Collider Ladies Night & Collider Forces

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 Board of Review. Now Barden is busy stealing scenes in yet another significant way. She’s doing so in one of the most popular franchises out there opposite some of the industry’s greatest icons.Barden plays a young Valya Harkonnen in Dune: Prophecy. While living on Lankiveil, Valya frequently butts heads with her family who seemingly have no urgency to restore the Harkonnen name by taking revenge on the Atreides. After her brother’s murder, allegedly at the hands of Vorian Atreides, Valya joins the Sisterhood where she quickly discovers she holds great power and has few limitations when it comes to using it on others to get what she wants.With Dune: Prophecy wrapping up its first season, Barden joined me for a Collider Ladies Night conversation to revisit her journey to the franchise and to dig into how she found her Dune character alongside Emily Watson. Barden also offers her thoughts on a number of key scenes for Valya this season, and pinpoints what she’d love to see happen in the show’s recently announced second season. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist is epic. In fact, it’s a three hour and 35 minute epic that afforded Felicity Jones 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 with hopes of building a new life in America. Separated from his wife, Jones’ Erzsébet, during the war, he settles in Pennsylvania alone with hopes she’ll join him there soon. Eventually, László gets what appears to be a dreamy offer from a wealthy industrialist, Guy Pearce’s Harrison Lee Van Buren. After coming to learn about László’s famed work overseas, Harrison hires him to craft his own dream project, to build a grand scale community center in honor of his late mother. It’s an opportunity for László to establish a foundation in his new home no doubt, but it’s also one that’s riddled with complications involving legacy and power.While Jones may not appear on screen during that period, Erzsébet’s presence is felt via her own voice over and what she means to László. Essentially, the audience spends half the film awaiting her arrival and fantasizing about how it might play out. When the moment does finally come, anticipation is through the roof, and Jones makes the most of it. When Erzsébet enters the picture, alongside their niece Zsófia (Raffey Cassidy), it quickly becomes abundantly clear that she is an undeniable force determined to build the best possible life for her family in their new home.With The Brutalist now playing in select theaters, Jones joined me for a Collider Ladies Night interview to revisit the path she’s carved for herself in cinema thus far, and to discuss making The Brutalist with Corbet, including her experience working on one particularly intense emotional beat that might very well be one of the best scenes of 2024. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 the ensemble of yet another brilliant comedy and drama combo, Netflix’s No Good Deed.At the center of Liz Feldman’s (Dead to Me) latest for the streamer, we find Lisa Kudrow and Ray Romano as Lydia and Paul Morgan, a couple gearing up to sell their gorgeous 1920s Spanish-style Los Feliz villa. The appeal of the property sparks a bidding war, a war Jacobson’s Leslie finds herself right smack in the middle of. Leslie and her wife Sarah, played by Poppy Liu, are ready to do just about anything to snag the house, but then they start to suspect there might be some dark and dangerous secrets tied to the property — secrets that’ll test how far they’re truly willing to go to get their dream home. As we now come to expect from a Liz Feldman show, No Good Deed is a laugh-out-loud romp that’s also brimming with heart and pathos. Jacobson is especially adept at achieving a pitch-perfect blend of the two qualities, further cementing the fact that she’s not only a hugely talented comedic actress, but a dramatic star, too. In celebration of No Good Deed’s release on Netflix, Jacobson swung by for a Collider Ladies Night chat to revisit her choice to leave the Atlantic Theater Company for the The Upright Citizens Brigade, and how, all these years later, she’s finally come to accept that she didn't have to study at an acting conservatory to take on dramatic roles. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 congressman Rubens Paiva (Selton Mello). Based on Marcelo Rubens Paiva’s book, I’m Still Here chronicles the deeply profound fortitude Eunice exhibits as she both keeps her family together and earns a law degree in hopes of contributing to holding the government accountable for the human rights abuses committed during this period.While the movie itself appears to be in good shape in Best International Feature, Best Actress has proven to be an especially competitive category this year. Many prognosticators are favoring the work of Mikey Madison in Anora, Karla Sofía Gascón in Emilia Pérez, Cynthia Erivo in Wicked, Nicole Kidman in Babygirl, and Angelina Jolie in Maria in particular. All phenomenal performances worthy of the praise they’re receiving, but don’t be surprised if we see someone climb those ranks in the coming weeks, and I’m predicting that someone could and should be Fernanda Torres.In celebration of the film’s award season run and upcoming theatrical release, Torres joined me for a Collider Ladies Night conversation to revisit the significant moments that molded her as an actor and artist, and to discuss her experience making I’m Still Here, an experience that often transcended acting and felt more like being. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.