Collider Ladies Night & Collider Forces

I’ve welcomed many actors I admire to Collider Ladies Night, but Thora Birch feels different. I grew up watching her. All I Want for Christmas, Hocus Pocus, Monkey Trouble, Now and Then — they all played on repeat in my home. From there, I followed her to the roles that earned her significant industry acclaim, a BAFTA nomination for American Beauty and a Golden Globe nomination for Ghost World.Since then, Birch has appeared on The Walking Dead and Mayfair Witches, made her directorial debut with The Gabby Petito Story, and now continues to make bold career choices, joining Kristen Stewart’s feature directorial debut, The Chronology of Water.Based on Lidia Yuknavitch’s acclaimed memoir, the film follows Imogen Poots as Lidia, a young woman who finds escape from her abusive home thanks to competitive swimming. However, that safe haven is rocked when she runs head first into a dizzying string of loss, addiction, and self-destructive choices before finding healing via her sister (played by Birch) and also through writing.With The Chronology of Water gearing up for its nationwide release, Birch visited the Collider Ladies Night studio to discuss her journey in film and television, beginning with early formative experiences on sets like Hocus Pocus and Patriot Games.

Since January 2024, few days have gone by without carving out some time to indulge in Sam Haft’s work. Every aspect of Hazbin Hotel on Prime Video is wow-worthy, but Haft and Andrew Underberg have a magnificent knack for crafting one earworm after the next. Oftentimes, one of their songs is the last thing I hear in my head before drifting off to sleep, and it’s the very first thing that comes to mind when I wake up the next day. I’m willing to bet many can relate because the Hazbin Hotel Season 1 soundtrack reached #13 on the Billboard 200, and now it’s happening all over again. The Hazbin Hotel Season 2 soundtrack managed to hit a high of #8 on the Billboard 200.The success of the soundtracks beyond the main series is a remarkable achievement, but one of the most staggeringly impressive aspects of Haft and Underberg’s work is how heavily, and successfully, their songs contribute to the Hazbin Hotel storyline. Yes, the songs can simply be a blast to listen to, but they’re also brimming with brilliant narrative subtext.With Hazbin Hotel Season 2 out in full, Haft took the time to swing by the Collider Forces studio to break down his journey to the hit Prime Video series, and also to dig into the creation of many of the Season 2 songs. He offered up a peek behind the curtain of much-talked-about tracks like “Gravity,” “Piss (A Love Song), and “Love in a Bottle,” but he also made a point to zero in on one particular aspect of “Live to Live" because he thinks it’s actually “the most important musical moment of the entire show.”

In this in-depth Collider Ladies Night interview, Critical Role’s Laura Bailey discusses adapting the second campaign into The Mighty Nein animated series for Prime Video. She also reflects on the early days of her voice acting career, Critical Role’s incredible growth over the years, and more.

I’ve been covering Amanda Seyfried’s work consistently since starting my career — particularly starting the best part of my career, focusing on interviews. In fact, one of my very first press days was for Atom Egoyan’s Chloe, which Seyfried headlines alongside Julianne Moore. With every press day that followed, I was constantly struck by Seyfried’s general warmth and her passion for her work, but especially by her openness while talking about it. About 25 years into her career, I’m still wowed by those same qualities, but a new one surfaced during our latest conversation, our very first Collider Ladies Night interview. It’s the importance Seyfried puts on being there for actors on the rise, like her The Housemaid co-star, Sydney Sweeney.The two star in the highly anticipated adaptation of Freida McFadden’s incredibly popular novel. Sweeney plays Millie, a young woman who accepts a job working as a housemaid for Seyfried’s character, Nina Winchester, and her family. Initially, it seems like a dream gig. The Winchester home is beautiful and Nina appears to be a lovely employer. However, on day one of the job, things take a turn. Or rather, Nina takes a turn.In celebration of The Housemaid’s release this weekend, and The Testament of Ann Lee’s upcoming rollout, Seyfried joined me for a Collider Ladies Night conversation to discuss the experiences that led her to this moment — a truly exceptional moment during which she has two wildly different films hitting theaters at about the same time, both featuring breathtaking work from her.

Ever since we started hosting live Collider Ladies Night panels at San Diego Comic-Con, we’ve been tempted to explore doing group editions of the show, and what better ensemble to start that with than the women of the new Knives Out movie?Mila Kunis, Cailee Spaeny and Kerry Washington are some of the latest to join Rian Johnson’s growing Knives Out family. In the third installment of the Oscar-nominated franchise, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, Spaeny and Washington play two of Monsignor Wicks’ (Josh Brolin) parishioners. Washington’s Vera Draven is a lawyer whose father was a close friend to Wicks before he passed, and Spaeny plays Simone Vivane, a renowned concert cellist struggling with health concerns.When Monsignor Wicks is suddenly killed in the middle of a service while totally alone in the storage closet, Kunis’ Police Chief Geraldine Scott calls upon Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) to investigate. Could Vera or Simone have killed Wicks? Or perhaps it was another member of his flock? Or, what about the church newcomer, Josh O’Connor’s Father Jud Duplenticy? This time around, Blanc will have to do the impossible — solve a locked-room murder mystery.The Knives Out movies have become highly regarded for their summer camp-like sets and for their unparalleled rosters of talent, and Wake Up Dead Man is no different. Not only are Kunis, Spaeny and Washington fantastic additions to this cinematic world, but they also rock a wonderful group dynamic in an interview setting, one oozing with enthusiasm for each other as people and artists, feelings that left them eager to reunite for another film.

