[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers forBlink Twice.]Zoë Kravitz’sBlink Twicerocks a top-tier ensemble led by two true powerhouse performers —Channing TatumandNaomi Ackie. Ackie leads the film as Frida, a cocktail waitress who gets the opportunity of her dreams, the chance to join tech billionaire Slater King (Tatum) and his friends on a getaway to his private island. While there, she indulges in limitless food, drink, pool time, and parties. It’s all utter perfection — until it’s not.
Ultimately, Frida comes to suspect something isn’t quite right with Slater and his island,and she’s right. She discovers he’s using a flower indigenous to the island to wipe out the women’s memories, and the only antidote is snake venom. Courtesy of that venom, they learn Slater and his friends have been using a flower-made perfume to cover up a string of sexual assaults. When their scheme is exposed, a bloody massacre ensues. Frida survives and opts to give Slater a taste of his own medicine. She fills his vape with the perfume and makes herself the new CEO of his company.
WithBlink Twicenow playing in theaters nationwide, I got the chance to sit down with Tatum and Ackie to have a spoiler-filled chat about the making of the movie. The two discussed some of the biggest changes made while taking the story from script to screen, including some cut cannibalism, Tatum’s breathtaking “I’m sorry” scene, and loads more! You can hear it all straight from the duo in the video at the top of this article, or you can read the conversation in transcript form below.
‘Blink Twice’ Was Originally a Cannibalism Story
“It goes fullLord of the Flies.”
PERRI NEMIROFF: I’ve heard a lot about how much the story has evolved over the years. Can you each tell me the biggest difference in the character you read on the page in the first draft you saw and who they became in the final film?
CHANNING TATUM: Well, I read way earlier scripts than she had. I mean, look, the first script literally had cannibalism.
NAOMI ACKIE: [Laughs] I wish I had read this!
TATUM: It was crazy. The women —it goes fullLord of the Fliessort of situation. It was like an indigenous tribe situation. It was a wild. It was a wild, wild swing. That’s what was so cool about it in a way because you could just tell that this was someone that was just like, “I love movies and I love creating.” She was like, “I have all of these options that we could do, and I wanna find what movie I want this to be.” I was like, “This is crazy. This is a crazy script. I know it’s important. I know what you’re saying and what you’re doing is important, so let’s keep working on it.”Iprobably would have still done the cannibalism version. [Laughs]
ACKIE: Listen, I’m not mad at it! [Laughs]
TATUM: I probably would have and it would have been like, “Eh, whatever. Let’s send it.”
ACKIE: “I guess I’m getting eaten.”
Anything specific for Frida?
TATUM: I feel like there was a tone that you guys were doing that ultimately was confusing.
ACKIE: Yeah, basically Frida wasmoremanipulative than comes across now.
TATUM: Basically, you’re almost at times going, “Isshea bad guy? Is she the one that’s doing all this?” It was really interesting and cool, but I think it was just too confusing.
ACKIE:We were playing around with this idea of her putting on loads of different faces for different peopleand stuff like that. And I agree, what is the film now feels a lot clearer for the audience.
Zoë Kravitz Explains Why Her New Film ‘Blink Twice’ Was Actually Originally Titled Pu**y Island
Kravitz’s directorial debut, ‘Blink Twice,’ hits theaters on August 23.
I love hearing about stuff like this because where you all land with tone and vibe is so pitch-perfect, and when you’re doing a genre mash-up, if that tone isn’t pitch-perfect, it just doesn’t work.
ACKIE: You just lose it. That’s a cool way of saying it, actually — a genre mash-up.
TATUM: I agree.
I’ve also heard a lot about how specific Zoë was with what she wanted, but she also gave you some freedom and room to play, so which seen would you say evolved the most from script to screen based on what you found on set?
TATUM: For me, the last scene.
ACKIE: The last scene, yeah.
TATUM: It wasn’t written like that until pretty much two days before.
Oh, I need to know everything about that scene.
TATUM: We really didn’t know how to do it. I ain’t gonna lie.
ACKIE: We had shot it before, hadn’t we? I feel like we shot a version of it.
