Empire recruits Steven Spielberg to guest edit landmark issue

by Dan Leahul, Brand Republic 06-Feb-09, 11:20

LONDON - Hollywood director Steven Spielberg is to guest edit the 20th anniversary issue of Empire magazine.

The 'ET' and 'Saving Private Ryan' director has been working closely with Empire staff and has taken a hands-on role with the editorial content of the issue, which hits newsstands on April 23.

Spielberg is currently in Los Angeles shooting a forthcoming Tintin move, 'The Adventures of Tintin: Secret Of The Unicorn'.

Stuart Williams, Empire's managing director, said: "2009 may be a difficult year for the world at large but it's promising to be a great one for movie fans.

"Steven Spielberg is peerless -- for decades he has understood what people want and time after time produces great movies.

"To work with the director of Jaws, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, Schindler's List, the Indiana Jones Quartet, ET, Saving Private Ryan and Munich, to name just a few, is the stuff of dreams.

"The 20th Anniversary issue of Empire promises to be the best in our illustrious history."

Empire is published by Bauer Consumer Media, which also publishes Heat, Kerrang! and NME.

For Empire's 15th anniversary issue in 2004, it named the 15 most influential films of the past 15 years, in which Spielberg's 'Jurassic Park' took 6th spot.

Two of his films, 'Jaws', and 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' also appear in top five of Empire's current 500 Greatest Movies of All Time.