgeland’s Legend, hellbent on transforming it into… well, a different London nightspot. The Hideaway was the name of a club procured by Ronnie and Reggie Kray, lords of the London underworld, back in the ’60s. And it’s here, today, where Ronnie — the baddest of the bad brothers — is holding court at a booth. Alongside him, two of his lieutenants (played by Taron Egerton and Charley Palmer Merkell) cackle at his every thuggish word, but then it’s down to business as Sam Spruell’s…2 min
Empire|September 2015Chris ColumbusEXPERIENCE 1984 Gremlins Writer I’d run the pages to Steven Spielberg’s office, he’d write some edits in the margins while I waited as he was having a meeting with someone like Harrison Ford. It was a graduate school of filmmaking. 1985 The Goonies Writer When I was doing Harry Potter, the 21-year-olds on the set would say, “That film changed my life.” I thought they meant Home Alone, but it was always Goonies. 1985 Young Sherlock Holmes Writer I’m a Sherlock Holmes fanatic. I was obsessed with David Lean when I was writing and saw Great Expectations and Oliver Twist, and I thought, “I want to set this in Victorian England.” I did a lot of research in the era, I wanted it to be authentic and when I finished…2 min
Empire|September 2015HOW TO BE... ARI GOLDWANT TO KNOW MORE? Then you can check out — of course — all 96 episodes of the HBO show, plus the new totally-written-by-Ari-honest ‘autobiography’, The Gold Standard. EDUCATION Ari studied at Harvard as an undergraduate — his degree programme is unspecified but we know he at least took a class in business ethics. SUITING UP Ari’s Italian power suits are all tailored by designer Domenico Vacca. Off the peg, they start at $4,000. Piven wears them in real life, too. GO IT ALONE Ari is based on real-life agent Ari Emanuel, who started at ICM, then set up his own successful agency, Endeavour, and eventually merged with the William Morris Agency. Not all ten percenters are this successful. Training The big agencies have trainee programmes for which you need…2 min
Empire|September 2015THINGS WE’VE LEARNEDPaul Rudd grew up reading British comics like The Beano and The Dandy. Cripes!Michael Smiley is a mean table tennis player. If you see him approaching you with a ping pong bat in his hand, run.Although she’s the star of Fatal Attraction, Glenn Close is not a fan of scary films.Ant-Man star Michael Peña lost his luggage when he came to the UK recently. Perhaps he should have checked his trouser pockets.• ALLSTAR/DI.ENSION FIL.S, 2014 FOCUS FEATURES, LLC, GETTY GETTY II. .AGES AGES, , ALLSTAR ALLSTAR//HOYAPRODUCTIONS HOYAPRODUCTIONS, , REX REX FEATURES FEATURES…1 min
Empire|September 2015BRIDGE OF SPIES“IT’S A REAL symbiotic, comfortable, thrilling collaboration to watch,” says producer Marc Platt about Bridge Of Spies, the latest film to unite Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. Spies centres on real-life attorney James D. Donovan (Hanks), who was assigned to represent captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance) in 1957. The US government later asked him to negotiate the release of imprisoned U2 bomber pilot Gary Powers using Abel as a bargaining chip, all in the political cauldron of East Berlin. “James Powers is well known but the James Donovan story is more of a footnote,” says Platt. “I think that he was a common citizen thrust onto an unexpected stage attracted Steven and Tom.” With the Coen brothers adding “a special sauce of character and tone” to Matt Charman’s…1 min
Empire|September 2015THE CALENDARAUGUST 1“Sam Mendes! ( Wah-wahwaaaah ) He’s the man, the man with a birthday cake!” Yep, the Spectre director turns 50 — or 0050 — today.AUGUST 2In 2003, Jim and Michelle finally have an American wedding in, erm, American Wedding.AUGUST 3On this day in 2032, Simon Phoenix escapes from prison in Demolition Man. It’ll take a sly one to catch him.AUGUST 4Skynet goes online in 1997. Don’t worry, we’re sure nothing bad will come of it.AUGUST 5“To Benedict, or not to Benedict…” Yes, Mr. Cumberbatch debuts as the tortured Danish Prince in The Barbican’s Hamlet. Good luck getting a ticket.hamlet-barbican.comAUGUST 6The brilliant outdoor film festival, Film4 Summer Screen, begins at London’s Somerset House with the premiere of Gemma Bovery. Runs until August 19.AUGUST 7It’s clobbering time! Can the combined powers…3 min
