Transformers: Dark Of The Moon

Michael Bay is back, back, back with another dose of blockbusting mayhem in Transformers 3, the biggest toy-to-screen franchise until Christopher Nolan decides to make an Action Man biopic. Bay is Hollywood's equivalent of LA's sky-reaching US Bank Tower: a reliably ginormous monolith dwarfing everything around in the City of Angels. Love him or not, he paints from a bigger canvas than any other director at work. Empire caught up with him as he put the finishing touches on Transformers: Dark Of The Moon, a third instalment he describes as 'kind of like a spy movie". Disappointingly, this doesn't turn out to involve Optimus Prime brandishing a newspaper with eyeholes cut out. Happily, in a refreshingly candid chat, Bay shed some light on his new 'bot-battling tentpole and told us where Transformers 2 went wrong. Two words, Michael: Robot genitals.



The Slate

This month's chockers news section has a fantastical feel to it. An in-depth first look at the long-awaited and finally confirmed cast of The Hobbit gets things off to a rollicking start. If you know the bit on the telly when footballers turn and grin at the camera, the introduction of Peter Jackson's new cast of hobbits and dwarves at Wellington's Weta Digital was a bit like that, only with more beards. We chatted to the key players before packing our bags and heading several thousand years (in mythology terms) to the '60s of X-Men: First Class to cast a beady one over Matthew Vaughn's bone-shaking X-prequel. If all that doesn't sate your appetite, there's a double dose of Superman, aka Henry Cavill, who'll be buckling swash as Theseus in Tarsem Singh's Immortals before donning the red cape as the Man Of Steel.

Marion Cotillard

Oscar winner, conspiracy theorist and holder of Empire's prestigious Weirdest Dream Ever award (it involves lesbians, shootouts and the cast of Hawaii Five-O... don't ask), Marion Cotillard isn't your average Hollywood starlet. "I admired Greta Garbo," she purrs, "but I really wanted to be Peter Sellers". Quoi? If the thought of Cotillard tiptoeing through a Parisian apartment whispering, "Now is not ze time, Kato!" seems a little melon-twisting, she's the kind of screen presence that can carry audiences seemingly wherever she desires. She's appearing next in a typically free-spirited role in relationship drama Little White Lies - think a French version of The (Le) Big (Grande) Chill (Chill?) - in which the old fibs and deceits of a group of friends come out to play during a seaside vacation. For added spice, it's also directed by her partner Guillaume Canet. Catch the whole interview in this month's issue.

Green Lantern

As we know, it has not been a gilded few years for films with the word 'green' in the title. Green Zone flopped, Green Hornet fizzled and Greenberg, good as it was, scarred us with the most awkward sex scene for many moons. Can Green Lantern buck this in-no-way-arbitrary trend? Don't bet against it, especially with Ryan Reynolds' physical presence and razor-like comic timing in front of the camera, and Martin Campbell, the man who made Bond fly again, behind it. The story of a man's quest for a higher purpose - a free-wheeler turned superhero - dates back to the '40s and inspired Star Wars. Can it inspire audiences weaned on superhero epics? The star and director told us what to expect from the $200m spectacular.

Conan

This month Empire stepped back in time to ancient Hyboria to meet the new Conan. Disappointingly, Marcus Nispel's Conan doesn't feature a scrawny, red-haired New York talkshow host spending two hours trying to pick up a giant sword; happily he'll be offering a freshly sharpened take on Robert E. Howard's tale of revenge, romance and 'pecs the size of Romford. Nispel has taken the epic John Milius/Arnie adventure, torn up much of the original tale, added 3D, vengeance, a hessian sack worth of effects and the muscular presence of Hawaii-born actor Jason Momoa. "Conan needs to be the kind of guy that grabs a girl's ass, and he likely gets laid that night," Nispel explains. Arnie wouldn't do that. He's the Governor of California.

