Light, Camera, Amber!
“I want to do everything – there’s no world where you would have asked me what I wanted to do, and I would have come up with the fifth installment of a Predator movie as a period piece,” Amber Midthunder shares with her friend Ayo Edebiri, a month after taking over Hollywood VOLUME and its Pioneertown-inspired rooftop for our photoshoot. Since lighting up our screens in 2022 with her breakout role in Prey, Midthunder has been anything but idle, and she continues to cement herself as a force of nature who can do it all. Earlier this year, she wrapped season two of Apple TV+’s Godzilla spin-off, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. Then, in March, she had two films out in theaters, where she stole every scene she was in – as Jack Quaid’s love interest in Paramount’s action-packed comedy Novocaine, and as a quiet yet terrifying cultist in A24’s thriller Opus, opposite Edebiri.
Before hitting the road again for her next job, Midthunder called up Edebiri to delve into the richness of her Indigenous and Thai heritage, and what makes her one of Hollywood’s fearless trailblazers and an action hero for a new generation.
AYO EDEBIRI: I often have a hard time whenever people are like, “What do you want to do next?” How do you approach things like that?
AMBER MIDTHUNDER: No, I hate that question, because the ADHD is real and I want to do everything. I want to do Novocaine, and I also want to do Opus … And there’s no world where you would have asked me what I wanted to do, and I would have come up with the fifth installment of a Predator movie as a period piece. I feel like the best things that have happened to me are the ones that I never would have imagined.
AMBER MIDTHUNDER: When everyone asks me about Opus, that’s the number one thing I say. I’m like, “I don’t remember anything other than how I almost blacked out trying to chase [Ayo].” Remember how I talked about learning from our cast members? I lied. All I remember is how fast you run! [Laughs]
AYO EDEBIRI: [Laughs] Well, listen, you are the action queen.
AMBER MIDTHUNDER: I’ve somehow made it out without having to run that much. I don’t run, I fight!
AYO EDEBIRI: You get up close, I run. You’re fight, and I’m flight. We complete each other. [Laughs]
AYO EDEBIRI: If you had to pick a movie to do next, what would it be? Or you can pick anywhere from a director, a genre, or four actors if you are getting really inspired.
AMBER MIDTHUNDER: I’d say Celine Song, because Past Lives is probably my favorite movie ever. I love Michelle Yeoh, the queen. Everything she does is incredible. I really want to do a movie with Lily Gladstone – and you. Let’s do a movie together, and we’ll fight this time.
AYO EDEBIRI: I love you being like, “You can come along, I guess.” [Laughs]