THIS MONTH

EWHAT WE’VE BEEN UP TO THIS MONTH

TALK TO US

COMMENT OF THE MONTH Alamy WELCOME TO EARTH

No./1 Viola Davis prepares for battle

The Oscar-winner goes all-out for high-octane historical epic THE WOMAN KING

No./2 Is this Cannes’ buzziest year yet?

With the festival returning in full force this year, here are Empire’s top reasons to get excited

No./3 NEXT IN THE SERIES

You fell in love with that incredible new TV show. And then it ended! Don’t despair — Boyd Hilton recommends the sibling shows to watch next

No./4 What if Christopher Nolan made Ace Ventura 3?

Jim Carrey says that he’d only reprise his famous role upon the director’s request. Here’s what their film could involve

No./5 A movie maverick’s Blonde ambition

The filmmaker pulls back the curtain on his bold Marilyn Monroe movie

No./6 Daisy Edgar-Jones is fishing for a challenge

In WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING, the rising star embraces her first solo lead role

No./7 The Sex Pistols show that Danny Boyle had to make

A music biopic always felt too obvious to the director. Yet the life-changing impact that the punk movement had on his formative years made PISTOL an irresistible project

No./8 The battle to save the romcom

With the classic genre in jeopardy, Empire speaks to front-line filmmakers to see what the future may hold THE ROMCOM appears to be in crisis mode

No./ 9 Soundtracking a sequel that doesn’t exist

Director Adam Wingard on his surprise audio-only follow-up to The Guest — and how it could lead to an actual film

No./10 “I’d already decided this moment would never happen”

[ THE Q&A] Hollywood has finally caught up with JENNIFER COOLIDGE’s dramatic abilities, but her sense of fun remains steadfast

No./11 Playing Batman without a Batsuit

Winston Duke on voicing the Dark Knight for podcast series Batman Unburied

No./12 BIG- SCREEN BOBS

Move over, De Niro. Take a hike, Mr Redford. There’s a new wave of Bobs taking over Hollywood

No./13 The new masters of the murder mystery

WHODUNNITS are hotter than ever. We speak to the people giving the genre a fresh spin

No./14 A BRIEF HISTORY OF INANIMATE OBJECTS IN CINEMA

As Marcel The Shell With Shoes On heads for the big screen, we salute unusual items that found a life of their own

No./15 How to build a criminal underworld

The creator of TOKYO VICE on crafting a deadly metropolis

No./16 GETTING UNDER THE SKIN OF VECNA

WE BREAK DOWN THE BIG THEORIES AROUND STRANGER THINGS’ ELUSIVE NEW BADDIE

Crimes Of The Future

Unfiltered, uncensored, uncompromising trailer reactions from team EMPIRE

No./17 What is the perfect length for a movie?

As Netflix introduces a category spotlighting films under 100 minutes, we revisit an age-old debate

No./18 Raiders of the lost archives

Empire salutes the family bringing forgotten cinematic treasures to the small screen on TALKING PICTURES TV

No./19 The film reviving a forgotten language

How The Quiet Girl —a film almost entirely in Irish — is breaking new (or rather old) linguistic ground

No./ 20 How to Wachowskify your home

Want to give your living room a mind-bending sci-fi makeover? Bid on these items from the Wachowskis’ auction

PINT OF MILK

DAVID HARBOUR What is your earliest memory? I

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE

★★★★★ OUT 13 MAY / CERT TBC 132

SWAN SONG

Leading light: Udo Kier as Pat Pitsenbarger. Alamy

ALL MY FRIENDS HATE ME

Stuck in the middle with you: Pete (Tom

VORTEX

Life’s far from a bed of roses for

DASHCAM

Left, top to bottom: Annie Hardy, up to

BENEDICTION

“Ready to bust out some old-school hip-hop moves,

THE INNOCENTS

Ben (Sam Ashraf) hones his Paddington Bear stare.

BERGMAN ISLAND

Dancing queen Mia Wasikowska. Alamy ★★★★ OUT

PISTOL

Never mind the bollocks, here’s the Sex Pistols…

TOKYO VICE

Men without hats: Ansel Elgort and Ken

SHINING GIRLS

Kirby (Elisabeth Moss) and Dan (Wagner Moura) team

THE SUMMER BLOCK BUSTER PREVIEW

READY FOR AN INCREDIBLE FEW MONTHS OF BIG AND SMALL-SCREEN ENTERTAINMENT? HERE’S EMPIRE’S GUIDE TO THE HOTTEST FILMS AND TV SHOWS ON THE WAY

WHATEVER IT TAKES

WITH THEIR CAT-AND-MOUSE ACTION SPECTACULAR THE GRAY MAN, THE RUSSO BROTHERS — DIRECTORS OF AVENGERS: ENDGAME — ARE GOING FOR BROKE. AGAIN. WE TALK TO THEM, STARS RYAN GOSLING AND CHRIS EVANS AND MORE ABOUT A HUGE NEW SPY SAGA

THE MIGHTY THORS

AFTER THE ALL-OUT INSANITY OF THOR: RAGNAROK, DIRECTOR TAIKA WAITITI TELLS US THAT THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER IS AN UNABASHED ROMANCE, STARRING THOR, AND, ERM… THOR?

