Sam, director of the eagerly anticipated new Bond release Spectre, stepped up to the editor’s chair to oversee a bespoke edition of the movie magazine.
The November Collector’s Issue of Empire, on sale on Thursday, September 24, features 38 pages of globe-spanning Spectre exclusives as well as Mendes’ personal on-set pictures and contributions from Daniel Craig and Christopher Waltz, as well as a host of Mendes’ director friends including Steven Spielberg, David Fincher and Sophia Coppola.
Sam Mendes commented: “Working with Empire on this special edition of their splendid magazine has been a really enjoyable two-way process. We welcomed the team behind the closed doors of the 007 set, and revealed the odd secret or two; and they in turn have accompanied the Spectre team on our journey around the globe.“
He added: “It’s been said before that Bond belongs to everyone... So what better way to encounter the first sighting of many of these stories, people and images than in a magazine for true movie fans, written by true movie fans?”
Empire’s Executive Editor Ian Nathan, who commissioned the issue, commented: “Having Sam at the helm our Bond issue has been a very special experience. Not only has he redefined how any magazine has ever covered a Bond movie — in-depth doesn’t begin to cover our Spectre features — but he has contributed to every section of the magazine, fascinated by what we do and challenging us to do it ever better. We have come to think of him as our M.”
Previous guest editors have included Lord of the Rings Director Peter Jackson who took the reins in November 2014 to celebrate the culmination of his Hobbit trilogy and Steven Spielberg who took a hands-on role in commissioning the magazine’s 20th anniversary issue in 2009.
