Zoë Kravitz spent years working on the script for her directorial debut, and while the story underwent many changes during development, the title always remained the same: Cat Island. But now that the thriller is about to debut in theaters, it’s under a new, less provocative title, Blink twice.
Kravitz had already made it clear that she was determined to retain the title. Cat Islandbut she now explains to Weekly Entertainment why the name had to change despite its initial plan.
“I’ve been very clear that the word ‘p—y’ is a word that we, as a society, are not yet ready to accept,” she says. “There have been many obstacles along the way, whether it’s the MPAA not wanting to put it on a poster or a billboard or a kiosk, or movie theaters not wanting to put it on a ticket.”
Carlos Somonte/Amazon
But the problems went beyond logistics. Kravitz, who was directing her first film, learned throughout the filmmaking process that the target audience she was trying to reach and empower with the title Cat Island In fact, I had the opposite reaction.
“It’s interesting that after doing research, women were offended by that word and when they saw the title, they said, ‘I don’t want to see that movie.’ That’s part of the reason I wanted to try to use that word, to try to reclaim it and not make it something that we’re so uncomfortable using,” Kravitz says. “But we’re not there yet. And I think that’s something that I have a responsibility to listen to as a filmmaker. I care about the people who see the movie and how it makes them feel.”
Carlos Somonte/Amazon
Blink twice, Written by Kravitz and E.T. Feigenbaum, the film stars Naomi Ackie as Frida, a cocktail waitress tired of being neglected who is invited to billionaire tech mogul Slater King’s (Channing Tatum) private island for what appears to be a non-stop lavish party. But she soon discovers that paradise isn’t all it seems after her best friend Jess (Alia Shawkat) goes missing, and none of the other partygoers seem to care — or even remember that Jess was there despite having met her just days earlier. This dark drama soon becomes a true fight for survival.
Kravitz began writing the script with Feigenbaum in 2017, and she says she still believes in the original title, even though she had to change it.
“I believe that Cat Island “That’s the first thing I wrote when I wrote this movie, and it’s the seed of the movie, and the spirit of what that means to me is still alive and very much in the movie,” she adds. “And I love the new title. I’m happy with the new title. I think everything happens for a reason, and I think it really focuses the movie in a great way. And I think that’s always the way it was meant to be.”
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Blink twice, also starring Christian Slater, Haley Joel Osment, Simon Rex, Kyle MacLachlan, Geena Davis and Trew Mullen, hits theaters August 23.