Empire|September 2015FANTASTIC FOUR1 #FF THE FF WANT TO HEAR THE NEW FAB FOUR SQUEEZE JUICE FROM THEIR MIND GRAPES? @MILES_TELLER (416K FOLLOWERS) @KATEMARA (188K) @MICHAELB4JORDAN (222K) @1JAMIEBELL (137K) 2 COMICS Earlier this year, Marvel cancelled the Fantastic Four with issue 645, 54 years after it first launched. Classic runs await, though — issues 48-50 of the original comic, and Ultimate Fantastic Four, which so inspired Trank, are great places to start. 3 The ‘other’ movies You can still find the Tim Story mid-2000s movies if you look hard enough (try Sky). But all the gold in Latveria won’t get you a copy of the infamous 1994 Roger Corman cheapie. 4 THE ’70S CARTOON The world’s greatest heroes (self-styled) have hit the small screen in the ’60s, ’90s and noughties, but we have…1 min
Empire|September 2015THINGS WE’VE LEARNED• ALLSTAR/DI.ENSION FIL.S, 2014 FOCUS FEATURES, LLC, GETTY GETTY II. .AGES AGES, , ALLSTAR ALLSTAR//HOYAPRODUCTIONS HOYAPRODUCTIONS, , REX REX FEATURES FEATURES Paul Rudd grew up reading British comics like The Beano and The Dandy. Cripes! Michael Smiley is a mean table tennis player. If you see him approaching you with a ping pong bat in his hand, run. Although she’s the star of Fatal Attraction, Glenn Close is not a fan of scary films. Ant-Man star Michael Peña lost his luggage when he came to the UK recently. Perhaps he should have checked his trouser pockets.…1 min
Empire|September 201515 SMARTEST CAMEOS1 Christopher Lloyd in A Million Ways To Die In The West (2014)A genius sight gag in Seth MacFarlane’s genius-lite comedy Western. A white-haired man sheepishly covers a DeLorean with a sheet. “What’s that?” asks Seth Mac. “A weather experiment,” says Lloyd, as Doc Brown in all but name. It’s not only a nod to the Western-set Back To The Future: Part III, but to BTTF itself, in which he uses the same line on a suspicious 1955 cop.WORD UP Lloyd has also Doc Browned for adverts, theme-park rides and a 1990 US TV special for Earth Day.2 Sean Connery in Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves (1991)“I will not allow this wedding to prosheed,” says Sir Sean, in a last-minute appearance at the marriage of Robin and Marian, “unlessh I’m…7 min
Empire|September 2015THEY ARE LEGENDBRIEFINGBATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICERELEASED: March 25DIRECTOR: Zack SnyderSTARRING: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Jesse Eisenberg, Amy Adams, Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane, Jason MomoaSTORY: After the destruction of half of Metropolis, planet Earth isn’t sure about Superman (Cavill). Is he a friend or a threat? To seasoned Gotham vigilante Batman (Affleck), he’s the latter. One which needs to be neutralised, fast.WHAT ABOUT THE JUSTICE LEAGUE?Not so fast. This movie sets the stage for the DC Universe superteam (clue’s in the title), but that’s a few movies away yet. THE CREATORS OF BATMAN V Superman: Dawn Of Justice do not refer to their new movie as a sequel, or an episode, or the next phase. They call it an expansion.There had never been any doubt that Man Of Steel…13 min
Empire|September 2015ALSO OUTGemma Bovery OUT AUGUST 21 / CERT. 15 / 99 MINS. DIRECTOR Anne Fontaine CAST Fabrice Luchini, Gemma Arterton, Jason Flemyng Fabrice Luchini turns Gallic cliché to his advantage as the baker piqued by newcomer Arterton’s romantic escapades. But, while the Norman vistas are glorious, the storytelling lacks wit and charm. PP The Treatment OUT AUGUST 21 / CERT. 18 / 131 MINS. DIRECTOR Hans Herbots CAST Geert Van Rampelberg, Ina Geerts Cop Geert Van Rampelberg, traumatised by the unsolved disappearance of his young brother, investigates a series of horrific home invasions. Tough stuff, but worth a look for Eurocrime fans. KN Theeb OUT AUGUST 14 / CERT. TBC / 100 MINS. DIRECTOR Naji Abu Nowar CAST Jacir Eid, Hassan Mutlag, Hussein Salameh This confident debut explores the passing of…2 min
Empire|September 2015BATTLE OF THE BRANDSApple V Android: Dawn Of Not-Just-OSSteve Jobs’ mobile operating system seemed set to be the world-beating conversation annihilator. But then Google went and designed their own.LIKELY VICTOR: The Cupertino Crusher, Apple. Less evil. Probably.Pepsi V Coca-Cola: Dawn Of Best-Served-With-IceThe war of the tooth-rotters has rumbled since upstart Pepsi entered the market a mere seven years after an Atlanta boffin patented Coca-Cola, his “potion for mental and physical disorders”, in 1886.LIKELY VICTOR: Pepsi consistently wins in blind taste tests until people find out what it is. So it’s The Real Thing.The X-Factor V Strictly Come Dancing: Dance Of JusticeSurviving even the retirement of Bruce ‘Bruce’ Forsyth, the battle betwixt ITV’s talent fandango and the BBC’s ballroom smackdown regularly turns living rooms into battlegrounds.LIKELY VICTOR: Your mum prefers Strictly. Your little sister…1 min
