Collider Ladies Night & Collider Forces

Julia Garner  has amassed an incredibly varied filmography over the years. Her first feature credit was the Sundance darling Martha Marcy May Marlene , she won three Emmys for playing Ruth Langmore in Netflix’s hit crime drama Ozark , and she’s about to make her franchise debut in one of the most anticipated films of the year, The Fantastic Four: First Steps . However, there’s one partic...

Just a year after celebrating a Best International Feature Film nomination at the Oscars for The Teachers’ Lounge , which marked her first lead role in a feature, Leonie Benesch is back on the awards circuit with a filmmaking feat, Tim Fehlbaum ’s unique approach to depicting the devastating events at the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics, September 5 .  The film features a top-tier ensemble that i...

Maria Bakalova knows what she’s doing when it comes to finding top-tier creative partners in film and television. As a student studying at the National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts in Bulgaria, she gravitated toward acclaimed filmmakers Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov , a directing duo she still works with to this day. She met Julian Kostov in 2019 when he shared a casting notice for Bor...

Robbie Williams is a hugely popular singer and songwriter. He set a record by winning 18 Brit Awards and has two Grammy nominations to his name. Williams has churned out six of the top 100 best-selling albums in British history, amassed an audience of 375,000 fans over three nights performing at Knebworth, setting a record that’s yet to be surpassed, and has sold 85 million album worldwide. The li...

As I note during this new edition of Collider Ladies Night , while watching a A Complete Unknown , during Monica Barbaro ’s first scene of the film, I scribbled down one note — “Monica — WOW,” and then proceeded to underline it quite a few times. She’s downright electric as Joan Baez , the renowned singer, songwriter and musician who developed a professional and personal relationship with Bob...

I had to wait until December 19th, but I finally got my greatest belly laugh of 2024 courtesy of Ghosts . In "A Very Arondekar Christmas Part 1,” while attempting to fix the water heater, Sam and Jay ( Utkarsh Ambudkar ) suffer a shock, sparking another possession. Pete ( Richie Moriarty ) possesses Jay while Rose McIver ’s Sam, a certified people-pleaser with a big heart who’s often quite concern...

Jessica Barden is an undeniable force on screen. I first saw her in The End of the F***ing World on Netflix and immediately knew she had a one-of-a-kind energy that was bound to make any project she was part of sizzle. Sure enough, she did just that for a number of independent features, including Nicole Riegel ’s Holler , which was named one of the Top Ten Independent Films of 2021 by the National...

Brady Corbet ’s The Brutalist is epic. In fact, it’s a three hour and 35 minute epic that afforded Felicity Jone s a rather unique performance opportunity. Her character, Erzsébet Tóth, doesn’t appear on screen until about halfway through the film, after its 15-minute intermission.  The Brutalist begins by focusing on Adrien Brody ’s László Toth, a famous architect who flees post-war Europe w...

Thanks to the success of the beloved Comedy Central series, Broad City , Abbi Jacobson is widely known as a comedic force in film and television. But, as of late, she’s busy uniting her comedy skillset with more dramatic performance opportunities, and the power of her ability to do both is undeniable. After soaring in the canceled-too-soon Prime Video series, A League of Their Own , Jacobson joins...

As we near the New Year, awards season has come into focus and things are looking quite good for international feature contender I’m Still Here . Set in Brazil in the 1970s, a time of military dictatorship, the biographical drama puts the spotlight on Eunice Paiva (Torres), a mother of five who’s forced to forge forward after the disappearance of her husband, former Brazilian Labour Party congress...

June Squibb is a legend. She’s a legend with a slew of stage experience, dozens and dozens of film and TV credits to her name, and an Academy Award nomination for her performance in Nebraska . However, it wasn’t until just now, in her 90s, that she finally scored her first lead role in a film, Josh Margolin ’s feature directorial debut, Thelma . An absurdity, in my opinion. But, that’s not how Squ...

Get ready for the rise of  Chloe East . She headlined 2016’s  Jessica Darling’s It List , appeared in a number of episodes of  Liv and Maddie , and was a series regular on both  Kevin (Probably) Saves the World  and the 2021 HBO Max series  Generation , but the one-two punch of  The Fabelmans  and  Heretic  in the feature film realm will undoubtedl...

