Zoë Kravitz’s long-awaited directorial debut finally has a trailer. Blink Twice, which Kravitz co-wrote with E.T. Feigenbaum, stars Naomi Ackie, Channing Tatum, Christian Slater, Simon Rex, Adria Arjona, Kyle MacLachlan, Haley Joel Osment, Geena Davis, and Alia Shawkat. Of course, the horror film was originally titled something totally different, but the trailer makes clear why Blink Twice is an apt name for the new movie, which premieres August 23.
“When tech billionaire Slater King (Channing Tatum) meets cocktail waitress Frida (Naomi Ackie) at his fundraising gala, sparks fly. He invites her to join him and his friends on a dream vacation on his private island,” reads the film’s synopsis. “It’s paradise. Wild nights blend into sun soaked days and everyone’s having a great time. No one wants this trip to end, but as strange things start to happen, Frida begins to question her reality. There is something wrong with this place. She’ll have to uncover the truth if she wants to make it out of this party alive.”
Blink Twice was once called Pussy Island, and in 2022, the actor-turned-director was bullish about retaining the provocative name. “The title came from that world. The title is the seed of the story,” she told The Wall Street Journal at the time. “It represents this time where it would be acceptable for a group of men to call a place that, and the illusion that we’re out of that time now.”
Despite losing its edgy title, the darkness that shadows Slater King’s unquestionable power is evident in the trailer. In the same WSJ interview, Kravitz said she “wanted to find someone who hadn’t played a dark character before, because I think that’s exciting to watch someone who’s mostly played boy next door, good guy, love interest, all of that.” Of her leading man Tatum, she explained, “I felt, even from afar, before I knew him, that he was a feminist and that he wasn’t afraid of exploring that darkness, because he knows he’s not that. That’s why I was drawn to him and wanted to meet with him. And I was right.”
Tatum agreed that in Blink Twice he plays “someone a little darker than I’ve ever played,” as he explained to Entertainment Weekly. “We are definitely exploring some very uncomfortable themes, and, I don’t want to give away too much, but I’ve definitely never played a character like [this]. It was scary to play, because it’s definitely going to be a talk piece when it comes out. I think people are really gonna want to talk about it. That’s kind of the point, in a way. It’s meant to unsettle you.”
Tatum, who described the film as a “crazy thriller,” posted on social media that the movie is “near and dear to my heart in more ways that I can count.” Blink Twice evolved from not just a creative collaboration, but into a romantic partnership between Tatum and Kravitz, who are now engaged. “Whether it was making me tea or pouring me a drink or going to whip someone into shape or whatever — he really was my protector and it was really wonderful and sweet,” Kravitz shared with GQ. “I think if you can do something like that together, it’s a good test. And we came out even stronger.”