Empire

WE’VE CRUNCHED THE numbers. We’ve collated the data. And it’s official: Nick Fury is the coolest Nick. In Nick And Norah’s Infinite Playlist, Michael Cera had some sweet mix CDs, but did he have the Hulk on speed-dial? He did not. Did Nicholas Nickleby ever say anything as cool as, “Sir, I’m gonna have to ask you to exit the doughnut”? That’s a negative. As for Harry Potter’s Nearly Headless Nick, did he have an awesome eyepatch? He didn’t even have a firmly attached head! Yes, S.H.I.E.L.D. supremo Fury is the Nick all us other Nicks aspire to be. (Sadly, the only thing we have in common is that I also almost lost an eye to a cat, albeit not a Flerken but a rogue Burmese called Winksy.) And now,…

EVERY STEP YOU TAKE Could someone please give the poor stuntman who did the steps scene in John Wick 4 an Oscar? Or at the very least, a nice cup of tea? CHRIS WENHAM, VIA EMAIL We’re putting the kettle on now, Chris. For the record, the stuntman who doubled for Keanu rolling down hundreds of steps is named Vincent Bouillon, and he willingly tumbled down the Rue Foyatier staircase in Paris four times during filming. While we wait patiently for the Oscars to recognise Best Stair Falling as a category, your thoughtful sentiment deserves a Picturehouse membership, on us. Empire’s star letter wins a Picturehouse Membership, valid for one year at all Picturehouse Cinemas across the UK, including the flagship Picturehouse Central in London’s West End. The Membership comes…

THIS MONTH’S ESSENTIAL FILM AND TV NEWS Writer-director Christopher McQuarrie on the action and emotion of MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE — DEAD RECKONING PART ONE “ALL THE DAYS on the train are exhausting,” laughs Christopher McQuarrie. “The train just sucks you dry. But in a good way.” It’s April 2021, and Empire is chatting to McQuarrie as he attempts the latest leg of his impossible mission to exhaust the seemingly inexhaustible Tom Cruise. He’s near York, to shoot a section of a train chase for the seventh Mission: Impossible movie, and the Cruise/McQuarrie team’s third together. Actually, it’s more of a fight staged on a moving train, involving Cruise (returning as Ethan Hunt), Hayley Atwell and Esai Morales as the film’s principal villain. And, because this is McQuarrie and Cruise, they’re not…

THEY CLONED TYRONE: part sci-fi, part mystery, all madness THEY CLONED TYRONE poses the kind of questions that you don’t hear every day. Like, what happens when a drug-dealer, a pimp and a sex worker accidentally uncover a government conspiracy? Do we control our destinies or are shady forces controlling us? Oh, and also: “If The Truman Show drank a bottle of vodka, what would the outcome be?” laughs Juel Taylor, writer-director of what will surely be this summer’s most eclectic thriller. Also inspired by “They Live, Groundhog Day, It Follows and Napoleon Dynamite” (yes, you’re reading that right), its plot follows a character whose reality begins to crumble around him, much like the Jim Carrey classic. Except this Truman is a dope-pushing single father, played by John Boyega, who…

How TV ’toon Gremlins: Secrets Of The Mogwai rewrites the franchise rulebook… THE MOGWAI You think you might know the Gremlins rules (no water, bright lights, midnight feasting). But there’s one you don’t: never compare Gizmo to Baby Yoda, a stricture recently broken by Joe Dante, director of the 1984 original, to his cost. “I got a lot of criticism,” he laughs about making the connection. “But if you put the two designs together, it’s pretty obvious where one came from and where the other came from.” Thirty-three years after his last outing, Gizmo is back in animated origin story Gremlins: Secrets Of The Mogwai, with Dante serving as consulting producer. Unlike the puppet version, ’toon Gizmo is highly mobile, the plot propelling him across 1920s China to return to…

This summer's best one-sheets, assessed by an expert BLAND TAGLINES. DODGY Photoshop. A main character staring morosely into the distance, flanked by tiny versions of their co-stars. Yes, modern movie posters can be a bit underwhelming — but, as graphic designer Ellen Lupton, the author of How Posters Work, points out, this summer’s blockbuster one-sheets are bucking the trend... ASTEROID CITY “This is really cool because Wes Anderson’s films are very distinctive in always having a big cast — and that list of names at the top is so enticing. But the poster doesn’t show us anybody. The star here is the asteroid: this gorgeous illustration that looks like something from a ’50s postcard. It’s a risky thing to not put any actors on the poster, but it works because…