Empire Magazine Celebrates 20th Birthday With Guest Editor Steven Spielberg

The world’s biggest and most respected film magazine, Empire, celebrates its 20th Birthday with a special issue guest-edited by Steven Spielberg.

The 20th Anniversary Edition, which goes on sale Thursday April 23 2009, is also packed full of exclusive interviews with the industry’s greatest actors and directors, as well as boasting the most ambitious photographic project ever undertaken by any film magazine.

Says Spielberg: “When Empire magazine first approached me to become Guest Editor-In-Chief of their 20th birthday issue, I immediately said: ‘Show me the money!’ When they explained to me that it was going to be a labour of love, I realised that I had been an ardent admirer and reader of Empire magazine for the past 20 years. I said yes.
What you hold in your hands is the product of seven months of meetings, phone calls and emails with the Empire team. My role has included suggesting and selecting feature ideas (I’ve even picked this month’s spine line), approving layouts, choosing photographs and signing off finished proofs. All in all, the experience has been unprecedented and rewarding.”

The special birthday edition features exclusive interviews with legends Clint Eastwood, who talks about cult directors Sergio Leone (A Fistful Of Dollars) and Don Siegel (Dirty Harry), and Jack Nicholson, who reminisces about the making of The Shining and his friendship with late director Stanley Kubrick.

Tom Hanks discusses everything from Bachelor Party and Big, through to Forrest Gump, Philadelphia and even voicing the character of Woody in Toy Story, while renowned director James Cameron gives his first in-depth interview on his first film in 12 years, namely sci-fi epic Avatar, which reunites him with Aliens star Sigourney Weaver.

The issue also gives readers a sneak preview of a whole host of the most anticipated films of the year, including Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones, Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland, Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island, Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes and Spielberg’s motion caption epic, The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn. And the magazine succeeds in reuniting Spielberg and the cast of The Goonies for the first time in over 20 years!

The celebratory magazine even offers actors and directors the chance to ‘Ask The Editor’, as Spielberg takes questions from Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Hugh Jackman, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robert De Niro, Baz Luhrmann, Ron Howard and Sam Mendes on changing the world’s perception of sharks, men in rubber suits and mashed-potato mountains!

In addition, this special issue features one of the most ambitious photographic projects ever undertaken as the world’s most revered actors recreate a moment from their biggest hits of Empire’s lifetime.

Arnold Schwarzenegger pays homage to Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Mel Gibson dons blue paint for Braveheart, Tom Cruise strikes a pose for Minority Report, Keira Knightley and James McAvoy recreate a stolen moment from Atonement, Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster relive The Silence Of The Lambs, Christian Bale is let loose with an axe as American Psycho, and Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint give the classroom a new sense of maturity a la Harry Potter.

The photographic spread also includes special shoots with Ben Stiller, Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman, Michael Sheen, Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, Matt Damon, Viggo Mortensen and Sean Bean, Gerard Butler and Jack Nicholson.

Says Empire Editor Mark Dinning: “We are so proud of Empire’s heritage and its position as the world’s no. 1 film magazine and I couldn’t think of a better way of celebrating our 20th birthday than with a special issue guest-edited by the world’s greatest film director.
Spielberg has been involved with every detail of this issue of the magazine and instrumental in bringing together the industry’s most idolised and respected talents, both editorially and photographically. The end result, I believe, is the most spectacular film magazine ever produced.”