FEATURES ON SCREEN PREVIEW

8 COMIC-CON

Your one-stop shop for all the news fit to print from the world’s biggest geekgasm.

Features: Benedict Cumberbatch in a cardie!

14 KNIVES OUT

Rian Johnson tells Empire about his all-star whodunnit. Our money’s on Michael Shannon being the killer. In every film he’s ever made.

17 TRAILER TALK

Team Empire takes in the first teaser for Cats, and hacks up a furball along the way.

18 CARTON OF MILK

Talking dairy products with the one-man Armie, Mr Hammer.

22

ZOMBIELAND: DOUBLE TAP

Ten years on, the old gang Emma Stone, Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, and Abigail Breslin return to make us all feel mega-old.

43 EMPIRE 30

We pick the 30 films of our lifetime, one for each year since 1989. Sorry, Event Horizon, you came this close.

44 BATMAN

The blockbuster that launched at the same time as Empire and, just like us (ahem), changed everything. Sam Hamm, the writer, tells us how.

70 MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

George Miller reveals the secret ingredients of an action classic. Just add explosions.

74 MINDHUNTER

David Fincher and his cast spill their guts on Season 2 of the Netflix procedural.

80 APOCALYPSE NOW

Clockwise from top left: Batman, Terminator 2, Jurassic Park, Moonlight, The Dark Knight, Pan’s Labyrinth

Below: Scarlet Witch and Vision.

26 ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD

The verdict on Quentin Tarantino’s latest pulp fiction.

29 THE FARWELL Awkwafina’s family trick their dying grandma. Totes awks!

37 SPOILER SECTION

Featuring the ends of Midsommar and The Lion King

49

THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION Frank Darabont talks to us about the movie that launched a thousand Morgan Freeman narrations.

51 SCREAM

Do you like scary movies? Luckily, director Corin Hardy does, so we got him to write about one of the greatest slasher movies of all time.

59 SHAUN OF THE DEAD Edgar Wright reflects on how the night is always darkest just before the Shaun.

Empire loves the smell of an interview with Francis Ford Coppola about his masterwork in the morning

86 ANIMALS

Alia Shawkat and Holliday Grainger are Dublin up for this Irish-set tale of debauchery and female friendship.

92 JAWS 2

If you thought the making of Jaws was full of drama, intrigue and malfunctioning sharks, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

Review

98 WILD ROSE

9 Je track-b songs f

Jessie Buckley goes by-track on the key from her new film.

102 M D sci-fi c

MOON Duncan Jones on his lassic as it turns 10n.

110 a Tim

THE RANKING Team Empire goes for m Burton.

“WHY ‘30 YEARS, 30 Films’ this month, Empire?”, I can hear you think to yourself due to the fact all humans are energetic beings connected as one, hence my possession of a psychic ability that allows me to tap into your very deepest thoughts. Well, it’s as simple as this: Empire Australia and New Zealand turned 18 this year, but Empire UK turned 30, and since we’re the Baby Bear to their Momma/Poppa Bear, we party when they party. You, dear reader, then get to delight in the ultimate party fusion as we lay out the movie geek punch and film nerd chips for your sipping / snacking pleasure.

The list itself, for me, brings back a flood of memories: I was a kid that was completely engulfed by the Batmania of 1989, owing a Bat-logo T-shirt, a Batman poster for my bedroom wall and, most importantly, a VHS recording of Prince’s ‘Batdance’ that I nabbed off Rage and watched waaaaay too much (if such a thing is even possible).

Poring over the list is sure to fire up the movie projector in your mind to screen iconic scenes from the last 30 years: “Oooh! There’s Michael Madsen hacking a man’s ear off and ruining ‘Stuck In The Middle With You’ forever!”; “There’s the heart-tugging climax to Lost In Translation where you can’t hear what Bill Murray is whispering into Scarlett Johansson’s ear!”; “GOTDAMN, the T-1000 just went and turned its arm into a metal sword and put it right through that poor woman’s ear!” (I don’t know why I picked three references in a row featuring ears. I don’t have an ear fetish. Honest. Stop looking at me like that!)

Obviously with a list like this that only allows us to choose one film per year, a lot of really great movies miss the cut. Some favourites that spring to mind that give me the sad pangs due to their absence include Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, Pulp Fiction, Bottle Rocket, The Big Lebowski and Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise trilogy. (I don’t know why I picked three films in a row starting with the letter ‘B’. I don’t have a B fetish. Honest. Stop looking at me like that!)

What are some of your favourites that you would’ve liked to have seen in the list? Drop me a line and let me know!

Yours in not-weird fetishes,

JAMES JENNINGS EDITOR

... ALSO THIS MONTH AT EMPIRE: reviewer George Palathingal spotted this sweet nod to Empire Australia founding editor / avowed QT fan, the late, great Chris Murray, at the Once Upon A Time In Hollywood premiere.

