Interview #2 – Amon Warmann

I saw down to talk with film critic Amon Warman about his top tips for becoming a successful film journalist, an iconic interview with Denzel Washington and Amon's own love for the Spider-Verse films.

Amon Warmann is a powerhouse of a film critic – he has been a journalist for 15 years, writing for major outlets such as Empire, GQ and Variety. And, just like me, Amon Warmann is a massive nerd. Before the interview actually begins, Amon shows me his voice-activated Iron Man helmet, telling me how it blew the minds of his interviewees. And that list now includes this interviewer.

After only hearing his voice on the Empire podcast, I had no idea what to expect. I was shaking with nerves at the prospect of speaking to someone so successful in our industry. But, my nerves were quelled instantly. His stories of success, the leaps of faith he has taken in his life, how he has found strength in adversity – I couldn’t help but lean in as I listened.

After bantering about Amon’s multitude of name-drops and debating which Spider-Verse film was the greatest – I had an incredible time talking to someone so inspirational. You can read our full interview below:

My first question for you is: what is your earliest memory of falling in love with film?

My earliest memory of film… that’s a good question. I distinctly remember seeing The Prince of Egypt (1998) in the cinema with my mum. I remember the parting of the Red Sea in that film and reacting to that, that was quite early. Beyond this film, me and my family used to watch all the Disney films – we had all the Disney VHS’s. So, The Lion King (1994), The Little Mermaid (1989), Aladdin (1992), 101 Dalmatians (1996), The Aristocats (1970) – we had them all. So that was a big thing.

Coming To America (1988) is still my favourite comedy of all time. I’m pretty sure me and my family are in the high, triple figures on that film. And, whenever we watch it, it’ll be like we’re watching it for the first time because we’re laughing just as hard.

Then, when I went to boarding school, the love continued. Every weekend, somebody would go down with a teacher to Blockbuster (which is a thing that existed way back when!) to pick out a film for the rest of the house to go and watch that weekend. And, more often than not, that person was me. All of those helped fan the flames of my love of film, I think.

Was there any kind of TV show as well? I think TV is a bit harder, especially when you’re a kid.

It’s hard because TV, especially over the last decade, has gone onto have a metamorphosis, in terms of the quality of it and how much of it there is to consume. And, as you may have gleaned, I’m a big Batman fan, I’m a big animated fan. And, Batman: The Animated Series (1992-5) is one of the greatest TV shows of all time, I grew up with that. And, then Smallville (2001-11) – I was a huge fan, grew up with that. Game Of Thrones (2011–) until the final season which… let’s not speak of it!

Breaking Bad (2008–2013). That was a big one for me, in terms of changing my view on what a prestige TV show could do. That was the one that showed me, ‘Oh! There’s a changing of the guard happening here!’

I think that was definitely the same for me because I think it’s TV that starts to feel cinematic, it starts to feel like a film. I remember it was Anthony Hopkins who said that Breaking Bad was ‘Shakespearean’ which I think is so true.

I also just wanted to know – when did you know that this was the career for you? And then how did you start out as a film critic and as a journalist?

It’s interesting. So, after I finished boarding school, I went to University straight away – I thought I wanted to become a teacher. And, I was very sporty, I was the third fastest person at my school, I was known for that. So, I went to Brunel University and if you don’t know, it’s one the three big sporting universities in the UK. And I went from being the third fastest person in my school to being the non-fastest person of nothing! My classmates, to put it into perspective, were training with Usain Bolt. That was the level things were on. And I was not on that level! So I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do, after graduating.

One of my older brothers, he had a friend who used to run this website called Yin and Yang, which is now sadly defunct. But, they were looking for somebody to write reviews. So I thought, ‘Okay, I’ll just go to my local cinema, pay for tickets and write reviews.” Couple of months into that, the manager tells me ‘Amon, you know that there’s screenings and PRs and things in London you can go to?’ – and he sent me a whole list of PRs to get into contact with. And, about a week or so into that was when I knew that this was what I wanted to do. Not only for the prestige of it – going to see very highly anticipated films, for free, in a big London cinema will never get old.

