3: James Dyer - Empire
In an episode so epic in scope and so dramatic in its execution that it instantly reduces the likes of Avatar, the MCU films and the Skywalker Saga to a pitiful irrelevance*, Andy is joined on a truly blockbuster edition of Be Grand by Empire magazine’s very own James Dyer. As a journalist for one of the biggest movie magazines on the planet as well as a contributor to its spin-off podcast and the host of its sister TV podcast Pilot, James arrives at Be Grand Towers bearing a genuine treasure chest of stories from his many adventures in Hollywoodland. Stories such as his time spent with Arnold Schwarzenegger, getting to see the James Cameron Museum of, er, James Cameron and everything you wanted to know about what kind of things happen to a film journalist that you were afraid to ask. As someone who spent his some of his childhood running around the sets of Star Wars it’s no surprise that the saga is of massive importance to James so Andy, of course, needs no encouragement to delve deep into their mutual love (adventure, excitement, a podcast host who won’t go off on his own agenda - a Jedi craves not these things). But it’s not all a walk on the light side however as James discusses the uncertain future of the franchise after a rocky year. James has an olympian knowledge and passion for film, which made this a wonderful episode to produce and should be a treat for movie buffs as the intrepid duo also chat movie scores, what makes a good reviewer and what the future holds for cinema as all the old certainties that underpinned our way of life are up-ended. All that plus James even turns answering a leaving cert question using Star Trek First Contact as his text into a beautiful meditation on life. We honestly think this episode is box office gold and hope you will too! https://twitter.com/jamescdyer https://twitter.com/empiremagazine https://twitter.com/PilotTVMag https://twitter.com/gottheshift https://twitter.com/HiAndyGaffney * Not strictly true