Classic Lines Of The Month

“I saw a house whose owner had painted the façade black and had a Bat-signal on the garage. And I thought, ‘This has gone too far.’” p.44

“If it had been made in a sane, logical way, it’d have been a sane, logical movie. And war is an insane, illogical thing. Was then, and it is now.” p.83

“Suddenly he’s on the floor on his back and I have my hands around his neck. They’re yelling, ‘Stop it! You’re gonna ruin your career!’” p.107

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, to service providers assisting Bauer in the conduct of the Reader Offer and to other organisations providing special prizes or offers that are part of the Reader Offer. An opt-out choice is provided with a Reader Offer. Unless you exercise that opt-out choice, personal information collected for Reader Offers may also be disclosed by us to other organisations for use by them to inform you about other products, services or events or to give to other organisations that may use this information for this purpose.If you require further information, please contact Bauer’s Privacy Officer either by email at privacyofficer@bauer-media.com.au

Seeing Too Many Stars

I think the bottom end of your review star meter is broken and I’m wondering about your ethics. I don’t really want to do this, but: are you sure that the atrociously flat, paint-by-numbers plotted Men In Black: International and how-did-they-screw-thisup-with-this-cast-seriously X-Men: Dark Phoenix were somehow good enough for three stars? I mean, they were both functional, but bad. Very bland, Hollywood dross bad. Yet you gave both three stars. This wouldn’t have anything to do with the giant multi-page pre-release features on them in the previous June issue, would it? Hmm? Lift your game. We want to trust you. I usually can, but this.?

ANDREW JOHNSON, AUCKLAND NZ

As you’d know, Empire runs features on a huge range of the latest movie releases, and we can assure you that appearing in the mag has no bearing on film ratings. Will you agree with them all? Probably not! But everyone has different opinions, which is what makes reading reviews fun/infuriating. We hope we’re back in the trust circle.

And We All Shine On

As soon as I learned that Doctor Sleep, the sequel to Stephen King’s classic The Shining, had earned a Hollywood adaptation, I devoured the book – visually, not dentally or digestively – and, thanks to your teaser article, I began the twitchy, semi-breathless wait until its November release date. I know your fine publication has friends and connections in high Hollywood places, so could you please at the very least send your good vibes to the producers so that the film delivers on every promise and is every bit as good as the book? I’m aware that Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining occasionally strayed from the source material yet still remains a masterpiece, however the 1997 mini-series, while more accurate, lacks Kubrickian

CONTACT US VIA: EMPIRE MAGAZINE, LEVEL 8, 54 PARK STREET, SYDNEY, NSW 2000 / EMPIRE@BAUER-MEDIA.COM.AU / @EMPIREAUST (#EMPIREAUST) / FB.COM/EMPIREAUST

Letter Of The Month

Regarding your July 2019 issue, I noted a most horrible oversight. In your otherwise exceptional The Ranking, how could you neglect Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, one of the greatest ’80s comedies ever. It has better writing than Ghostbusters, and most of the others. I heartily agree with your inclusion of Trading Places, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and Beverly Hills Cop, yes, but no FBDO? Maybe you meant Saturday Night Live and CSTV Regulars Comedies, as the incomparable Steve Martin and Martin Short hosted a number of times. I continue to love and adore your regular features: Masterpiece, Classic Scene, Story Of The Shot and amazingly spot on reviews. Please keep up the awesome work.

DAVID LEAVITT, VIA EMAIL finesse, so there’s always the risk that Doctor Sleep may suffer from a similar shortfall. So together, let’s you and I and all loyal Empire readers combine our own Shining abilities and give our Tinseltown tycoons a mental nudge as we chant, “Please make Doctor Sleep awesome, please don’t let it suck ....” Ready? Aaaand .... go. I’ll take the awkward silence as a sign you’re just summoning your inner psychic abilities. Redrum...

Thanks David! And you’re right – leaving Ferris off the list is a gross oversight. But comparing it to Ghostbusters? Tread carefully, friend. Tread carefully.

RAY MILCZARSKI, HAMILTON VIC

Well Ray, we love a good joint, psychicallypowered setting of intentions to make sure a Hollywood sequel is as good as the original beloved classic, so count us in! Readers: please get on board. Ta.

BUELLER, BUELLER, BUELLER?

I’m sorry to sound a little pedantic, but who puts together a list of ’80s Comedy Classics (Empire #220) and doesn’t have Ferris Bueller’s Day Off in their Top Ten?! I mean really, what have the panel been watching? I can forgive the absenc of Caddyshack (just) and the stacking of the Top Ten with Steve Martin fi (that was a little harder to do), but Bueller? Wake up and smell the co Mrs Bueller. What would Princip Rooney say?

JASON KELLY, ARNCLIFFE NSW Okay, we get it! We screwed u royally. We can assure you we hundred per cent ‘Save Ferris.’ Soz.

Writers this month receive a Blu-ray copy of X-Men: Dark Phoenix, out on digital 11 September and DVD, Blu-ray and 4K UltraHD 25 September.

Spine Quote

HONOUR ROLE

SPINE QUOTE #221

“I got all these kings. You win, you got a Joker.”

THE CONNECTION

From Erin Brockovich (2000), referring to Joker being on the cover.

THE WINNERS

Congratulations Lily Rose, You’ve scored yourself an Empire cap!

Send answers to empire@ edia fil m.a ,

BY JOHN