The Empire Film Podcast

Though you can read her wise words here and watch her talk "super snoods" here, Jennifer Lawrence isn't on this week's Empire Podcast, but her good friend and favourite music video director, Francis Lawrence (who just so happened to have helmed The Hunger Games: Catching Fire), is, joined as he is by Stanley Tucci and Elizabeth Banks.

The living legend that is George A. Romero was in London recently for the BFI's Gothic season, and inbetween giving talks and introducing special screenings of his films, GAR - as nobody calls him - popped into the Empire Podcast booth talk to us about zombies, Knightriders and the projects that almost came to be...

Forest Whitaker is the Oscar-winning actor who's played pool sharks, samurai warriors and dictators in his time, but this week you can see him as a butler in The White House in, um, The Butler. Allen Leech, meanwhile, is the star of Downton Abbey who's not scaring you witless in In Fear, also out today.

It's Alfonso Cuarón appreciation week on the Empire Podcast, and what makes this so perfect is that Alfonso Cuarón is on this week's Empire Podcast. It's all in honour of Gravity - out now - and, of course, Hermione's right hook to Draco's face in The Prisoner Of Azkaban. Then there's Jude Law, in the podbooth for Dom Hemingway - out next week - who talks about Breaking Bad, Sherlock Holmes 3 and "cock socks".

It's a great weekend to be a cinemagoer in the UK. Two five-star films and a certain Thor: The Dark World are showing at your local multiplex - with any luck, anyway - and this is just the podcast to celebrate that fact. Look forward to trailer tantrums, London falling down and spaceships crashing to earth (in a manner of speaking, anyway).

There's a killer triple-bill of interviewees on this week's Empire Podcast, with Harrison Ford, Stephen Merchant and Shane Meadows all stopping by, one for Ender's Game, one for Hello Ladies and the other for Made Of Stone's DVD release (we'll let you work out which matches up with which). Elsewhere, the team talk witches, almost perfect film endings and what Sir Ben Kingsley is keeping under his hat...

Three directors drop by the Empire Podcast booth this week, one for Captain Phillips (Paul Greengrass), another for Prince Avalance (David Gordon Green) and the last for The Curse Of Chucky (Don Mancini). Elsewhere, the team use the words "Tactical Chunder" when talking about Pacific Rim 2, and somehow Enough Said involves Stan Lee hiding under someone's bed.

Tony Gilroy is an Oscar-nominated screenwriter, the pen wielder behind the Bourne movies and his own directorial work, such as Michael Clayton (which got him his Oscar nod), Duplicity and, most recently, Bourne Legacy. In town for a special BFI screenwriters' speech, we asked Gilroy to drop round the Empire Podcast booth afterwards to talk about how he battles writers' block and brings his ideas to the big screen. Look forward to details on the future of the Bourne franchise, his take on the current state of play in Hollywood, and why movies like Michael Clayton wouldn't get made today.

A triple-bill of interviews for you this week, from Agent Carter herself, Hayley Atwell, to your latest Romeo, Douglas Booth. In the middle is the director of The Raid - and, as you'd expect, The Raid 2 - Gareth Evans, who was in town to talk about his contribution to V/H/S/2.

It's an Atonement reunion on this week's Empire Podcast, with James McAvoy here for Filth and Saoirse Ronan dropping by in honour of How I Live Now. Look forward to the former talking about his "hairy mutant you-know-whats" and the latter explaining how to swing a lightsaber. Elsewhere, the Podcast Team tackle TV finales, tie-in theme park rides and the return of Narnia...

Dexter Fletcher is on fine form during this week's Empire Podcast, talking about his latest, Sunshine On Leith, as well as Doom, The Long Good Friday and his Nando's Black Card. Matthew Fox, meanwhile, is on hand to talk about his time on Party Of Five, his love of Batman, and why he decided to shoot Emperor with Tommy Lee Jones (and not appear in a rom-com, say).

What movie unexpectedly made you cry? Which film quotes do you use on a regular basis without even realise you're quoting anything? How much did Grand Theft Auto V earn in its first day on sale again? The Empire Podcast team answer all these questions and more, also finding the time to interview Luke Treadaway and Matthew Lewis for their British indie, The Rise, and Cillian Murphy, in honour of his BBC series Peaky Blinders.

