Empire Australasia

this month at empire

IT’S BEEN 42 years since George Lucas delighted us with a little space movie called Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. It was the start ofa massive cultural event that changed Hollywood and had a huge impact on modern popular culture. And it all ends right now in 2019 with Episode IX. How do you end Star Wars? How do you wrap up something so enormous and meaningful to generations of people? In this issue we talk to J.J. Abrams and his entire crew about the challenge and joy such a huge task presents. In the following feature we go even deeper with J.J. Abrams and screenwriter Chris Terrio about what it means to finish the trilogy of trilogies and be handed the keys to the galaxy. We’re not meant…

empire australasia

EDITORIAL EDITOR JAMES COONEY ART DIRECTOR DARREN MONAGHAN PHOTO EDITOR KRISTI BARTLETT 02 8114 9493 SUBEDITORS DAN LENNARD & THOMAS OAKLEY-NEWELL CONTRIBUTORS Michael Adams, Liz Beardsworth, Elizabeth Best, Simon Braund, David Michael Brown, Jenny Colgan, Nick de Semlyen, Fred Dellar, Andrew Dickens , James Dyer, Angie Errigo, Ian Freer, Alex Godfrey, Chris Hewitt, David Hughes, Travis Johnson, Dan Jolin, Tim Keen, Will Lawrence, Andrew Lowry, Ben McEachen, Jim Mitchell, Anthony Morris, Ian Nathan, Kim Newman, John Nugent, Helen O’Hara, George Palathingal, David Parkinson, Seb Patrick, Sophie Petzal, Nev Pierce, Jonathan Pile, Olly Richards, Adam Smith, Beth Webb, Amy West , Terri White, Rod Yates. ADVERTISING Empire Brand Manager Ali McNamee 02 9263 9738 Director of Sales Paul Gardiner 02 9282 8676 Head of Agency NSW Karen Holmes 02 9282 8733 Victoria Head of Sales Will Jamison 03 9823 6301 Sales Director VIC,…

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DID YOU FORGET? Dear Empire, I enjoyed your 2020 preview issue. But I have a bone to pick – how could you not mention Blade Runner anywhere in the entire issue? The film was set in November 2019 for chrissakes! Huge missed opportunity by you guys. PHIL, SUBIACO, WA You’re right, Phil, an absolute shocker on our part. We were too wrapped up in NEXT YEAR to think about what was happening right now. RIGHT IN THE ED! What an intriguing insight Ed Norton’s editorial was in the previous issue. An inside look into the creative process of a man at the top of his game is a unique experience and I would love more of this type of article. One penned by Harmony Korine would be my dream choice – make it happen, Empire! CHARLES,…

no./ 1 the story inspired by sam mendes’ grandad

IF YOU KNOW anything about Sam Mendes’ 1917, you’ll know that it’s a World War I drama told in real time in a one-take deal. What you might not realise is that after seven films as a director, 1917 marks the very first time Mendes has written a screenplay. “Being in the writers’ room for so long with two Bond movies [Skyfall and Spectre] made me more confident about my ability to write something from scratch,” he begins. “At a certain point, I felt, ‘Why am I sitting around waiting to find something I want to direct. Why don’t I just make the thing myself from scratch?” There were other reasons that forced Mendes to boot up his laptop. The seeds of the screenplay came from his listening to the stories of…

no./ 2 telling a love story in looks

PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE, director Céline Sciamma’s 18th century-set queer romance, which stunned critics at Cannes this year and won both the Queer Palm and Best Screenplay awards, is not a film of many words. Instead, it’s a forbidden love story between two women that lives and dies by stolen glances. “The women’s characters in the film are oppressed by the borders that society closes in on them,” says Noémie Merlant, who plays Marianne. “But with our eyes, with the looks that we have in secret, there is life and desire.” Set on a desolate island in Brittany, the film charts the lesbian affair between Héloïse (Adèle Haenel), a wealthy young woman headed into an arranged marriage, and Marianne, an artist hired to paint her portrait in secret while posing…

no./ 3 bloodshot

AFTER A SOLID decade working in visual effects on Star Wars video games and the Avengers films, Dave Wilson marks his directorial debut with Bloodshot. Vin Diesel plays Ray Garrison, a Marine who is murdered and resurrected and subsequently transformed into a living, breathing killing machine by a team of scientists who inject some nanobots into his bloodstream. It’s a rare non-Fast & Furious entry for Diesel, who returns to that franchise later next year. But as our exclusive image shows, there will still be cars here. Phew. BLOODSHOT IS IN CINEMAS FROM 5 MARCH 2020…