When you’re looking at the most important names in the movie poster game, you’ll always find mention of the great Dawn Baillie. That’s because she’s behind some of the most iconic one-sheets ever created – instantly memorable designs that cut right to the heart of whatever film is being represented, immaculate in choice of colour, composition, and tonality, while never shooting for the obvious. This is the mind behind Dirty Dancing’s legendary graphic, The Silence Of The Lambs’ moth-mouthed Jodie Foster, The Truman Show’s larger-than-life Jim Carrey billboard, Zoolander’s gravity-defying pout, Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade’s ‘The Man In The Hat Is Back’ piece, and Little Miss Sunshine’s bold yellow splash.
All of which is to say, the subscriber cover for Empire’s upcoming Digger issue is a big deal – designed exclusively for us by Dawn Baillie herself.
Encapsulating the man and the myth that is Digger Rockwell – Tom Cruise’s wild new character, in Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s apocalyptic comedy – it cuts the shape of the mysterious figure, complete with cowboy hat, bolo tie, and wild-eyed cat. Except, Digger’s distinctive visage is replaced by his weapon of choice: his shovel. It’s an instantly eye-catching design, a fitting companion piece to Baillie’s own distinctive Digger poster, with its deep Western hues and graphic title treatment.
The cover variant is exclusive to existing Empire print subscribers – and will be arriving through letterboxes in the coming days. If you want to receive bespoke designs like this with your copy of Empire, be sure to sign up for a magazine subscription here for future issues.
The newsstand edition of Empire’s Digger issue hits shelves on Thursday August 27, speaking to Iñárritu, Cruise, Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Sandra Hüller and more about the year’s boldest original movie – which comes to cinemas on October 2. Can you dig it?
