It's the penultimate Empire Podcast of the year, folks, and to celebrate the impending season of goodwill to all, we've brought you another bumper episode — yes, our podding sack is stuffed to bursting with great guests this week! First up, Chris Hewitt slides down the chimney for a chat with one of our favourite guests, Gerry 'Gerard' Butler, about his decidedly un-Gerry Butler-like role as Santa himself in charming kids movie The Night Before Christmas In Wonderland [17:52 — 32:42 approx.] Then, Helen O'Hara unwraps The Lord Of The Rings: The War Of The Rohirrim with that film's director, Kenji Kamiyama, and producers Jason DeMarco and Joseph Chou, the latter of whom also serves as Kamiyama's interpreter [57:32 — 1:10:30 approx.] (That one's an excerpt from the War Of The Rohirrim live event we did last week for our Empire VIP Club members, fact fans!) And that's not all from our Geek Queen either, as Helen also enjoys the gift of Jon M. Chu's presence as he discusses how he directed Wicked in a spoiler-free excerpt from our spoiler special, which is also out now [1:34:32 — 1:43:57 approx.]
Either side of those, Chris is joined in the podbooth by Helen and James Dyer to tackle some Christmassy questions from the Empire Podcast subreddit, leading to discussions of the merits of Hot Frosty style Crimbo flicks, the most Christmassy Hollywood Chris, and more. And that's not all folks as a busy week for movie news has the team dissecting new trailers for 28 Years Later, The Gorge, and definitely-not-not-a-movie Reacher Season 3; pondering the rumoured demise of the SPUMC; and discussing a whole bunch of exciting castings, including Jeremy Allen White as a Hutt in The Mandalorian & Grogu movie. And we're still not done, as there's just enough time for us to review The War Of The Rohirrim, Kraven The Hunter, Queer, and Carry-On. Oh, and Chris gets legitimately freaked out by the unexpected arrival of a sinister festive guest. As ever, please do enjoy.
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