Scream 4

The Ghostface killer returns. After a decade's hiatus, the malevolent, masked presence in Wes Craven's postmodern horror is creeping back onto our screams, sorry, screens, with old hands Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette in close attendance. There's also a cast of fresh-faced teens to face the knife-wielding but super-smart psychopaths. There will unquestionably be blood. Loads of it. So how better to mark the occasion than to get the three survivors of the first three films, give them a big 'ole knife, get out the karo syrup and taking a few snaps, while chatting merrily with Craven himself about the Scream tetralogy?

Kubrick: Part One

Roll up for the first of a two-part film-by-film, or if you're Scatman Crothers, blow-by-blow account of Stanley Kubrick's glorious career. There are new interviews with Stanley's widow Christiane Kubrick who he met on the set of Paths Of Glory, producer Jan Harlan (Christiane's brother) and 2001's FX maestro Douglas Trumbull. Astonishingly, Kubrick's only Oscar came for his and Trumbull's work on 2001's special effects, but pick one of his movies at random and the chances are you've got a worthy Best Picture. Empire casts a fresh eye at his early work from The Killer's Kiss to The Killing, his sci-fi masterpiece and his three war epics, Paths Of Glory, Dr. Strangelove and Full Metal Jacket. Unmissable.

Hangover 2

The April issue's quickfire Hangover 2 set visit is brought to you by the number four and the drug Rohypnol. The four - Stu (Ed Helms), Alan (Zach Galifianakis), Phil (Bradley Cooper) and Doug (Justin Bartha) - were last seen piecing together their night of Vegas carnage. The Rohypnol may or may not make another appearance in the sequel, but one thing is for sure, judging by our interview: Bangkok ain't gonna be an easier ride for the boys, with or without Mel Gibson. For that they can thank director Todd Phillips. "Patpong's for tourists," he tells us, "I was more into the ladyboy scene..."

Peter Cook and Dudley Moore

Pete and Dud... Derek and Clive... however you remember the double act, whether as loveable charmers or as the sweariest, most booze-soaked rogues ever to (dis)grace tellies in the '70s, the pair were every inch the rebel geniuses of British comedy. With Arthur, Moore's Hollywood comedy hit, making his merrily ramshackle way back onto our screens with Russell Brand, Empire looks back at a creative partnership that could be a little, well, tense. Okay, they hated each other's guts. So where did it all go wrong, and how did it end up going so right for the salt-and-vinegar pairing of wits? Find out here - all with the bonus of Brand on Moore and Rhys Ifans on Cook, a man he's played.
Ken Loach

Is his visceral new film, Route Irish, Ken Loach's audition to become the new Michael Bay? "The thing is", he laughs, "if you've got to shoot an explosion, you get special effects in and they make it explode and you just chose the camera positions". We're saying that's probably a no, then. The Iraq and Liverpool-set thriller is, however, a departure for one of Britain's longest working filmmakers. At 74, he's turned his eye to Britain's role in the new Iraq, a violent setting against which a character drama plays out boasting all Loach's usual grit and power. What better excuse to track down the Midlander for a cuppa and a fascinating chat about his life, career and love of Bath City FC?

In Cinemas Roundup

The Adjustment Bureau opens this month's In Cinemas section in a blur of Inception-meets-Casablanca-meets-Philip K. Dick wizardry, with Bourne Ultimate writer George Nolfi making his directorial bow, and Matt Damon and Emily Blunt playing lovers chased across most of Manhattan by shady men in hats. Another debut feature follows hot on the heels of the sci-fi magic: Richard Ayoade's homespun coming-of-age tale Submarine, as well as Farrelly brothers' rom-com Hall Pass, Julie Taymor's adaptaton of The Tempest, and the return of filmmaking legends Woody Allen (You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger), Ken Loach (Route Irish) and Werner Herzog (Cave Of Forgotten Dreams). They all get the rule run over them right here.