But also – and this was the crucial thing – this was like, ‘Oh, I’ve found my people.’ And, when you feel that, that’s a game-changing, life-changing thing. There’s a number of young critics I’ve spoken to – I’m one of the lead mentors for the London Film Festival mentorship scheme – and they basically told me several different versions of what I’m about to say.

When I was in my own circles before I joined this community, I’d be the one talking about films all the time and people would almost get irritated. (The way you’re nodding makes me think you know exactly what I’m talking about!) So, when you find a community of people, where it’s like, ‘oh, these guys are as passionate about what I love as I am and are on the level I’m currently at’ is game-changing. And, when I discovered that and started to go into screenings and see the same people and build networks and contacts, it became clear that this is what I want to do. There was nothing that ignited the fire and the passion within me like this did. Once that became clear, it became clear that I had found the path.

That makes a lot of sense and I relate to that a lot – it’s like that weird thing of, you don’t always know if something is right for you. You kind of just start getting that gut feeling. But I think that’s a really lovely sentiment.

Moving on a bit, I wondered what it was like writing for Empire and founding your own Black In Focus column for Empire?

I am a contributing editor with Empire – I think I’m the only person of colour to be granted any editor title within Empire, which is quite big. Terri White, who was the previous editor in chief, she elevated me to the ‘Contributing Editor’ title and I pitched her the ‘Black In Focus’ column because this came around the murder of George Floyd. I was feeling quite helpless and I was trying to figure out how I could contribute to the world in some way. And, one of the things I was thinking of was this column where I could focus on black issues within entertainment and media and put my own lens on it. So, pitched it to her in the meeting and she green-lit it on the spot. And, that does not happen!

But, Terri, I’ve got a lot of respect for her. She believed in me and really valued me. She played a big role in me getting to where I’m currently at in my career. But, after she green-lit it on the spot, it ran for a couple of issues and I’ve got some really good feedback on it. I got to comment on some really deep, interesting stuff. It just felt really cool and good to be given three quarters of a page in every issue of the magazine with my picture very much there on the page.

I got to have this space where I could talk about black issues that a lot of people in the film community and a lot of people in the black film community were talking about. You don’t get to have those kind of spaces on these kinds of platforms very often, it does not happen. So, to have that for as long as I had it – I don’t take it for granted.

That’s really powerful – often, words can be some of the most game-changing things. I think that’s really amazing.

Although this is now going back some time, I was wondering if you had a favourite film from the Black Movie archives that you would want people to watch, maybe one people haven’t heard about?

One of my recommendations, I believe, was Drumline (2002) which I really love. I actually re-watched it fairly recently – it holds up. Not only for the drumming and the musicality of it which I love, but just the lessons it teaches you about leadership in many different forms. It stayed with me.

I think Life (1999) is a very underrated Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence flick. I remember watching it for the first time and just being deeply affected by it.

I kind of wanted to get into the interview side of your career – you’ve moderated a lot of events and you’ve conducted a lot of interviews throughout your career. I was wondering if you’ve had many standout memories from those?

In terms of moderating stuff, my biggest career achievement is when I did the intro and Q&A for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) live at the Hammersmith Apollo. That was a huge moment for me in ways that are both obvious and quite personal, which not many people know about – but I’ll tell you.

Obviously Into the Spider-Verse means a whole lot to me – the ‘Leap of Faith’ sequence is one of my favourite things I’ve ever watched in my life. And, anytime I watch it, I feel like I can do anything. And, I had done a number of Q&As before that gig – but all them had been in cinemas with either people in the audience that I knew. It was a very familiar environment for me because it’s a cinema, I know what I’m doing and I’ve done enough of them to get into performance mode easily without sweating.

