Why Did Zoë Kravitz Change the Title of Pussy Island?

Fans are eagerly awaiting Zoë Kravitz’s directorial debut, Blink Twice, previously known as Pussy Island. The sudden change of the movie’s title has captured the audience’s curiosity. This thriller follows a cocktail waitress who embarks on a trip to a private island with her new tech mogul boyfriend. However, the adventure takes a dark turn when a friend suddenly vanishes.

Zoë Kravitz decided to rename Pussy Island to Blink Twice in response to criticism over the original title. Although Kravitz initially intended for the title to empower the target audience, it elicited a negative response, which led to the official name change.

In a recent conversation with Entertainment Weekly, Kravitz discussed the reasons behind the title change. She acknowledged that Pussy Island wouldn’t be well-received by society. Additionally, she encountered challenges in marketing the movie, as the MPAA wasn’t prepared to display the original title on kiosks, advertisements, billboards, or tickets.

Despite maintaining the title throughout the filmmaking process, Kravitz opted for the change at the last moment after researching audience reactions. She realized that the title didn’t empower the target audience but instead offended them.

Kravitz elaborates, “Interestingly enough, after researching it, women were offended by the word. Women seeing the title were saying, ‘I don’t want to see that movie,’ which is part of the reason I wanted to try and use the word—to reclaim it and not make it something that we are so uncomfortable using.”

Kravitz began writing the movie in 2017 and was adamant about keeping the original title, Pussy Island. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, she believed the original title was the “seed of the story” and that it represented current times.

“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,” she adds. Despite these beliefs, she ultimately prioritized the audience’s reactions and made the change for the better.

Source: Entertainment Weekly, Wall Street Journal