At Home Roundup

This month's Re-View section careers in with Denzel Washington and Chris Pine clinging to the roof and a cargo of kittens heading straight for it. That's right: Unstoppable is out for your at-home viewing needs. Also out are a dazzling array of DVD/Blu-ray releases that can be broadly split into three categories: Awesomely demented (Jackass 3, Machete, Paranormal Activity 2, Skyline); cerebral and provocative (The Kids Are All Right, The American, The Arbor, Tamara Drew, Made In Dagenham); and Thai films with 'Uncle Boonmee' in the title (Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives). There's a special joy for fans of Matt Reeves' horror Let Me In with that terrifying swimming pool scene broken down by Reeves and his FX honcho Brad Parker. What was that about being safe to go back into the water?

X-Men: First Class

Matthew Vaughn's X-Men prequel, First Class, gets not one but two covers this month: one led by Professor Xavier's X-mutants, the other by Magneto's brotherhood. Which - because Magneto knows what he's doing - includes January Jones' barely-dressed psychic Emma Frost. Inside, we have a full report from the film's set and editing suite, with the word from the cast and director on the insanely pressured shooting schedule, the cool cast and the 60s sci-fi chic look. And for a bonus, we have the first news on Marvel's upcoming spin-offs and sequels - including a potential First Class follow-up...

Thor

Marvel's Thor might speak in cod-Shakespearean tones in the comics, but it was nevertheless a surprise when very-non-cod-Shakespearean actor and director Kenneth Branagh was hired to direct the film adaptation of Thor's adventures. Rounding out the Brit Director's Diary series, Branagh talks us through his childhood discovery of Thor, the decision to suddenly involve himself in a comic-book movie, and the challenges of making the Thunder God's story work onscreen. He also addresses that Idris Elba casting choice, and even discusses Chris Hemsworth's diet. If you've ever wanted to look like a god, you'll get your tips here.

Attack The Block

If you asked Hollywood about the greatest threat to the human race, they'd probably say it was aliens: after all, those little green / grey bastards have come close to blowing up the planet countless times. But if you asked the British tabloids, they probably reckon it's hoodies and "yoofs". Clever Joe Cornish (our second Brit Director) has pitted the two against each other in his debut film, which is already one of the most buzzed about efforts of the year. In his own words, here he explains what on Earth inspired him to pit ET against the inhabitants of a south London tower block, and how he got the film's distinctive lingo just right.

Priest 3D

Our Slate section kicks off this month with the latest news on Priest, wherein Paul Bettany plays the sort of holy man who tends not to sit and have tea with little old ladies, what with being busy slaying vampires. Also packing the section is Steven Spielberg's War Horse; Rodrigo Cortes' follow-up to Buried, Red Lights; Michelle Monaghan and Jake Gyllenhaal explaining Source Code, Takeshi Miike's 13 Assassins and Roland Emmerich's unlikely Shakespeare project, Anonymous. Rounding out the section there's news on Bad Teacher, Jason Statham, Carla Gugino and Bryan Singer.

Hanna

In the first of our Brit Director's Diary features, Joe Wright gives his own account of the decision to make an action movie / fairy tale about a 13 year-old girl. Starring Saoirse Ronan as the titular Hanna, alongside Cate Blanchett and Eric Bana, this starts in northern Finland and takes in half of north Africa and Europe as well as some dead reindeer. Wright talks us through his experiences in Hollywood and his decision to go from schizophrenia drama The Soloist to a rather more bizarre, almost dreamy ultra-violent growing up story.

Robert Pattinson

Alright, stop shrieking, ladies, and stop throwing things, gentlemen. The once and future R.Pattz hasn't just been sitting on his Team Edward T-shirts during the gap between Twilight movies; he's been out there making the potentially interesting literary adaptation Water For Elephants, alongside Oscar-winners Christoph Waltz and Reese Witherspoon. Last time he worked with Witherspoon, on 2004's Vanity Fair, he ended up on the cutting room floor. This time, he should do better - and he swears he had no idea that Twilight would be so big. Read this, and you might even like the guy.

