Empire Issue Preview: Guardians 2; Doctor Who; Arnie Looks Back

On the cover of the latest issue of Empire magazine, we have a raccoon, a tree, a green alien, a half-cyborg, a giant muscly man, a blue man with a headfin, a telekinetic antenna lady, and Chris Pratt. It can only mean one thing: the Guardians Of The Galaxy are back, heading up a juicy 146-page spectacular of cinematic goodness. Issue #335 of the world’s biggest movie magazine goes on sale in the UK Thursday 23 March – here’s a taster of what’s inside. Subscribe to Empire here to get your copy before everyone else, or grab an instant digital subscription.

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2

An intrepid Empire writer travels to the farthest reaches of space – or, more accurately, Pinwood Studios in Atlanta – to visit the set of the latest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We chat to pretty much everyone involved, and even get them to pick their favourite tracks for a special Empire-exclusive awesome mixtape.

Arnold Schwarzenegger/The Running Man

He said he’d be back – and sure enough, Arnie himself returns to the pages of his favourite movie magazine for a world exclusive career-spanning interview. Let off some steam and give it a read. Plus, with its 20th anniversary approaching, The Running Man’s screenwriter Steven E. de Souza pens an exclusive account of his astonishingly prescient cult sci-fi favourite.

Doctor Who

Time slows for no man – even time-travelling aliens like The Doctor. With star Peter Capaldi and long-serving showrunner Steven Moffat both saying goodbye to the BBC’s perennial family sci-fi show, we popped by the Tardis for an extensive exit interview.

The Handmaiden

Park Chan-wook – the director behind Oldboy, Lady Vengeance and Stoker – is back for another tale of revenge, psychological thrills, and erotic intrigue with The Handmaiden. We chat to the Korean provocateur, and Sarah Waters, the Welsh writer behind the source novel Fingersmith, on possibly the only film this year to feature mannequin dry-humping.

Life

“Life...oh life...oh li-i-i-ife...oh life...doo doo doo doo,” as Des’ree famously once sang. With the release of starry new space thriller Life this month, we investigate whether her lyrics ring hauntingly true in 2017, or whether perhaps a 1990s pop singer has really nothing to do with a science fiction film at all. Probably the latter.

Paul Feig interviews Richard Curtis

We’ve had Christopher McQuarrie interview William Friedkin, and Edgar Wright interview Walter Hill – now for the latest in our series of director-on-director features, Paul Feig sits down with Richard Curtis to discuss Love, Actually. Reports that Feig showed up at Curtis’ door with a sign saying “To Me, Your Film Is Perfect” are greatly exaggerated.

The Empire Interview: Eric Bana

He’s played a thuggish Australian criminal (Chopper) and an incredible Hulk (Hulk); he’s worked with Steven Spielberg, Ridley Scott, and Ang Lee; he used to be a comedian and he does a decent impression of Tom Cruise. For this month’s long interview, we try to pin down the Antipodean enigma that is Eric Bana.

Pre.View: War For The Planet Of The Apes

The apes are going to war in our first look at the latest Planet Of The Apes prequel/sequel/threequel, the first of many pulse-quickening previews in our front section, including sneak-peeks at Baywatch, The Trip To Spain, Atomic Blonde, and Stephen King’s It.

On.Screen: The Handmaiden

After reading our extensive feature on The Handmaiden as a little cinematic amuse bouche, tuck into the main course by reading our glowing review of The Handmaiden, the first verdict in a decidedly solid month for movies. This issue, we also dish out star ratings and considered opinions on the likes of Free Fire, The Lost City Of Z, Beauty And The Beast, and Iron Fist.

Re.View: Fantastic Beasts

In the back section, Davids Yates and Heyman, director and producer respectively of Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, talk us through their Potter spin-off for an in-depth viewing guide. Plus, we delve into Moana’s soundtrack, investigate Swiss Army Man’s Daniel Radcliffe corpse, and binge on Veep.

All that, and so much more, can be found in the latest issue of Empire, quite literally the world’s biggest-selling movie magazine. The Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 issue goes on sale from Thursday 23 March – to get exclusive covers days before anyone else, saving on the cover price, you’ll want to subscribe to Empire here{ =nofollow}.