Blink Twice: Zoë Kravitz and Naomi Ackie on Making People Just Right and How Channing Tatum Helped Change the Ending
You could talk about intense topics like this forever. How do you know when the script is done?
Kravitz: I was like, “Naomi, this is the new scene we’re shooting right now.” We were rewriting the whole time, so it never ended. But specifically because of the subject matter of the film, we basically had to rewrite it so many times because the culture and the conversation and what the characters would perceive and how they would experience things kept changing. That was the hardest part—and also the fun part—of the film and the story was this living, breathing thing.
I think we got it to where it feels current. We got to where we felt like, “Yeah, this is a conversation that we still don’t think is necessarily happening.”
Naomi, how did you initially react to a script called Pussy Island?
Akie: I was so sad. Seriously. “Zoë Kravitz, Pussy Island.” Where do I sign? Then I was like, “Okay, great. I have to read this before I talk to her.” When I read it, I had a lot of thoughts. There are so many different layers to this. You might think, “Oh, okay, don’t go to a private island—great.” We all know, don’t talk to strangers. But beyond that, you can go deeper and deeper and deeper. It encourages conversation. When we talk, there’s a lot to talk about.
Kravitz: And you got it so quickly. The tone is so specific. Some people read this and we’re just like, “That’s crazy, man.” And for you to get it so easily, it’s like, “Oh, of course. This is my Frida.”
Akie: Remember when I said, “Please, can I do this?”
Kravitz: And I was like, “Oh, aren’t we on the same page? Bitch, you were picked from the beginning of this conversation. You were picked, like, yesterday.” We first met in New York—we had tacos and hung out in Brooklyn. You came to my house, we just talked until the sun came up. It was great. I love you.
Akie: It was perfect. And I felt like it just kept going. Then we got to do it in Mexico. And the fact that we did it together? Oh my god. Shit. Sorry. I shouldn’t have sworn on Vanity Fair?
Naomi, the audience experiences a lot of the story through the close-ups of your incredibly expressive face. What was it like watching the film for the first time, and how did you feel watching yourself in general?
Akie: It’s complicated. But it’s really complicated with this movie. I went to the screening in London—me, Alia [Shawkat] and Zoë—she was very worried.
Kravitz: I was so nervous. I was like, “This is great. But I just want to have this drink…” All I really cared about was that my actors were proud of what we did.