Since wrapping her 137-episode run on Riverdale about two years ago, Lili Reinhart’s been determined to craft a filmography with intention. As she noted during our Collider Ladies Night conversation, she’s always been picky about the work she takes on, but in this next stage of her career, her time on Riverdale is giving her the opportunity to say no and only do films and shows “that make sense or speak to me in certain ways,” and she’s going to take it.Thus far, that mentality is working in Reinhart’s favor big time. This year she celebrated the release of American Sweatshop, a wildly intense and deeply chilling tale of a social media moderator responsible for ridding the internet of the most offensive content, and the toll that job takes on her. That movie, which features a exceptional lead performance from Reinhart is available to buy or rent on digital platforms. Next year the one to keep an eye on is Forbidden Fruits, in which Reinhart plays Apple, the leader of a coven called The Fruits that operates out of a Free People-like store in the mall. With an ensemble that includes Reinhart, Victoria Pedretti, Alexandra Shipp, and Lola Tung, there’s no doubt Forbidden Fruits will make waves when it hits theaters in 2026.But, a very special something you don’t have to wait for? Hal & Harper, a limited series that’s quietly one of the best new shows of 2026. From the mind of Cha Cha Real Smooth writer, director, and star, Cooper Raiff, Hal & Harper stars Reinhart opposite Raiff as the title brother and sister. Throughout eight episodes, the show explores Hal and Harper’s codependent relationship, digging into the benefits of having an impossibly loving and supportive sibling, while also showing how that dynamic is holding them back. In order to do that to the fullest, the show also cuts back to pivotal points in Hal and Harper’s childhood, scenes during which Raiff makes the bold decision to have him and Reinhart play the seven and nine-year-old versions of their characters — to great effect.Between American Sweatshop and Hal & Harper, Reinhart doesn’t just go two-for-two in 2025, but she starts to lock in the fact that she’s an undeniable star, an actor with range that Riverdale only scratched the surface of. Plus, it also proves that that pickiness is paying off. “Where you have maybe 25% control of your career, in that industry, I want to feel that I milked that percentage of what I could control.” So far, so good in that respect.

After scoring a BAFTA nomination and winning Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival for The Worst Person in the World, Renate Reinsve is rightfully zeroing in on her first Academy Award nomination for Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value.Reinsve leads the film, which is one of the year’s best, as stage actress Nora, the estranged daughter of acclaimed filmmaker Gustav Borg played by Stellan Skarsgård. When Gustav attempts to reconnect with Nora by offering her the lead role in his new film, she adamantly refuses, so Gustav turns to a Hollywood star instead, Elle Fanning as Rachel Kemp. Now Nora and her sister Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas) must navigate their complex family dynamic while their father focuses on what could be his comeback film after a 15-year hiatus.Yes, Reinsve delivers yet another staggeringly impressive performance that’s bound to pave the way to a significant awards season run, but as Reinsve explained while at the Collider Ladies Night studio, she didn’t always feel so widely embraced. In fact, much of her earlier years involved getting kicked out of places.

During Vivienne Medrano's second visit to the Collider Ladies Night studio, she goes all in on Hazbin Hotel Season 2, and also teases what to expect from Hazbin Hotel Season 3. Is this the end of the line for Vox, or will his journey of self-discovery continue next season? What was the inspiration behind that massive Angel Dust reveal? Has the time finally come - will we get Lilith in Season 3? Why does Medrano dub Lute a "sleeper villain?"Hear about all that and get a sense of when we can expect to see Hazbin Hotel Season 3 and Hazbin Hotel Season 4 during this edition of Collider Ladies Night!

Most actors are lucky to be part of a single major film franchise over the course of their career. However, in just five years, Katy O’Brian scored roles in three of the biggest franchises of all time — Star Wars, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Mission: Impossible. Yet another jaw-dropping and very well earned acting feat? Just a few months after Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning hit theaters, O’Brian had not one, not two, not three, but four major releases debut — Queens of the Dead, Christy, Maintenance Required, and now Edgar Wright’s adaptation of Stephen King’s The Running Man.O’Brian plays Jenni Laughlin in the film, one of three people selected to participate in The Network’s most popular and most dangerous game show, The Running Man. The risk is high, but so is the reward. If Laughlin, Glen Powell’s Ben Richards, or Martin Herlihy’s Jansky manage to evade McCone (Lee Pace) and The Hunters for 30 days, they win a whopping billion New Dollar reward. The odds of that happening? Mighty slim given no one’s ever won The Running Man, but producer Dan Killian (Josh Brolin) ensures their pursuit of that jackpot has sky-high entertainment value every single step of the way, even if it means putting the contestants’ lives at greater risk or manipulating his audience.With The Running Man now playing in theaters nationwide, O’Brian returns to Collider Ladies Night after first making an appearance on the “Pre-Party” edition of the show for the release of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and then being part of the first-ever live Ladies Night at San Diego Comic Con in celebration of Twisters. This time around, not only does O’Brian break down her experience playing “chaos personified” in The Running Man, but she also looks back on the last five years and reveals which projects opened new doors, and which ones didn’t boost her star in this industry as much as you might expect.