Channing Tatum on Meeting Zoë Kravitz Through Her ‘Blink Twice’ Script

Channing Tatum and Zoë Kravitz are now engaged and teaming up for the release of Blink Twice, the film she directed and he stars in. Interestingly, the two had never met before Kravitz sent Tatum the script, which she co-wrote.

“It was pretty crazy, I didn’t really know Zoë before she sent me the script. I never had met her before — I got a text from Riley Keough saying, ‘Hey, my friend Zoë wants to send you a script.’ I was like, ‘Great, I love Zoë as an actress, I’d love to act with her.’ I didn’t know she wanted to make this thing,” Tatum told The Hollywood Reporter at the film’s Los Angeles premiere on Thursday.

She sent over the script, originally titled Pussy Island. “I was like, ‘OK, Zoë Kravitz is sending me something called Pussy Island. I think I should probably read this.’ And that was like six years ago. It’s been such a journey,” he continued. “The script has changed so much from the first time I read it to the final version. She’s truly going on a beautiful first-time director’s journey.”

Tatum, who received a special thank you from Kravitz during her speech at the premiere, commented on her directing skills, “She’s just an obsessive person, in the best possible way. She’s not just worried about the way it looks or the way the actors are playing their parts. It’s down from the floor to the ceiling; she just doesn’t ever stop. I was more in awe of that than anything. I knew she was creative and had taste. I knew she knew how to act and direct actors, and she obviously has a visual aesthetic.”

Blink Twice is a psychological thriller with Tatum starring as Slater King, a tech billionaire who meets cocktail waitress Frida (Naomi Ackie) at his fundraising gala. He invites her to join him and his friends on a vacation to his private island, where things start to go awry. The star-studded supporting cast includes Adria Arjona, Simon Rex, Alia Shawkat, Haley Joel Osment, Christian Slater, and Genna Davis.

Naomi Ackie echoed Tatum’s praise for Kravitz, saying, “We talked to the point where we had a real shorthand, a real understanding of what needed to be achieved. When Zoë said, ‘Action’ for the first time, it was like, ‘Right, let’s go, we know what we’re doing.’ There was a confidence there that is sometimes hard to attain. I felt confident from the beginning, and that’s not normal for me.”

Ackie added that Kravitz’s experience as a performer herself helped in directing them. “She speaks in a way to an actor that helps you. Sometimes, it’s hard to communicate from their brain, but an amazing director knows how to get exactly what they need from you. She knew exactly how to do that.”

Blink Twice hits theaters on Aug. 23.