That gig was 5,000 strong, I’d never done anything that size. And, it wasn’t just film critics and whatnot – it was complete strangers going completely nuts, orchestra behind me, 5,000 people screaming their heads off and everywhere is black, except the stage which has lights on. It was interesting and kind of serendipitous and beautiful in that it was my own ‘leap of faith’ moment – I thought that I could do it, but I hadn’t done anything to that size before. So, for the first time in a while, I felt goosebumps, I felt the nerves.

One thing I will say about that ‘leap of faith’ moment is that: it’s the ultimate, ‘you don’t know, until you know’ moment. And so, the moment came, the lights darkened, stage-light came on, I’m given a mic – ‘Okay, Amon, here you go.’ And if you watch the footage back, I put my left hand in my pocket because it was shaking – my right hand has the mic. My voice has never sounded louder or cleaner on a microphone ever! And I can’t see anything, obviously. Within 10 seconds, I’m fine and comfortable and you can tell because the left hand goes out of my pocket. That was my own ‘leap of faith’ moment.’ To have that, with that film, in that time, was pretty special.

The Denzel Washington in-person interview was really special – I consider him to be the greatest actor of all time. I had interviewed him in a couple of guises before that, but not to that degree, not in-person, not for that amount of time. And, I’m very rarely the guy to give people flowers. Not that they don’t deserve that! But I’m very rarely the guy to interview that way. For Denzel – you make an exception.

I always try to do my best to find a question (or two or three) that will get the talent off auto-pilot. Anytime you manage to succeed at that, and you can tell that they’re appreciative of that – that always feels good. I had a few of those with Gary Oldman way back when for Robocop (2014). Another really proud moment when it came to that was my Elizabeth Moss interview for the Pilot TV podcast – which was for The Shining Girls (2022). I’m very hard on myself generally – but when you know that you’ve nailed something, you just want to bask in the joy of that.

With interviews, you can do everything to prepare on your side – but it’s a tennis match, and if they didn’t come to play ball, it’s not going to work. But when they do, and you’re vibing, and they love the questions, it’s just harmony. It’s beautiful.

Thank you for sharing that with me – I think that Spider-Verse story is so beautiful because there are those films that sometimes just make us feel like we can do anything. I re-watched The Shawshank Redemption (1994) the other day, and it’s just one of those ones that really does that.

I was also wondering what advice you have for people who want to get started in this industry? Because it’s a very hard industry to break into.

That is true. I’ll say two things – one, be sure that you love this, before you get into it. Part of the reason that I’m still here, year fifteen, is because I do love it. There’s been many ups and there’s been many downs – but if you don’t love this, you’re not going to want to deal with the downs too much, you’re not going to want to stay in this. Number two – the industry has evolved and it continues to evolve in interesting ways, with the advancement of technology, with the rise of influencers, which I’m sure you’re very familiar with. The path that I took to get to where I have gotten – it is still there but it’s not the one that I’d recommend.

To back-track a little bit, when I first started going to screenings – you did all your networking, you started writing for one website and then another and another, you pulled up your portfolio, you pitched to other websites – all that sort of thing. What I’d recommend to people now is do that sort of stuff, especially if it can lead to paid work – it should. But the thing that I tell people now is do as much of it yourself. Build up your own brand because, more and more, that is where this industry is leading to.

The people with the keys to what we all want (which is access to screenings and to talent) the PRs, they are paying more attention to your follower count, like count, than who you are writing for. You are fighting with a pool of writers to all get the same thing – but if you build up your own brand and make sure you know what you’re talking about, you diversify what you’re talking about and how you’re talking about it to build a nice portfolio – it’s not like you’re one writer against a sea of writers and the editor has to pick you. All of the stuff is coming directly to you. That’s what the next stage is for me, actually, so I can combine that with all this experience I have.

