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Street, Sydney NSW 2000.EDITORIALEDITOR JAMES JENNINGS
ART DIRECTOR KATIE SMITH
PHOTO EDITOR KRISTI BARTLETT 02 8114 9493... ALSO THIS MONTH AT EMPIRE:
Saw George Lucas, Mark Hamill, Billy Dee Williams and Harrison
Ford at the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge launch. May have wept a bit.
WELCOME, FRIENDS, TO your hot-off-the-presses new-look Empire.
If you’re in any way worried we’ve changed things to the extent we’re now only
writing in emojis, fear not: you’ll still find all of your favourite sections inside –
along with, y’know, the world’s best film and TV content – but just with
a colourful, fresh coat of paint to liven things up a little.
Speaking of colourful fresh coats of paint livening things up a little (or in
this case, a lot): this month we bring you the world’s first in-depth look at Todd
Phillips’ upcoming Joker, which sees Joaquin Phoenix slapping on said coat of
paint to portray the titular clown prince of crime. As you’ll learn from our cover
story that begins on page 52, Phillips and Phoenix have crafted a grungy
character study that sounds more like an intense indie drama and less like what
Logan director James Mangold once artfully described as a “CGI fuckathon”.
Whatever the case, we’re in.
In an issue packed with films that are designed to disturb, we also catch up
with Hereditary director Ari Aster to discuss his follow-up, the supremely
messed-up horror Midsommar (page 82; read Empire’s five-star review on page 34).
Speaking of horror: the current reigning king of the genre, Jordan Peele, also
stops by for an in-depth chat that reveals just how deep his love of fright-
inducing films goes (page 66), and we also break down the now iconic ‘Sunken
Place’ scene with Peele and key creatives from Get Out (page 72).
And although it’s not technically a horror, the puppet-filled 1982 Jim Henson
fantasy flick The Dark Crystal sure did its bit in providing nightmare fuel for kids
the world over. Netflix sequel series The Dark Crystal: Age Of Resistance is almost
upon us, and we go on set (page 76) to see how the people making it met the
enormous technical challenges of making an old school puppet show in 2019.
Far less terrifying was our recent visit to the truly mindboggling Star Wars:
Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland in California. The brand new, 14-acre land features
a full-scale Millennium Falcon designed specifically to offer you the chance to get
the best selfie of all time, plus a whole host of other Star Wars-y delights that we
detail in our feature starting page 60.
Yours in acting the clown,
JAMES JENNINGS
EDITORCLASSIC LINES OF THE MONTH
“Bob and Marty
speak, then they
summon me back.
Marty said, ‘Right, kid,
you wanna do this?’ I
felt like I’d been made
in the Mafia.”p.
“Interpretive dance- “I don’t know how
the Fast & Furious
crowd are gonna take
that!”
p.
“They talked about
their favourite scenes
and acted them out:
‘Tony Montana, mucho
cojones! Rata-tat-tat!
Kill the fucking
communists!’”p.