Empire|September 2015RELATIVE VALUESThe Day Of The Locust (1975)Among the celebrity lookalikes attending the 1938 Tinseltown premiere that degenerates into a riot in John Schlesinger’s sour adaptation of Nathanael West’s uncompromising novel is Dick Powell Jr. — posing as his crooner father, star of many Busby Berkeley musicals and later a notable screen tough guy.Edith et Marcel (1983)Before Marion Cotillard won an Oscar playing songstress Edith Piaf, Evelyne Bouix took the role in this gossipy Claude Lelouch production which focuses on the romance between Piaf and boxer Marcel Cerdan, who was played by his own son, Marcel Cerdan Jr.. NB: Piaf wasn’t his mother, which is good because that would have been weird…Sophia Loren: Her Own Story (1990)In addition to playing herself in this TV movie biopic, Loren also plays her mother, Romilda…1 min
Empire|September 2015NO REST FOR THE WICKETOne Ewok film you’re not likely to see anytime soon is Return Of The Ewok: a 24-minute short directed by David Tomblin during the production of The Return Of The Jedi. Starring Warwick Davis, it offers a peculiar, fictionalised version of how Davis came to be cast as Wicket. Davis believes he owns the only copy.Tomblin was a second unit and assistant director on Return Of The Jedi, giving him and Davis enviable access to the cast and crew for their side project. Mostly shot during lunch breaks and weekends, Tomblin and Davis were able to press gang Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels, David Prowse, Peter Mayhew, Frank Oz, Jeremy Bulloch and others into playing along. Their story follows Davis first pursuing his dream of becoming an…1 min
Empire|September 2015THEY ARE LEGENDBRIEFING BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE RELEASED: March 25 DIRECTOR: Zack Snyder STARRING: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Jesse Eisenberg, Amy Adams, Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane, Jason Momoa STORY: After the destruction of half of Metropolis, planet Earth isn’t sure about Superman (Cavill). Is he a friend or a threat? To seasoned Gotham vigilante Batman (Affleck), he’s the latter. One which needs to be neutralised, fast. WHAT ABOUT THE JUSTICE LEAGUE? Not so fast. This movie sets the stage for the DC Universe superteam (clue’s in the title), but that’s a few movies away yet. THE CREATORS OF BATMAN V Superman: Dawn Of Justice do not refer to their new movie as a sequel, or an episode, or the next phase. They call it an expansion. There had…13 min
Empire|September 2015TRAIL AND TERRORBRIEFINGMAZE RUNNER: THE SCORCH TRIALSRELEASED: September 11DIRECTOR: Wes BallSTARRING: Dylan O’Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Aidan Gillen, Giancarlo Esposito, Thomas Brodie-SangsterSTORY: Amnesiac Thomas (O’Brien) and his fellow survivors have escaped the Maze only to find themselves at the next level of the ‘game’, where they have to traverse a treacherous wasteland.WHAT’S THEIR NEXT CHALLENGE? Having to become proper grown-ups and get boring jobs. Either that, or an adaptation of writer James Dashner’s third Maze Runner book, The Death Cure.BODIES DANGLE FROM THE CEILING.They’re tied by their ankles and swaying very slightly in dusty air, lit by a Spielbergian top-light from a distant pseudo-sun. Standing to one side, amid the survivalist paraphernalia of a post-apocalyptic outpost, the scene looks eerie and intimidating, undercut only slightly by the fact the trapped figures’ arses are…10 min
Empire|September 2015DYSTOPIA DISSECTEDTIPPING POINTSThe current explosion of dystopian franchises like The Maze Runner, Hunger Games and Divergent is, believes Boxall, a result of our being at “a transitional point in world history. Those moments make dystopian imaginings spring up: the sense that we no longer understand the world we live in. That’s exciting, but the dystopian urge comes from everything being frightening because it’s changing.”TOTALITARIANISMThe most frequent theme in dystopian fictions is the idea of despotic totalitarian forces oppressing us. “It’s almost always about control. In most dystopian scenarios you’ve got one person who intuits the possibility of freedom within a world where that’s been taken away. The Maze Runner fits into that tradition — that fear that we’re not controlling ourselves but being controlled by somebody else.”TECHNO-FEARIn The Terminator we’ve been…1 min