I often talk about ‘the media triangle’ – this is the Know Who, which is the PRs and whatnot which will come through time and screenings. There’s Know How, which is you need to know what you’re talking about. If you’re a writer, you need to be good at writing, if you’re an interviewer, you need to be good at interviewing. Some of that you’ll get through research and refining your craft. And there’s The Reach. If you combine the three of those, you can sit in front of any PR and say, ‘Bang, bang, bang, give me what I want’

I work on all of those things, especially The Reach, because that’s the most important one, unfortunately. It didn’t use to be that way – but there’s a lot of people who have gotten into the most exclusive rooms more so because of their reach than their know-how, which is frustrating for a person like me because I pride myself on the Know-How. But, it has become the most important thing for young people trying to enter this industry. So, I’d be aware of that but also try to work on the Know-How because, if you combine those three things, you will be ahead of the game.

I think that’s really helpful advice because being an influencer is definitely on the rise for careers like this and I think it can be definitely be frustrating but that is the nature of the game. It can be as frustrating to try and get into the algorithm as it is pitching yourself to a million different people.

I wanted to do a kind of Letterboxd top-four question – but I’m going to do something slightly different, for the sake of individuality! I want three film recommendations.

Number one, a film that you would watch with your friends.

I will never get bored of Gladiator (2000), which is one of my favourite films of all time. There are few things that I enjoy watching on screen more than good leadership and good battlefield leadership as well. And, when I think of the greatest battlefield leaders of cinema, the line forms behind one Maximus Decimus Meridius. From the first two minutes on, you know you would go into the gates of hell for Maximus which is why I’ve got issues with Gladiator II (2024) because at no point in the film are you like, ‘I’m gonna fight for you, Paul Mescal!’

I feel that.

Number two, you would watch with a partner.

I don’t have a partner right now but, if I had a partner – my favourite release of last year was Hit Man (2024). Glen Powell and Adria Arjona… hot feels like too small of a word. It’s also so much fun and the best use of Glen Powell that we’ve gotten – it’s the whole reason why my stock is so high in Glen Powell.

I was lucky enough to watch that in a cinema because it was LFF. There was one particular scene which had critics clapping and laughing for an extended thirty seconds at 8pm in the morning. That does not happen – unless it’s something really special.

It will go to the top of my watchlist.

And finally, number three, a film that you would watch by yourself.

I mean, Into the Spider-Verse is the easy answer there. But, I love the Mask of Zorro (1998). I’m also a big animated Batman fan – Kevin Conroy is the best Batman of all time, I will not take ifs, buts or maybes! So, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993) or Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (2000). I love anything sort of hero-adjacent – that’s my sweet spot, that’s my happy place.

The final question I have for you (and it’s a pretty big question) – what are your thoughts on film in 2025?

I think this year in film has been really good. The things that are at the very, very tippy top have been excellent, like Sinners is my film of the year. I think because of this film, anytime Ryan Cooler’s name is attached to something, you’re immediately interested just because it’s him. That’s the level he’s now attained. Then you have One Battle After Another, The Ballad of Wallis Island which I thought were great.

The reason why I’m saying this year in film is ‘good’ as opposed to ‘really good’ is I just remember half-way, three-quarters of the way through the year, thinking about how many bangers there had been on the TV side. Just in terms of the level of quality across the board, TV was outpacing film in a major way this year. I think of Paradise, I think of Severance, I’ve not watched Pluribus yet but I’m hearing incredible things about that. There’s been so much TV, it’s incredible, amazing, awesome.

I’m hoping, as I always do, for there to be more of the really good stuff that enters the zeitgeist and stays there. That’s probably why the reason why Sinners is so special – I don’t know that any other film has been discussed to that level this year. And, the vast majority of releases, some of which are very good, within a week or two we’ve moved on. But, as is always the case year-to-year, week-to-week, there is at least one film that I would recommend.

The Fade to Black podcast, which I co-host with a couple of others every Saturday – we discuss some small releases every now and then. And, we often say to screen at least one of those. Just because they’re small and don’t get the coverage that others do, doesn’t mean they aren’t very good films or aren’t worth seeking out. It’s just a matter of finding the critics that you like who you can follow and who can point this stuff out to you, so you’re well-informed enough to seek these things out.

That was all the questions I had so, thank you very much for your time today, I really appreciate it!