Despite her extensive experience working on movie and TV sets, Zoë Kravitz wasn’t prepared to say “Action!” right away when directing “Blink Twice.”
“It was crazy. I think I started saying, ‘Let’s go!’ because ‘Action!’ gave me anxiety,” Zoë Kravitz told me at the Los Angeles premiere of her directorial debut. “It was ‘Let’s go! and ‘Here we go!’”
“Blink Twice” tells the story of two friends (Naomi Ackie and Alia Shawkat) who are invited by a tech mogul (Channing Tatum) to join him and a group of friends (Christian Slater, Simon Rex, Haley Joel Osment and Levon Hawke) on his private island. Things go awry after days of drinking and drugging.
Related Stories
Channing Tatum recalled shooting a teaser for “Blink Twice” before they made the psychological thriller. “I knew we were in for a true creative grind, and that’s why it’s such a good movie,” he said.
Popular on Variety
Meanwhile, Naomi Ackie praised Zoë Kravitz’s work behind the camera, saying: “I think after the first take, we were all like, ‘Alright, mate, you’re doing it!’ There’s a lot that you do as a director and there’s a lot that you have to have a handle on, and she handled it so well. I get very easily overwhelmed, so it was inspiring to see her doing it. We were filming in Mexico in the middle of the Yucatan during the summer, and there’s things going wrong constantly.”
While snakes play a pivotal role in the film, it was spiders that the cast and crew had to watch out for during filming. “There were baby scorpions and tarantulas, and I was getting bitten by fire ants and stuff,” Ackie said. “It was my fault because there was a sign that said, ‘Do not step here because of fire ants,’ and I stepped there.”
Although Zoë Kravitz’s rock star father, Lenny Kravitz, did not attend the movie’s Los Angeles premiere, he did appear not long after at the London premiere. Not only is he a proud dad, but he also makes a cameo in the film.
“It’s for a split second,” Zoë Kravitz said of her father’s cameo, laughing.
How truthful she is. The “American Woman” singer is seen in a video post while Ackie’s character is scrolling through Instagram. It’s footage of Lenny Kravitz working out in a gym in a see-though tank top, leather pants and sunglasses. “I just thought it would be funny,” Zoë Kravitz explained.
Her mother, Lisa Bonet, doesn’t appear in “Blink Twice.” “She does spiritually,” Zoë Kravitz said. “She was my anchor throughout the whole film.”
Of course, I had to ask her about “Big Little Lies” Season 3 being in development, as both Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon previously told Variety that they are working on a new season. Zoë Kravitz sounded hopeful that a third season will happen. She hasn’t seen a script yet but said, “I’m waiting eagerly.”