Empire|September 2015CINDERELLAA Girl Walks Home Alone At Night2015 / FROM NOW / CERT. 18LET HER INON A FUN DVD ‘making of’, US-Iranian writer-director Ana Lily Amirpour describes her eye-catching feature debut as full of “boner sh*t I love”. She’s not wrong. A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night is Anne Rice scripted by ’80s Jim Jarmusch, shot by Sergio Leone and sound-designed by David Lynch. But, happily, Amirpour gracefully transcends the sum of her too-cool-for-school influences to create something truly unique.While the dialogue is in Farsi (there isn’t much of it), the action is set in Bad City, a dying oil town populated by misfits that doesn’t seem rooted in any particular country or time (the cars are ’50s, the iconography ’80s). The Girl (Sheila Vand) of the title is a…4 min
Empire|September 2015THE NWA-TEAMBRIEFING STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON RELEASED: August 28 DIRECTOR: F. Gary Gray STARRING: O’Shea Jackson Jr., Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, Neil Brown Jr., Aldis Hodge, Paul Giamatti STORY: The formation of LA rap/ hip-hop group N.W.A in the mid-’80s, who not only enjoyed huge success, but also proved notoriously controversial. OH, I FORGOT ABOUT DRE… Unbelievable. But still, in that case, this movie’s for you. Raging from the opening track of the debut N.W.A album, we’re left in no uncertainty as to what’s confronting us. This wasn’t a band, or a group, or a hip-hop ‘outfit’. Cube, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, MC Ren and DJ Yella self-identified as a gang. A representative voice of disaffected youth coming straight outta South Central Los Angeles, with no less an agenda than to force the…10 min
Empire|September 2015ENDOR’S GAMEFar out in the unknown regions of the Moddell Sector of the Outer Rim Territories lies a small, unregarded green moon. Its inhabitants refer to it as any one of a number of bizarre chirps, squeaks or roars, but to the rest of the galaxy far, far away, it’s known as Endor. A long time ago (1983, in fact) it was an outpost of the Empire: the construction base for the second Death Star, which the Rebellion destroyed before its completion in Return Of The Jedi. But Star Wars’ sixth episode wasn’t our only visit to the verdant home of the Ewoks. Even disregarding the multiple further adventures detailed in Star Wars’ ‘Expanded Universe’ of novels, comics, games and animations, audiences were granted two return visits in 1984 and 1985.…10 min
Empire|September 2015HANNIBAL1 DO SAY:“I can’t believe it’s been cancelled. If a company like Hulu or Amazon doesn’t bring it back, I’m going to start eating people.”2 DON’T SAY:“Don’t worry about it being cancelled. I’ve got the novelisation back home.”3 DO SAY:“MGM owns the rights to Clarice Starling, so Bryan Fuller joked he’d introduce a character called ‘Shmarlice Shmarling’. What a card.”4 DON’T SAY:“Red Dragon, again? But Brett Ratner got it right the first time!”5 DO SAY:“You’ve got to follow showrunner Bryan Fuller on Twitter. He posts freaky concept art, plus his profile pic features a stuffed rabbit.”6 DON’T SAY:“It’s got something to do with elephants, right? I love ancient history.”7 DO SAY:“Hannibal’s plastic kill-suit is a nod to Bond baddie Dr. No. What’s next: an asthmatic poker player?”8 DON’T SAY:“Gillian Anderson’s…1 min
Empire|September 2015Kim Newman’s MOVIE DUNGEONSHOT IN GhastlyScope (i.e. black-and-white widescreen), Paul Bunnell’s The Ghastly Love Of Johnny X is a retro-look science-fiction musical about an alien juvenile delinquent (Will Keenan) in exile on Earth, a zombie rock ’n’ roll legend, classic cars cruising in the desert and smartly choreographed dance numbers. It might be too cool for school, but hits the cult spot if you’ve worn out your old Big Meat Eater VHS. Leading lady De Anna Joy Brooks brings 110 per cent in high heels.You’ve heard the story of Christopher Denham’s Preservation before, but it’s told with unexpected character flourishes and decent suspense. Wrenn Schmidt goes camping in the woods with her yuppie husband (Mad Men’s Aaron Staton) and his sullen ex-soldier brother (The Wire’s Pablo Schreiber). The party wake up to find…2 min
