Collider Ladies Night & Collider Forces

A mere week into the New Year and we already have a new release that’ll likely wind up being one of the best horror movies of 2026.

Johnny Sequoyah leads Johannes Roberts’ Primate as Lucy. While visiting her father (Troy Kotsur) and sister (Gia Hunter) back home in Hawaii, another family member of Lucy's takes a turn — their chimp, Ben. Ben is bitten by a rabid mongoose. While Lucy and her friends enjoy the family pool and dream-like views, Ben loses himself to the sickness and becomes, as Roberts put it, “the Freddy Krueger of chimps,” and brutally starts picking them off one by one.

With Primate playing in theaters nationwide, Sequoyah swung by the Collider Ladies Night studio to dig into her journey, including highs like working with a legend like Alfonso Cuarón, and also the lows of being recast in a show. On top of that, Sequoyah offered up a behind-the-scenes look at the staggeringly impressive movie magic required to create her Primate scene partner, Ben the killer chimp.
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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.
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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.”
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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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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.
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