Live from London—it’s Friday night! Get ready for another exciting, jam-packed edition of the Empire Podcast this week, dear listeners. Our lineup of incredible guests is led by none other than Angelina Jolie, who sits down with our very own musical legend—wait, we mean John Nugent—to discuss the challenge of portraying iconic opera singer Maria Callas in Pablo Larraín’s Maria [20:48 – 34:02 approx.].

Next up, Chris Hewitt has a captivating conversation with Jason Reitman about the meticulous process of recreating the chaos of Saturday Night Live‘s first-ever broadcast for his film Saturday Night [56:33 – 1:15:42 approx.]. Rounding out our star-studded guest list, Chris returns for a Zoom chat with EE Rising Star Award nominee David Jonsson. They discuss his nomination, his role in Rye Lane, the difference between a stroll and a strut, and his experience tackling a complex character in Alien: Romulus, now streaming on Disney+ [1:38:23 – 1:56:21 approx.].

Meanwhile, back in the pod booth, Chris is joined by Helen O’Hara and James Dyer to share their thoughts on the West End adaptation of The Tempest, which carries a film connection thanks to Sigourney Weaver. The team also revisits a fan-favorite segment, answering this week’s listener question by assembling a Mount Rushmore of SNL stars—again, a film-adjacent topic thanks to Saturday Night Live‘s Hollywood connections.

On the news front, the discussion covers two major Robert Eggers projects—Werwulf and Labyrinth 2—along with the newly released trailer for Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, Eddie Murphy’s Blue Falcon, George Nolfi’s involvement in the New Jedi Order Star Wars movie, and Zach Cregger’s plans for a Resident Evil reboot.

And as if that weren’t enough, there’s still time for reviews of Saturday Night, Companion, and Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths. Enjoy the show!

You can listen to this week’s episode (along with over 600 others) on the podcast app of your choice.