Empire|September 2015TRAIL AND TERRORBRIEFING MAZE RUNNER: THE SCORCH TRIALS RELEASED: September 11 DIRECTOR: Wes Ball STARRING: Dylan O’Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Aidan Gillen, Giancarlo Esposito, Thomas Brodie-Sangster STORY: Amnesiac Thomas (O’Brien) and his fellow survivors have escaped the Maze only to find themselves at the next level of the ‘game’, where they have to traverse a treacherous wasteland. WHAT’S THEIR NEXT CHALLENGE? Having to become proper grown-ups and get boring jobs. Either that, or an adaptation of writer James Dashner’s third Maze Runner book, The Death Cure. BODIES DANGLE FROM THE CEILING. They’re tied by their ankles and swaying very slightly in dusty air, lit by a Spielbergian top-light from a distant pseudo-sun. Standing to one side, amid the survivalist paraphernalia of a post-apocalyptic outpost, the scene looks eerie and intimidating, undercut only slightly…9 min
Empire|September 2015SOMETHING WILD• kobal (1) ON THE NIGHT of March 30, 1992, beneath the cascading chandeliers of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the Academy Awards stopped making sense. Jonathan Demme, a few rows from the stage, was flabbergasted. “We were amazed just to be there,” he recalls. “We knew we weren’t going to get any awards for our horror movie.” That horror movie had so far won Best Actor and Actress, and Adapted Screenplay. Demme saw Warren Beatty lean over to the person next to him and audibly whisper, “It is going to be a sweep.” But he couldn’t believe any of this was happening. Then came Best Director, and his name was read out. “I remember walking across this gigantic, endless stage,” he says. In the far distance was Kevin Costner with…11 min
Empire|September 2015Also outThe Divergent Series: InsurgentFROM NOW / CERT. 12The second in this dystopian franchise boasts high-end effects and inane storytelling. Everything barrels along at the same violent, aimless pitch as Shailene Woodley attempts to open the secret box containing the plot to part three. “I know this doesn’t make sense,” she implores, “but you have to trust me.” A big ask. INThe Face Of An AngelFROM NOW / CERT. 15Michael Winterbottom’s muse on the Meredith Kercher murder trial rather feels like it’s working out what it is as it goes along. It’s not a dramatisation of that case, but an examination of the world’s reaction to that kind of case (all names are changed, m’lud). It keeps asking itself what it’s doing, yet doesn’t answer; still, the questions are interesting. ORThe…3 min
Empire|September 2015ADVENTURES IN STREAMINGHolidays Gone WrongIN THE BORING REAL WORLD, vacation horrors rarely escalate beyond dodgy buffets, crispy sunburn and mild budget-airline thrombosis. On Planet Movie, however, the holiday-by-mistake is a spin-off of the survival movie: escape turns to endurance, foreigners froth and civilisation perishes. In a baffling genre quirk, there’s also much gratuitous dogicide.Preservation is a formula wilderness horror designed like a Deliverance package holiday. Urbanites go deer-hunting. Wake up with crosshairs on their foreheads. Accompanying its bear traps and dead dogs is a pungent sense of déjà-view. The masked killers are bored kids. A lone female fights back. It’s Eden Lake with a Californian accent — it even nicks the cesspit scene.Netflix’s algorithms are jammed. Although set in 1970s Spain, The Backwoods is Preservation all over again: flustered townies, weaponised branches…2 min
Empire|September 2015THE SHINING SPECIALTHE GRADY TWINSLISA AND LOUISE BURNS“COME AND PLAY WITH US, DANNY. FOREVER and ever and ever.” If you saw The Shining at a certain age (say, between eight and 80) then these two still terrify, even though their scenes are brief: appearing to Danny (Danny Lloyd) in the corridors of the Overlook Hotel, at first as relatively innocent figures, then later as the bloodied corpses of the girls slaughtered by their father, erstwhile caretaker Grady (Philip Stone).Empire caught up with the pair at The Shining 35 reunion event organised by Howard Berry of The Elstree Project (an oral-history project dedicated to interviewing cast and crew who have worked at Elstree). “It’s strange when people say you’re an icon,” says Louise. “You kind of feel like a statue!” “I always feel…3 min
