Welcome to a very special edition of Collider Ladies Night. Not only does this episode feature a personal favorite, but that favorite just became the first Ladies Night third-timer — Melissa Barrera. It was immediately evident that Barrera is an ideal Ladies Night guest during our first chat in January 2022 for Scream, one brimming with enthusiasm and passion for her craft, and for the art of filmmaking in general. That became even more undeniable after connecting at the 2022 Toronto...

If you’re a frequent Collider Ladies Night viewer/reader/listener, you’re likely well aware of my Yellowjackets obsession. I’ve been lucky enough to welcome many Yellowjackets cast members to the show, including Christina Ricci and Jasmin Savoy Brown, but there’s a certain someone who I was extremely disappointed to have missed out on while she was on the show — Ella Purnell. However, the time has finally come. Not only did I get the opportunity to talk a little Yellowjackets with Purnell,...

After a hugely successful seven-season run, Riverdale came to an end in August 2023 with its 137th episode. Yes, being part of such a show is a blessing, but there’s a significant amount of pressure that comes with answering the question, “What’s next?” Camila Mendes is powering through that pressure right now in a big way — as a multi-hyphenate. Mendes stars in and executive produced her latest feature, Música. Director Rudy Mancuso also stars in the film as a young street performer from...

Nell Tiger Free is proving to be quite the genre powerhouse. After starring in four seasons of the widely acclaimed Apple TV+ series, Servant, alongside Lauren Ambrose, Toby Kebbell, and Rupert Grint, she’s now headlining a brand new Omen movie, The First Omen, directed by yet another soaring force in the horror space, Arkasha Stevenson. The film takes place before the events of Richard Donner’s 1976 classic and focuses on Free’s character, Margaret. Margaret grew up in an orphanage where she...

One of the greatest joys of Collider Ladies Night is welcoming a guest back to the show and celebrating how much they’ve accomplished in such a short period of time. That’s the case with DeWanda Wise. She was on Ladies Night for her very first franchise film, Jurassic World Dominion, in 2022 and now she’s back as the star and executive producer of a Blumhouse horror movie. Wise headlines Imaginary as Jess, a woman who moves back into her childhood home with her husband Max (Tom Payne) and her...

There is no doubt that this will be the first of many Collider Ladies Night interviews for Millie Bobby Brown. Not only has her acting career been soaring ever since the debut of Stranger Things back in 2016, but Brown is also using her rising start to influence certain projects for the better as a producer. She kicked off the Enola Holmes film series at Netflix wearing both hats, and now she stars in and executive produces her latest ambitious release for the streamer, Damsel. Brown...

Collider Ladies Night was created to highlight how an artist’s experiences paved the way to their latest achievement. There are often loads of highs along the way, but there can also be some more challenging moments, ones that heavily contribute to how one views the industry and how they’ll strive to change it for the better. A shining example of one such force in Hollywood? The Way Home star and executive producer, Chyler Leigh. The Way Home is a Hallmark series in its second season. Not a...

Sadie Laflamme-Snow shot out the gate and into Hollywood in a big way. Just a couple of years after graduating from the National Theatre School of Canada, Laflamme-Snow scored a lead role in a Hallmark series opposite two industry heavyweights, Andie MacDowell and Chyler Leigh.  Since premiering in January 2023, The Way Home has amassed an adoring fanbase that spans generations, and is credited with opening many minds to Hallmark content. Laflamme-Snow plays Alice, a teenager whose parents...

As you’ll hear in this edition of Collider Ladies Night, Beanie Feldstein is a favorite. She’s a hugely talented individual, with a deep passion for the craft of acting who heavily values the opportunity to create with good people. There’s no doubt a good deal of that was in her from the start, but in revisiting her filmography in celebration of the release of her latest film, Drive-Away Dolls, it becomes abundantly clear that Feldstein is able to stand tall, deliver big and use her voice to...

Sophie Wilde’s work in Talk to Me is the epitome of a “breakout performance.” Not only did the film go from Sundance darling to one of the biggest smash hits of 2023, but Wilde herself received the praise she deserved for an incredibly demanding and exceptionally well executed lead performance. In fact, Wilde’s work as Mia is one of the main reasons why Talk to Me is so much more than a cool horror movie with a super creative high concept. Yes, the A24 acquisition delivers big when it comes...

Kathryn Newton is taking over in the best possible way. At 27, not only has she already amassed a vast filmography, but it’s one that’s packed with variety and bold creative swings. She headlined a Paranormal Activity film, she’s part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, she was a comedy ace in Blockers, she stars opposite acting icons in HBO’s acclaimed series Big Little Lies, and she’s a certified horror genre powerhouse thanks to Freaky, Radio Silence’s next movie Abigail, and Zelda Williams’...

One of the greatest joys at a film festival is meeting an artist for the first time and knowing with certainty that, from that point on, you’ll always prioritize their work. I’ve been lucky enough to have a number of those encounters over the years, but two especially memorable ones are Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Aaron Pierre. I first met Harrison Jr. at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival for Luce, and for Pierre it was at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival for Brother, both breathtaking...