Two A-list directors on the Empire Podcast this week, namely Rush's Ron Howard and White House Down's Roland Emmerich, and four Empire journalists, namely... well, you'll find out soon enough. Elsewhere, the team review both aforementioned films (as well as Insidious Chapter 2) and discuss Disney songs, film directors' best adverts and Jurassic World.

Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Bruhl share stories from their days on soap sets during their interview on this week's Empire Podcast, also touching on runaway killer tyres, Mario Kart and Scalextric in honour of Rush, out next week. Elsewhere, Ain't Them Bodies Saints director David Lowery reveals his neverending love of Star Wars, Malick and moustaches, and the team discuss the 50 Shades Of Grey casting news, Tranformers 4's Dinobots - whatever they are - and the best composers that ever composers.

You may know him as Community's Dean Pelton, but in real life he's Jim Rash, the man who co-wrote The Descendants with Nat Faxon and won an Oscar in the process. The award-winning pair were in the Empire Podcast booth this week to talk about their directorial debut, The Way, Way Back, but also managed to talk about the final episode of Friends - no, really - and how it feels to dress up as Lady Gaga. Elsewhere, super-indie melon-twister extraordinaire Shane Carruth, who previously brought us time-travelling brain-melter Primer, came in to explain (or not explain) his latest puzzler, Upstream Colour. Top tip: the film has something to do with pigs (though it's not abundantly clear what that something is).

It's a hard-to-spell-and-hard-to-say American actors double-bill this week with both We're The Millers' Jason Sudeikis and Lovelace's Amanda Seyfried joining Team Empire for chats about moustaches, dry heaving as a workout regime, stuffed animals and corpses (amongst other things). Find out what Amanda Seyfried's favourite cloud is! Win Seasons 1-5A of Breaking Bad on Blu-ray thanks to Squarespace.com! Listen to Jason Sudeikis singing TLC's Waterfalls! Hear our thoughts on the Ben Affleck Batman casting news! Potentially libellous nonsense! It's all here, and it's all free, you lucky people.

District 9's Sharlto Copley and Neill Blomkamp reunite for another sci-fi action film in the form of Elysium, only this time there are fewer prawns and far more Matt Damons - that is to say, just one. Joining us for a relaxed chat about everything from Neill's aborted Halo movie to Hot Toys Joker figurines (as well as the movie itself, of course), the actor-director pair are on top form, so you won't want to miss out on this one.

As well as chatting with the comedy hero that is John Cleese, this bumper-sized edition boasts a lot more to look forward to. Get ready to hear the team talk comedy sketches that deserve a chance on the big screen, the further casting announcements from the Expendables 3 camp, Twitter users to follow, Elysium, Kick-Ass 2 - which explains our interview with the director, Jeff Wadlow - not forgetting 2 Guns, Planes itself and the greatest character introductions in cinema's history. Also: random trivia - and lots of it.

Now busier than central Norwich on market day, Armando Iannucci is the man who brought us On The Hour, The Day Today, The Thick Of It, In The Loop, Time Trumpet, Veep and now Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa, but despite his hectic schedule, he still found time to drop by the Empire Podcast booth for a natter about Hitler, sneaking into US government buildings and perfecting the Alan whine. Elsewhere, the silver-tongued Anthony Stewart Head is grilled by our own Buffy buffs about his latest, Percy Jackson: Sea Of Monsters, touching on everything from 'squirrel pants' to putting ice cubes in your mouth before you kiss someone. On top of all that, there's a whole load of very important movie news this week - Inbetweeners 2! Expendables 3! Things that aren't sequels! - for you to catch up on, as well as a look forward to Toronto and Venice, plus our review of the critically-contentious blockbuster The Lone Ranger.

Mitch Hurwitz is the worryingly funny writer-cum-director-cum-showrunner behind Arrested Development, the cult classic sitcom that enjoyed just two and a half seasons between 2003-2006, only to come back from the dead this year thanks to Netflix and its legions of fans. In this very special Empire Podcast, the comedy genius behind Pop Pop, Franklin The Puppet, the banana stand and much more talks all about Season 4, as well as what we can expect from the Arrested Development movie...