Zoe Kravitz says she initially wanted to call her upcoming film P***y Island, but changed the title to Blink Twice to maximize the film’s potential reach and ratings.
The 35-year-old actress spoke to Entertainment weekly about her film, which marks her debut as a director.
“It was made very clear to me that ‘p***y’ is a word that we, our society, are not ready to embrace,” the Los Angeles native told the outlet of the word choice in the film’s title.
Zoe, the daughter of rocker Lenny Kravitz (60) and actress Lisa Bonet (56), said that after years of working on the film’s script and storyline, she did not want to jeopardize the film’s commercial potential with a title that could be too provocative for the general public.
“There were a lot of obstacles along the way. The MPAA wouldn’t put it on a poster, billboard, or kiosk. Movie theaters wouldn’t put it on a ticket,” Zoe told the publication.
Zoe Kravitz, 35, wanted to call her upcoming film P***y Island but changed it to Blink Twice to maximise its potential reach and ratings. Pictured in LA in March 2023
The mystery thriller, which marks Zoe’s directorial debut, stars Naomi Ackie and Kravitz’s fiancée Channing Tatum
The Batman actress said that while the mystery thriller is aimed at empowering women, and that the title itself was intended to change the perception of the word, research she did indicated it could turn off female moviegoers.
“Interestingly, after doing some research, women were offended by the word. Women saw the title and said, ‘I don’t want to see that movie.’ That’s one of the reasons I wanted to use the word,” Kravitz said.
According to the former Big Little Lies employee, the original title was meant to “reclaim the word and not make it something that we’re uncomfortable using.”
Kravitz said she felt like “we’re not there yet as a society,” so she decided to retitle the film Blink Twice.
“I think as a filmmaker I have a responsibility to listen to that,” Kravitz said. “I care about people seeing the film, and I care about how people feel.”
Kravitz said she and co-writer ET Feigenbaum started writing the script for the film seven years ago and the original title was the first thing they put to paper.
“I think P***y Island was the first thing I wrote when I wrote this movie,” Kravitz said, “and it’s the seed of the movie. The spirit of what that means to me is still alive and present in the movie.”
Kravitz said she loves the new title, is “happy” with it and thinks “it really focuses the movie in a great way.”
Tatum stars as billionaire businessman Slater King in the film directed by his fiancée
Ackie and Alia Shawkat play the roles of Frida and Jess respectively in the summer thriller
Zoe and her father Lenny Kravitz were photographed in March when he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
“I think everything happens for a reason… and I think it was always meant to be that way,” Kravitz said.
The film’s storyline sees Tatum as billionaire businessman Slater King, who meets a cocktail waitress named Frida (Naomi Ackie) at a gala he’s attending. King invites Frida to join him on a vacation to a private island he owns.
“As strange things begin to happen, Frida questions her reality,” a logline for the film reads. “Something is wrong with this place. She’ll have to find out the truth if she wants to make it out of this party alive.”
Kravitz’s debut film as director features an all-star cast including Alia Shawkat, Christian Slater, Haley Joel Osment, Simon Rex, Adria Arjona, Kyle MacLachlan and Geena Davis.
The film will be in theaters from August 23.