Apocalypse Now

Our Ian Freer gets all the tough gigs. This month, he had to fly out to California's Napa Valley to hang out with Francis Ford Coppola at his vineyard home and discuss his war drama masterpiece, Apocalypse Now. Ian's about the world's biggest fan of the film, and Coppola was in a talkative mode, so however much you think you know about it, we can pretty much guarantee that you're going to learn something new as Coppola talks about the shoot, the cast, those set pieces and what's next for cinema...

Kubrick: Part Two

Following on from last month's detailed examination of half of Stanley Kubrick's films, we follow up with an in-depth look at more of his masterpieces: the traumas involvedi in making The Shining, the premonitions of The Shining, the disastrous attempts to toe the studio line in Spartacus, and Kubrick's strange love stories in Eyes Wide Shut, Barry Lyndon and Lolita. Including new interviews with everyone from Christiane Kubrick to Malcolm McDowell, this is a must for fans of history's most meticulous - and maybe most talented - director.

Martin Sheen And Emilio Estevez

One of them played Billy the Kid; the other one played the best President America never had. Now they're teaming up for The Way, a touching drama directed by Emilio and starring Martin that tells the story of a father mourning his dead son by following in the latter's footsteps - literally - along the pilgrim's route to Santiago in northern Spain. Here the pair talk about their careers, the decisions that led to this movie, and their own prodigal son / brother, Charlie, as he deals with his own demons.

Charlie Sheen

Speaking of which, here's a look back over the career of the current holder of the Most Controversial Man In Showbusiness award. Adam Smith looks at the highs and lows of Sheen's career to date, from his early and breakthrough performances to his recent tiger-blood drinking, self-rehabing notoriety. Because whatever else you claim about the black sheep of the Sheen/Estevez clan, never claim that he's boring.

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

The fourth outing of the spy franchise welcomes a new director - Pixar genius Brad Bird - but boasts a return from the man who's still maybe the biggest star in the world, Tom Cruise. Our editor, Mark Dinning, went along to Pittsburgh, where he's now filming Jack Reacher adaptation One Shot, to chat to the star about his latest outing and what's next for him. But we also sent Mark to track down his Impossible cast mates and director, to get the full story on just what difficulties Ethan Hunt and team will be facing in Ghost Protocol and what we can expect from the latest director in the series.

War Horse: The Spielberg Special Part Two

Last month we brought you Steven Spielberg's thoughts on The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn. This month, we're looking at his next film, War Horse, the World War I epic that follows the boy detective in a few months' time. Our Ian Freer travelled down to the film's Surrey set on a cold and rainy day last October to talk exclusively to a cold-afflicted Spielberg, as well as joining him in LA ten months later, to get the full story. Warning: contains a nearly-unthinkable tale of Spielberg playing practical jokes on cinematographer buddy Janusz Kaminski.

The Lord Of The Rings 10th Birthday Celebration


Hobbits Reunion

At the very heart of the Lord Of The Rings trilogy are the four hobbits played by Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan. Inseparable during the shoot and linked for life by their experiences there, they hadn't seen each other all together for years until we reassembled them for a reunion shoot to mark the 10th anniversary of the release. So take a look, and read the accompanying interview to hear all about having lilies strewn at their feet, the toilets on set and whether hobbit feet are hereditary. We also have an exclusive collection of Aragorn's personal photos from the set in Viggo Mortensen's Middle-Earth. Jackson's Unseen Concept Art
Ever wondered how they settled on the design for the Balrog? Or Shelob? Or Sauron, or the Witch King of Angmar? Well, wonder no more: our trove of previously-unreleased concept art, as explained by Richard Taylor, Alan Lee and Peter Jackson himself, gives you new details on how the monsters of The Lord Of The Rings came to look the way they did. Throughout the Lord Of The Rings celebration, we also bring you untold stories from all the cast and crew. Yes, they still had a few untold stories after all these years!
Lord of the Rings: Oscar Memories

How does it feel to win all 11 of the 11 Academy Awards you're nominated for? What do you tend to remember of Oscar night? And what did Steven Spielberg tell Peter Jackson on the way off-stage after presenting him with Best Director? The answers to all these questions and more are right here, as we bring you a complete oral history of that night-of-nights for New Zealand. They may just have won the Rugby World Cup on home turf, and sure, a few All Blacks are probably pleased about that, but we all know that it's the Oscars victory that matters most. Right?

