Zoë Kravitz’s ‘Pussy Island’ Retitled ‘Blink Twice,’ Lands Summer 2024 Release Date

Samantha Bergeson
·2 min read
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Turns out Zoë Kravitz did, in fact, change the name of her provocative “Pussy Island.” Kravitz’s feature directorial debut, which she co-wrote with “High Fidelity” scribe E.T. Feigenbaum, will receive a theatrical release from Amazon MGM Studios on August 23 as the newly-titled “Blink Twice.”

Kravitz previously told The Wall Street Journal Magazine that she would not change the name of the feature after writing it in 2017 and later updating the script “a million times” as the #MeToo movement made her rethink the premise.

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“Blink Twice” follows tech billionaire Slater King (Channing Tatum), who invites cocktail waitress Frida (Naomi Ackie) on a dream vacation to his private island. Yet, while on the trip, strange things start to happen and Frida begins to question her reality.

Alia Shawkat, Simon Rex, Adria Arjona, Haley Joel Osment, Christian Slater, Kyle MacLachlan, and Geena Davis round out the cast. “Blink Twice” is produced by writer/director Kravitz, Bruce Cohen, Tiffany Persons, and Garret Levitz.

Kravitz formerly said the name “Pussy Island” was the “seed of the story,” telling WSJ that “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.”

The film is co-produced by actor (and Kravitz’s fiancé) Tatum, and according to Kravitz, was “born out of a lot of anger and frustration around the lack of conversation about the treatment of women, specifically in industries that have a lot of money in them, like Hollywood, the tech world, all of that.”

Kravitz’s “Kimi” director Steven Soderbergh, who also worked with Tatum on the “Magic Mike” trilogy, read any early draft of the script. MGM later purchased the film after Kravitz directed a sizzle reel.

Kravitz additionally told Deadline that the title of the film “means a lot of things” despite it initially being a “joke at first.” “The story evolved into something else, but the title wound up having multiple meanings,” Kravitz said. “And it alludes to this time and place we claim to not be in anymore, in terms of sexual politics. People are evolving and changing but there is still a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths from past behavior. It’s a nod to that, but it’s also playful, and a really playful film in a lot of ways. I like that the title leads with that and has some heavy meaning beneath it.”

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