If you frequent Collider Ladies Night , you’re likely well aware that I’m a massive Scream fan. The franchise heavily contributed to making me the movie lover I am today, and it’s also a big reason why I pursued a career in the industry. Given that, it’ll probably come as no surprise that I especially love seeing Scream alum soar in film and television, and one particular Scream star is having a g...

I first became aware of Wunmi Mosaku at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival . Her feature, His House , premiered there and not only was the film itself exquisite, but Mosaku herself was a top-tier interview, brimming with passion and enthusiasm for her craft. From that point on, I’ve made it a priority to seek out Mosaku’s past work and keep up with all of her new releases, and it’s paid off big time....

The pressure was on for Genesis Rodriguez in Lioness Season 2 . Not only is the show, in general, a heavy lift, tackling complex subject matter loaded with hugely demanding story beats, but she also had to follow in the footsteps of Laysla De Oliveira , the titular Lioness of Season 1 . Special Ops: Lioness stars Zoe Saldaña as Joe, the head of a clandestine CIA operation — the Lioness program. Jo...

Phillipa Soo   first   saw her star soar courtesy of one of the greatest successes in Broadway history,  Lin-Manuel Miranda ’s  Hamilton . Ever since scoring a Tony nomination for Best Actress in a Musical for playing Eliza, Soo’s been scooping up new opportunities on stage and screen, prioritizing being grateful and present for every single one of them, including her latest,&n...

What  Sophie Thatcher ’s managed to accomplish in recent years, in general, is downright phenomenal. But, as someone who proudly dubs horror her #1, I can’t help but be especially excited about how Thatcher’s solidified herself as a dominant force in the genre. Soon after  Yellowjackets  proved Thatcher was an all-around powerhouse when it debuted in late 2021, she scored the lead r...

Rosemarie DeWitt may not love watching horror movies, but she’s certainly an absolute ace when acting in them. Soon after Smile became a genre sensation in 2022 , Paramount green lit a sequel . While it was abundantly clear that first-time feature filmmaker Parker Finn was a next-level creative with an exceptional eye for top-tier talent and eerie imagery, the truth of the matter is, we don’t ofte...

Horror films are rarely embraced on the awards circuit, but there’s no denying that  Naomi Scott  gives  one of the very best performances  of 2024 in  Smile 2 . After depicting an intimate and grounded nightmare in 2022’s  Smile  via  Sosie Bacon ’s Rose, a therapist,  writer-director Parker Finn  is putting the Smile curse on a bigger stage...

“I really wanted to be the number one on the call sheet in every movie I’ve ever done. It just never went that way.” Perhaps it never went quite that way for Matthew Lillard , but his career in film, television and beyond has taken a unique turn over the years, and it’s an important one. Lillard isn’t headlining films — although I do have high hopes that will change — but he is getting supporting...

It’s What’s Inside  quickly became one of my favorite films of the 2024 Sundance Film Festival and I was beyond thrilled  to get the opportunity to chat  with director  Greg Jardin  and his ensemble while in Park City. But, one person was missing from the conversation and, if you’ve seen  It’s What’s Inside , you well know that the film’s concept hinges on every singl...

During her third appearance on Collider Ladies Night , Kate Siegel laughed and said, “It's so cliché for an actor to be like, ‘Oh, what I really want to do is direct,’ but I think what I really want to do is direct.” With each and every interview I’ve done with Siegel, for Ladies Night and beyond , it’s become more and more clear that not only does she have a firm handle on her craft as an actor,...

Roughly 10 years ago, when I was in my early days of covering film festivals, I was thrilled to get the opportunity to sit down with the team responsible for a movie that spotlighted a group of women who were, and still are, utter forces in film and television. That team? The filmmakers behind Raze , led by prolific stunt performer and coordinator, Zoë Bell . Well aware of her work in Kill Bill ,...

I’ve been a very big fan of Mackenzie Davis ’ for some time. I quite enjoyed our very first interview for What If back in 2013 and, like many out there, absolutely adored the AMC series, Halt and Catch Fire . While my enthusiasm for Davis’ work continues, the more we talk, the more why I’m drawn to her work in general comes into focus. During this latest conversation, Davis noted, “I do really giv...

Mark my words; one of the greatest discoveries of the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, or perhaps the year in its entirety, is bound to be Maisy Stella . Stella isn’t new to the industry. She was on the hit series Nashville for six seasons, but My Old Ass proves her talent in a new way. Not only does the movie mark her very first feature film, but she’s also the lead of it, cementing the fact that she...