By Mikaela Viqueira |
Los Angeles (USA) (EFE).- Zoë Kravitz makes her debut as a film director with ‘Blink Twice’, a suspense thriller that takes her to a private island to witness a dark reality starring Channing Tatum and Naomi Ackie.
“It’s a story about humanity and humans in general, and that there’s something for everyone. I think some people will feel validated and seen, and I hope others will feel like they understand a little bit more what many of us go through,” Kravitz said in an interview with EFE.
Zoë Kravitz’s behind-the-scenes debut
In a dance between black comedy and psychological suspense, the American director wanted to explore in her first film the concept and dynamics of power, as well as find “a way to highlight the absurdity of so many things in our culture that have been normalized.”
From left to right, American actor Channing Tatum, American film director, writer and producer Zoe Kravitz and British actress Naomi Ackie attend the European film premiere of ‘Blink Twice’ in Leicester Square in London (United Kingdom). EFE/Andy Rain
“Women are almost always asked to smile through their pain and pretend they are okay when they are not. We talk to each other without saying anything out loud, with our eyes, because we are afraid to say what we really feel, and although we have come to see it as something normal, it is not and it should not be,” she explains.
Journey to the heart of a paranormal island
Tech billionaire Slater King (Tatum) meets waitress Frida (Ackie) at a charity gala and sparks fly. To get to know each other further, he invites her to join his friends on a dream vacation to his private island.
Frida and her best friend Jess (Alia Shawkat) join a select group of women destined for paradise: they enjoy the sun, the pool water and wild nights until strange and creepy things start to happen that make them question reality.
There is something wrong there and Frida must discover it if she really wants to get off the island alive.
A select group of friends
The group of traveling friends is completed by Puerto Rican actress Adria Arjona, who plays Sarah; Geena Davis (Stacy), Simon Rex (Cody), Haley Joel Osment (Tom), Levon Thurman-Hawke (Lucas), Kyle Maclachlan (Rich), Liz Caribel (Camila) and Trew Mullen (Heather).
The result of this film culminates a five-year work process for Kravitz, who always seemed interested in directing her own film, despite the “intense and very wild” challenge that it represented.
“When we finished the script, I felt like I was seeing this movie in my mind. It was clearly so specific that I didn’t know how it would be possible to give it to someone, to someone else to direct,” he admits.
American film director, writer and producer Zoe Kravitz attends the European film premiere of ‘Blink Twice’ at Leicester Square in London (United Kingdom). EFE/Andy Rain
Directing “is hard work and it’s a little soul-crushing, but it’s also soul-strengthening and ego-crushing, and you just have to go along for the ride,” he adds.
For Tatum (‘Dancing – Step Up’, ‘Magic Mike’), who also served as producer of the feature film, the most challenging part was, without a doubt, “seeing Zoë complain about the editing,” he tells EFE.
“Every day was a mountain to climb. Watching your partner come in and struggle with this puzzle every day was probably the hardest thing for me,” she says.
The bad habit of downplaying black women
‘Blink Twice’ debunks the stereotype of a black woman starring in a movie that doesn’t deal with racial issues, as Hollywood usually illustrates.
“It’s very difficult to find complex characters in the lead role where they can be dynamic without having to address their differences, and I don’t think that’s just about black people,” Ackie told EFE.
For her, it was “refreshing” to read a script that did not try to pigeonhole her into the recurring roles that black people take on in the film industry.
“Hopefully it will continue to happen, and I know for a fact that a lot of people feel the same way as we do and are doing the work, but I think it’s more about the gatekeepers of our industry opening the doors and allowing that to happen because the more it happens, the less of an anomaly it will be,” he says.
