The Empire Film Podcast #653: Angelina Jolie, Jason Reitman, David Jonsson And An SNL Mount Rushmore

Live from London — it's Friday night! And it's also another bumper, jam-packed edition of the Empire Podcast that we've got in store for you this week, dear listeners. The great Angelina Jolie heads up our trio of amazing guests, as she talks to our very own musical icon, George Har— we mean, er, John Nugent about taking on the challenge of playing legendary opera singer Maria Callas in Pablo Larraín's Maria [20:48 — 34:02 approx.] Then, Chris Hewitt has a fascinating chat with Jason Reitman about how, exactly, he recreated the chaos of SNL's opening night in Saturday Night [56:33 — 1:15:42 approx.] And completing the hat-trick of guesting all-stars, finally Chris is back again and sitting down on Zoom with EE Rising Star Award nominee David Jonsson, who joins us for a natter about that, about Rye Lane, about the difference between a stroll and a strut, and about tackling a very complex role in Alien: Romulus, which is out now on Disney+ [1:38:23 — 1:56:21 approx.]

Meanwhile, back in the podbooth, Chris is joined by Helen O'Hara and James Dyer to share their thoughts on the recent West End version of The Tempest, which is kind of film related thanks to the Sigourney Weaver connection. The team also return to an old favourite format as this week's listener question has them putting together a Mount Rushmore of SNL stars, which is kind of film related thanks to the Saturday Night connection. Elsewhere, over on the news front, the team tackle double Robert Eggers movie announcements Werwulf and Labyrinth 2, the new trailer for Ryan Coogler's Sinners, Eddie Murphy's Blue Falcon, George Nolfi boarding the New Jedi Order Star Wars movie, and Zach Cregger's Resident Evil reboot plans. All that, and there's still time to spare for reviews of Saturday Night, Companion, and Mike Leigh's Hard Truths. Enjoy.

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