Reneé Rapp is one of the most exciting and inspiring forces on the rise right now in entertainment. Not only is she bubbling over with next level talent, but she also boasts a number of extremely admirable qualities, ones that can be hard for any artist to establish, let alone one just starting her career. Rapp operates with maximum conviction. She’s someone who knows what she wants, and has absolutely no problem advocating for herself. Even better? She keeps her collaborators’ best interest...

Carla Gugino has been quietly amassing one of the most diverse bodies of work in Hollywood, and it’s about time that’s recognized. She’s got a disaster movie in San Andreas, loads of family-friendly adventure films including Race to Witch Mountain, Night at the Museum, and the Spy Kids movies, and she’s currently soaring in the horror space with projects like Gerald’s Game and The Haunting of Hill House. We’d be here all day if I listed everything, but do give her lengthy filmography a quick...

During our Collider Ladies Night interview, Maura Tierney emphasized that the role of Doris in The Iron Claw “was not an easy role,” which is plain to see in the finished product for a multitude of reasons. Not only is the new A24 film based on a staggeringly tragic true story, but, as a supporting actor in the movie, Tierney is also in a position where she must justify a number of a significant choices her character makes within a high-pressure family dynamic with minimal screen time. She...

We started the Pre-Party branch of Collider Ladies Night for artists like Aria Mia Loberti. The show is designed to highlight newer filmmakers who are undeniable stars and are bound to soar in this industry while changing it for the better both in front of and behind the lens. That is Loberti. Loberti is in the midst of celebrating her first professional acting role ever, a performance that earned her a Best Breakthrough Performance in a New Scripted Series nomination at the Independent...

Kate Siegel is a Collider Ladies Night favorite for a multitude of reasons. Just to name a few, she’s wildly talented, does exceptionally thoughtful and detailed backstory work, and she values the opportunity to build a filmmaking community and lift others up through it. She’s been doing all of that for years now, but as the Flanafamily grows and as her individual star rises higher and higher, there is no doubt she’ll become an even stronger force in boosting high-quality, bold storytelling...

It’s not easy to steer clear of getting boxed in to one particular thing in Hollywood, but Shelley Hennig has done that especially well, amassing a body of work that ranges from a soap opera to horror to extreme action-comedy with her brand new Netflix series Obliterated. The show comes from Cobra Kai creators Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, and stars Hennig as Ava Winters, a CIA operative in the midst of a very tense and dangerous mission to track down a nuclear threat in Las...

Back in April I was watching Dexter Fletcher’s Ghosted. The majority of the movie focuses on Chris Evans and Ana de Armas’ characters, Cole and Sadie, but at the beginning of the film, there’s a delightful short sequence that unfolds at Cole’s family home. That sequence includes some pitch-perfect interactions between Evans and the actor playing his sister — someone I was unfamiliar with at the time. About four months later, I began my Gen V journey and was instantly taken by the entire cast,...

It isn’t snagging a breakout role in a major Hollywood film, but once you do, the pressure doesn’t stop there. Picking the right follow-up projects, ones that allow an actor to continue honing their craft while also further solidifying the artist one wants to present to the industry, is of the utmost importance. That’s the phase we find Rachel Zegler in. After delivering a staggeringly beautiful debut feature performance in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, it's on to a beloved franchise, a...

There’s one department the Marvel Cinematic Universe is especially consistent in -- casting. And that’s in large part due to the brilliant eye of longtime franchise casting director Sarah Finn. She’s been with the series since 2008’s Iron Man and has been sending careers soaring ever since. One of her latest A+ finds? The effervescent star of Ms. Marvel and now The Marvels, Iman Vellani. There is no better fit for the role of Kamala Khan than Vellani. As an extremely passionate Marvel fan...

It’s been far too long since we’ve seen a movie like Bottoms — and in some respects, we’ve never seen anything quite like it. Sure, we’ve seen some recent high school comedies that venture into ranch territory, but Bottoms jumps feet first into that zone without even an ounce of hesitation, and once there, delivers non-stop hilarity while also deconstructing the high school comedy classic and highlighting what the formula’s been missing (and often getting wrong) all these years. Emma...

A “private creator” no more. After spending a good deal of time developing ideas and keeping them to herself, Molly Gordon makes her feature film writing, directing, and producing debut on Theater Camp, an achievement that will hopefully pave the way to continued work behind the lens with original ideas. Gordon shares her writing and producing credit on the film with longtime friends and collaborators Ben Platt, Noah Galvin, and Nick Lieberman, and also co-directs alongside Lieberman....

Avy Kaufman didn’t move to New York City with big screen ambitions, but one thing led to another, and she wound up becoming one of the most successful and prolific casting directors in Hollywood.  She cast Leonardo DiCaprio in The Basketball Diaries and Haley Joel Osment in his unforgettable one-two punch, The Sixth Sense and A.I. Artificial Intelligence. She’s worked on a number of films with Ang Lee and two films with the legendary Wes Craven, Music of the Heart and Scream 4. If we jump to...