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This week's episode of the Empire Podcast would surely deserve to get a full fat five points from Greg Davies, the Taskmaster himself, as Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and John Nugent apply themselves wholeheartedly (some more wholeheartedly than others, it must be said) to deciding which Taskmaster contestant has appeared in the best film. Then, the podteam take a look at the week's movie news and, in a bumper reviews section, cast their eyes over Edgar Wright's The Running Man, Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein, Ruben Fleischer's Now You See Me: Now You Don't, Julia Ducournau's Alpha, Gurinder Chadha's Christmas Karma, and James Vanderbilt's Nuremberg.
Three of those movies provide this week's guests, as Edgar Wright drops by the podbooth to natter with Chris about The Running Man — and meeting Stephen King. [21:43 — 33:05 approx.] Then, Now You Three Me's Isla Fisher and Rosamund Pike talk magic and manky accents, again with Chris. [56:16 — 1:09:05 approx.]. And last but not least, Michael Shannon talks Nuremberg and (mostly) R.E.M. with — you guessed it! — Chris. [1:42:53 — 1:55:38 approx.] Oh, and there's a huge revelation about the pod itself lurking within there somewhere. Forget what you think you know… and enjoy.
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You can listen to this week's episode (which, if you're counting, is #693) on the pod app of your choice. And if you want more of The Empire Film Podcast, but LIVE and IN PERSON, then boy do we have just the thing for you. On Friday 9 January, 2026 at 7pm, Team Empire will be coming at you live from Kings Place for an evening of movie news, reviews, nonsense, and maybe a special guest or two to celebrate our 700th episode. Head on over to Kings Place's website to secure your ticket now. We'll see you there!