GOING LOCO

As a hitman in the fast-moving action extravaganza, star Brian Tyree Henry is very much up for a fight

THE EMPEROR’S NEW GROOVE

SURRENDER! TOY STORY’S EVIL EMPEROR ZURG IS BACK — BUT WITH A FORMIDABLE MAKEOVER. ACTOR JAMES BROLIN AND THE CREW TELL US HOW THEY SOUPED UP THE METAL MANIAC

AGAINST THE LAW

WITH WE OWN THIS CITY, THEIR NEW COP-CORRUPTION DRAMA SERIES, THE WIRE’S DAVID SIMON AND GEORGE PELECANOS ARE BACK IN BALTIMORE. AS THEY AND THEIR TEAM EXPLAIN, THE FIGHT IS MORE TIMELY THAN EVER

YOUNG ENTERPRISE

AS STAR TREK BEAMS UP A NEW SHOW, WE’LL SEE SOME FAMILIAR FACES — HUMAN AND, WELL, OTHERWISE…

SCHEMING WITH DINOSAURS

It’s not just the heroes of Jurassic Park who return in the saga’s closer. An old villain is back with a new plan

RETURN OF THE JEDI

SEVENTEEN YEARS AFTER THE STAR WARS PREQUELS ENDED, OBI-WAN KENOBI IS BACK. WE SPEAK TO EWAN MCGREGOR ABOUT HIS EPIC JOURNEY WITH THE CHARACTER — AND REINVENTING HIM FOR A NEW AGE

HOW TO BUILD AN ICON

TO PLAY THE KING HIMSELF IN BAZ LUHRMANN’S BIOPIC, STAR AUSTIN BUTLER CHANNELLED MUSIC ROYALTY

THE NEW AGE

The Rings return promises to be epic — but this isn’t your dad’s Middle-earth…

PUNCHING THROUGH

IN MS. MARVEL, KAMALA KHAN, A MUSLIM TEENAGER OBSESSED WITH CAPTAIN MARVEL, BECOMES A SUPERHERO HERSELF. WE TALK TO STAR IMAN VELLANI AND THE TEAM ABOUT A REVOLUTIONARY NEW SHOW

DIALLING IT UP

FOR HIS NEW HORROR THE BLACK PHONE, DIRECTOR SCOTT DERRICKSON DUG DEEP INTO HIS OWN CHILDHOOD TO MAKE HIS MOST PERSONAL FILM YET

BATTLE READY

As video-game icon Master Chief, Pablo Schreiber had huge, armoured boots to fill

LOVING THE ALIEN

AS THE CULT SCI-FI FILM GETS A SEQUEL SHOW, STAR CHIWETEL EJIOFOR TELLS US WHY HIS EXTRA- TERRESTRIAL ISN’T AS OTHER-WORLDLY AS YOU’D THINK

ALSO SHOWING

Our guide to the best of the rest

GODS AMONG US

In our regular series, we pay tribute to the towering, mega-watt stars who still roam Hollywood

THE MOMENT

Eva May and Antwone’s reunion

The Bard of Belfast

KENNETH BRANAGH, fresh from his Best Original Screenplay Oscar win, on how Belfast helped him reconnect with his past

THE MASTERPIECE

We reassess the greatest films of all time, one film at a time

Turning back time

TURNING RED director Domee Shi talks capturing a specific year and place with her feature debut

MOVIE PLAYLIST

THE CRITIC AND SCALA RADIO PRESENTER CHOOSES SCORES HE’S

THE VIEWING GUIDE

A deep dive into the must-see moments from the month’s big release

THE CULT OF KIM NEWMAN

The critic and novelist selects the month’s weirdest home-ent releases

THE RANKING

Four Empire writers. Ten movies. Ordered definitively

THE STORY OF THE SHOT

How iconic images came to life

6 OF THE BEST

Team Empire on the month’s essential movies

CLASSIC SCENE

Standout sequences from the great movies