TATUM: Yeah, we shot a version of it, and it was going in that direction, and then we just put on more to it in a way. It was going in the right direction, but we didn’t finish it. We didn’t land the plane, I don’t think. But we were, for a long time, trying to figure out, “How do we justify this man?” Usually, at the end of these types of movies, it’s like some long speech of why he’s doing all this and justifying himself, and mustache-twirling of, “Is he trying to take over the world or some bullshit?” It really was Zoë to be like, “Take itinand make it about something really small and emotional for him.” It was brilliant, and that was all her idea.
Channing Tatum Explains His Approach to ‘Blink Twice’s Incredible “I’m Sorry” Scene
I have to follow up on that briefly. The “I’m sorry” part is utterly brilliant. It’s one of my favorite performance beats of yours. When you’re doing something like that and the emotion has to change throughout a single shot, are you mapping it out very specifically, or is it more about being in the moment?
TATUM: I think both, because it’s a long monologue, essentially, but there is interaction, so it’s not just a speech or something. I do map what’s making me talk about the things that I’m talking about, but I don’t really map the emotion. It’s like, if you try to cry, you’re not gonna cry. [Laughs]
ACKIE: You’re in trouble. [Laughs]
TATUM: But yeah, I think for me, I can’t do that. You’resoin control of that. Itseemslike it. She’ll just be like, “Just give me a minute,” and then the next thing you know, she just comes back and I’m like, “Goddamn, how did you do that?” [Laughs]
ACKIE: Sometimes it’s tricks like just staring at a light, and then hyperventilating for a long time.
TATUM: We’re gonna have a conversation about that.
My trick would be to touch an animal I’m allergic to and then rub my eyes.
TATUM: I don’t even have that. I wish I was allergic to [something]. Imagine if they were like, “You win an Oscar for your allergies.”
That’s the only way I’m winning an Oscar!
Naomi, how about for you? A scene that evolved the most on the spot?
ACKIE: It wasn’t scenes for me. There was an evolution of character, but I also feel like that happened in post-production. I actually think it was a reverse for me. Like, we were throwing everything.
TATUM: Did the conversation between you and Sarah (Adria Arjona), when you guys were figuring it out …
ACKIE: Oh yeah, that did change. That did change.
TATUM: It was kind of serious.
ACKIE: It was very serious and it didn’t have that tone, that switch-up halfway through.
TATUM: It shifts tonally to be almost funny and fun when it’s dire.
ACKIE: When they’re like, “Oh, you didn’t know? Oh my god!”
TATUM: It was brilliant.
ACKIE: But overall, I think it was about throwing as much as possible, as many different versions of Frida, and then Zoë fixed together what she wanted. I think she’s a master genius at that, and we just kind of went with that. I can’t think of any real, real, specific one. I think Channing’s one is the best example of that.
Putting it together the way she did is really next-level stuff.
ACKIE: A puzzle!
I have to wind down with you both. It’s breaking my heart to rip myself away fromBlink Twice, but I have to ask about two other projects.
Where Is Gambit at the End of ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’?
“There’s something that’s happening in that moment that maybe no one knows yet.”
Channing, you know where I’m going. I have to ask aboutDeadpool & Wolverine. You were delightful in that movie. I was grinning big every time you popped up on screen. For folks who stayed through the post-credits, it is revealed thatGambit is alive. Where do you think he is at the end of the movie, in The Void or in his own timeline?
TATUM: I think at that moment, if I had to guess, he’s definitely still in The Void, butthere’s something that’s happening in that moment that maybe no one knows yet.
ACKIE: Sequel.
TATUM: And again, you never know. You never know. I mean, literally, I could never be in another Marvel movie again and it wouldn’t surprise me because I’ve had it in my hand before and it’s gone away. I’m always grain-of-salting it, but I’m hoping that Kevin [Feige] will allow me in. [Laughs]
ACKIE: Sequel!
I take great pride in manifesting things during interviews.
Naomi Ackie Teases Bong Joon-ho’s ‘Mickey 17’
The long-awaited film is set to hit theaters on July 25, 2025.
Naomi, I have a quick one for you, too, becauseMickey 17is obviously a highly anticipated one for me. Bong Joon-ho is an absolute master. Can you tell me something he did making that movie that’s one-of-a-kindhim, that no other director could have brought to life quite like he does?
ACKIE: I love working with him. I guess the way he plots out a scene — you never do a master, and I’ve never done that before. And it’s this really cool thing he does with storyboarding that we were all panicking over, but he storyboards everything, and you shoot it shot-for-shot for the scene, and it’s a magical way to make a movie.
