Collider Ladies Night & Collider Forces Collider

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 International Film Festival for Carmen’s world premiere, and then again in March 2023 for a second Ladies Night in celebration of the release of Scream VI. 
One of the greatest joys of having two Ladies Night conversations a mere year apart with Barrera? Seeing how much she manages to accomplish in that short span, and hearing about how deeply she considers those experiences and how that impacts her goals and perspective on the industry going forward. At that point, making the independent feature, Your Monster, which just premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, heavily influenced her priorities for herself in filmmaking. In March 2023 she explained, “I had a mentality of like, I need to do something big to make a splash and to make a name for myself so that I can green light projects.” However, after working on Your Monster and also The Collaboration, that switched to, “I just want to do projects that speak to my soul and that stretch me.”
Perspective shifts happen often, and should. What good are our experiences if we don’t grow and learn from them? Barrera, however, powered through a rather seismic one since our last Collider Ladies Night interview after she was shockingly fired from Scream 7 due to social media posts regarding the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. During this new Ladies Night interview, Barrera detailed how that and other recent experiences in Hollywood have heavily impacted her understanding of what she’s here to do. From there we lean into yet another new release that solidifies Barrera as a horror genre powerhouse, and bonafide movie star, her latest collaboration with Radio Silence, Abigail.

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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, but we also got to celebrate yet another exceptional show of hers, Prime Video’s Fallout.
Purnell plays Lucy in the series adaptation of the hugely popular Bethesda game. She’s a vault dweller living safe and sound in Vault 33. They’ve got food, water, and a kind community with a neighborly vibe. Above ground, however, it’s the exact opposite. 219 years since nuclear bombs decimated the surface, everyone else is just trying to survive in an apocalyptic wasteland with little to no rules or morals. In an effort to find her father (Kyle MacLachlan), Lucy opts to do the unthinkable, leave the comfort of sheltered vault life behind to venture out into the ruthless outside world.
In celebration of Fallout’s big debut on Prime Video, Purnell joined me for a Ladies Night conversation to recap her journey in film and television thus far, and discuss how her career priorities have changed over the years.

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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 Newark’s Ironbound neighborhood. He’s in a relationship with Francesca Reale’s Haley, but is coming to learn that they might not be on the same page about how and when to find success and stability as a young adult in this world. Could Mendes’ Isabella be the solution? Soon after meeting her, he becomes convinced she understands him better than anyone. But, is it ever that simple?
With Música celebrating its big debut on Prime Video this week, Mendes carved out some time to join me for a Collider Ladies Night conversation to discuss her experience finding her way after Riverdale, and coming to realize that producing is of great interest.

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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 suffered horrific hallucinations and visions. As a result, she was abused by the nuns in the facility. As a young adult, Margaret is in the novitiate phase and heads off to Rome to become a nun. While there, the pain she carries from her tumultuous childhood collides with the discovery of a sinister agenda unfolding around her, a combination that causes her to question her faith, and everything she thought she knew.
In celebration of The First Omen’s big debut, Free joined me for a Collider Ladies Night conversation recapping her journey from first discovering her passion for acting to finding an ideal collaborator in Stevenson while making The First Omen.

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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 stepdaughters, Alice (Pyper Braun) and Taylor (Taegen Burns). Soon after moving in, the youngest, Alice, develops an attachment to a stuffed bear named Chauncey. Jess and Max brush it off as a charming connection between a child and her imaginary friend, but when Chauncey’s scavenger hunt becomes increasingly sinister and dangerous, Jess is forced to accept the fact that Chauncey might be more than a stuffed toy, and he might also have a connection to her own long-forgotten past.
Check out this edition of Collider Ladies Night to hear all about Wise's experience starring in and executive producing Imaginary, where she thinks the Jurassic World franchise should go next, the nightmarish note she received while preparing for Captain Marvel, and loads more!

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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 headlines the film as Elodie, a young woman who agrees to marry a handsome prince (Nick Robinson) in hopes that his kingdom’s riches will help her family’s struggling people. However, nearly immediately after the two are wed, Elodie discovers the truth behind their union; his family is using her as a sacrifice to repay an ancient debt. She’s thrown into a cave with a dragon, kicking off a story that subverts the traditional damsel in distress narrative. There is no savior. It’s up to Elodie to save herself.
During our Collider Ladies Night conversation in celebration of Damsel’s March 8th release on Netflix, Brown took a moment to look back on Stranger Things’ big debut, tease her upcoming film The Electric State, reveal the Damsel scene she feared she couldn't do, and loads more. Hear about it all straight from Brown in this Collider Ladies Night interview!

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