Terry Gilliam

He has been called the unluckiest man in Hollywood, but he's also one of the most creative and bloody-mindedly brilliant filmmakers out there. Terry Gilliam sat down with us to talk about his career, from animated Python insanity to the glorious tilting at windmills he's undertaken on behalf Don Quixote. From Time Bandits to Brazil, from 12 Monkeys to Brothers Grimm to why he doesn't like The Prestige, it's all here in a lengthy and relaxed interview that is typically Gilliam. Warning: no punches pulled.

Terrence Davies

Our Ian Freer really loves Terrence Davies' films - as, indeed, do all of the ten people who have seen his films. So the release of his latest, an elegant adaptation of Terrence Ratigan's play The Deep Blue Sea (not about sharks) starring Rachel Weisz, Simon Russell Beale and Tom Hiddleston, marked a god-given opportunity to look back over Davies' career to date and hopefully introduce a few new people to his works. The good news is that he's very, very fun (directing actors, he says, "I'd like to ply you all with cocaine, but we can't afford it"); the better news is that he's one of Blighty's finest filmmaking talents and he's right here in this month's Empire.

The Two Marilyns

A Tale of Two Films, this. You see, My Week With Marilyn, wherein Michelle Williams plays the gorgeous Ms Monroe, is set during filming of Laurence Olivier's Hollywood comedy The Princess And The Showgirl. So we cleverly combined the two and discuss both in one epic feature, with the cast and director of My Week With Marilyn talking about their inspiration. Find out why this story offers such a compelling insight into Monroe's life, and why it is that - just sometimes - Monroe could totally out-act the none-more-thespy Olivier onscreen...

Games Special

Do you enjoy unleashing hell in your spare time? Do you like to unwind by laying smackdown or blasting a cap in others? Well then this month's game supplement is for you, laying out exactly what you'll be needing over the next few months to exercise your more violent impulses in perfect safety. We go behind the scenes on Modern Warfare 3, preview 2012's finest with a look at titles like Aliens: Colonial Marines, Hitman: Absolution, Star Wars: The Old Republic and BioShock Infinite, and review Batman: Arkham City and the other big releases of the moment.

The Slate

Superteams lead the way in Slate this month, with a look at The Avengers and, er, The Three Stooges. Then there's the death-and-destruction theme, with spies going postal in This Means War and aliens invading in The Darkest Hour. We learn more about what Gerard Butler's been up to, take a look at Arthur Christmas, see what Dexter Fletcher's been up to with Wild Bill and learn more about the new Dragon Tattoo, Headhunters. All this, and the hairiness of Nick Frost's arse is revealed! And Nic Cage's secret vampire past!




In Cinemas

The world's biggest director kicks things off as we review The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn, followed by two of its biggest stars: Brad Pitt in Moneyball and Johnny Depp in The Rum Diaries. Terrence Davies goes back to the 1950s in The Deep Blue Sea, while Andrea Arnold visits Wuthering Heights and Gerard Butler becomes a Machine-Gun Preacher. But who gets the Empire seal of approval and who's left languishing in one-star ignominy? Read on to find out.


ReView

What do Bridesmaids, The Tree of Life and Transformers: Dark of the Moon have in common? Why, the fact that they're all in the Re:view section this month, a bumper section that includes all the best pre-Christmas releases. Silent Running, Touch Of Evil and, er, Kung Fu Panda 2 are also in there, along with a Passport To Pimlico masterpiece, a look at Community and some gorgeous coffee table tomes in Books. You'll never have to leave the house again!