Empire Summer 2022

SUMMER. YES, FINALLY, it’s that time of year when a strange, yellow orb appears in the sky and all wise people scurry indoors to hide from it. Seriously, what is it up to? What does it want? This season, thankfully, there is more entertainment to keep us happy in darkened rooms than maybe ever before. The last couple of years have been fairly anaemic, movie and TV-wise, with productions delayed and cinema releases shunted back. But summer 2022 is as full-blooded as they come, with big blockbusters roaring back. Yes, Top Gun: Maverick is finally coming out. And I feel the need… the need to see it. Preferably with a tub of popcorn the size of a Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. There’s so much coming out, in fact, that we’ve…

COMMENT OF THE MONTH Alamy WELCOME TO EARTH As I flicked through a past issue, I reread your Gods Among Us feature on Will Smith. When chewing over Independence Day, one sentence stood out: “As Captain Steve Hiller, Smith owned several of the most notable scenes, none more so than the punch heard around Hollywood.” Forget Hollywood, his latest punch has been heard around the globe and possibly deep into the universe. On the upside, those aliens won’t be back in a hurry. DAMON PATTINSON, HERTFORDSHIRE Oof. Who knew we had the power of slapprediction? For not keeping his name out of your flippin’ mouth, please accept this Picturehouse membership on our behalf. Empire’s star letter wins a Picturehouse Membership, plus one for a friend! Valid for one year at…

“SOME THINGS ARE worth fighting for,” says Viola Davis’ military leader in the early footage of The Woman King screened at this year’s CinemaCon. With her sword and stacked muscles, this is not a woman you want to cross, although a whole bunch of invaders want to do just that in order to overpower the Kingdom of Dahomey, one of the most powerful states in 18th-and 19th-century Africa. A mammoth cast have assembled to join Davis in Gina Prince-Bythewood’s historical epic. John Boyega plays King Ghezo, Dahomey’s ruler, with Lashana Lynch and The Underground Railroad standouts Sheila Atim and Thuso Mbedu part of his tribe. Davis, who also serves as a producer on the film, has described the project as her “magnum opus”, and plays Nanisca, general of this all-female…

TOM TAKES TO THE CRUISETTE! Tom Cruise will be walking up the steps of the Palais des Festivals for the first time in 30 years to promote Top Gun: Maverick and receive a special tribute for his career. Remarkably, the megastar has only attended Cannes once, for a screening of Ron Howard’s Far And Away in 1992. CLAIRE DENIS RETURNS! Five films directed or co-directed by women will play in competition at the festival, the most it’s ever seen. Denis’ latest, The Stars At Noon, was set to reunite the filmmaker with Robert Pattinson, but Covid and shooting commitments meant swapping out R-Batz for Joe Alwyn. The political thriller is the fourth of Denis’ films to play at the festival. GEORGE MILLER UNLEASHES A GENIE! It’s not been 3,000 years…

IF YOU LOVED... SLOW HORSES TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY (BRITBOX)  Gary Oldman embodied the classy, dignified espionage operative George Smiley — the polar opposite of his sweary, farty Jackson Lamb character in Slow Horses — when he played him in Tomas Alfredson’s beautifully made 2011 film of John le Carré’s classic novel. But before that, there was this extraordinary seven-part BBC drama adaptation in 1979, with Alec Guinness in exquisitely poised, enigmatic form as Smiley, tasked with finding a Russian mole in the upper echelons of the British Secret Service. It’s slow, steady and talky — but also spellbinding. The 1982 sequel Smiley’s People is also superb. Alamy DAMNED (STARZPLAY/PRIME VIDEO) Will Smith, the writer of Slow Horses (also an accomplished stand-up, actor and novelist), specialises in wryly funny workplace…

Alamy MICHAEL CAINE Nolan’s frequent collaborator plays Ventura Sr, a retired detective brought back into service when Jr’s capuchin monkey, Spike, becomes embroiled in an Italian money heist that culminates in a Mini Cooper getaway sequence. Nolan refers to the scene on set as “Caineception”. CHRONOLOGY JUGGLING The filmmaker’s fondness for non-linear narratives means that Ventura could be solving pet crimes in the past, present, future and/or in dreams. The filmmaker might even go back to his Memento days, with his pet detective covered in tattoos that lead him to a missing manatee. HANS ZIMMER SCORE Zimmer’s contribution would elevate the franchise — just think of Ventura being birthed by a fake rhino to those pulsating beats from The Dark Knight. A dramatic riff on ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’ could…