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Zoë Kravitz’s directorial debut “Pussy Island” begins production later this summer, however, she spent over five years reworking the script.
“The Batman” star, 33, and her collaborator E. T. Feigenbaum had to rewrite their screenplay following the #MeToo movement and the sexual abuse allegations against ex-Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.
“Pussy Island,” a psychological thriller recently acquired by MGM, will follow a cocktail waitress named Frida (Naomi Ackie), who sets her sights on the tech entrepreneur Slater King (Channing Tatum). She finds herself in Slater’s inner circle and she is brought to his private island that houses a secret.
In a profile with ELLE magazine published Monday, Kravitz shed some light on her movie, saying it was inspired by “the lack of conversation around the way women are treated specifically in the entertainment industry.” The script underwent various changes to reflect the current status of gender issues.
“I started writing it pre-#MeToo, pre-Harvey [Weinstein]. Then the world started to have the conversation, so [the script] changed a lot,” the “X-Men: First Class” actress said. “It became more about a power struggle and what that power struggle means. I rewrote it a million times. Now we’re like, ‘Holy s–t. We’re doing this!’”
Of her debut as a director, she revealed that she has “moments of being nervous.”
“But I know the story so well, and I’m trying to focus less on ‘Am I going to do a good job?’ and more on ‘What is my intention?’”
Last June, Kravitz opened up to Deadline about her flick, explaining that the title “means a lot of things.”
The model continued, “I started writing this story in 2017. As a woman in general, and a woman in this industry, I’ve experienced some pretty wild behavior from the opposite sex.”
“The title was kind of a joke at first, this place where people would go, bring women, party and hang out. The story evolved into something else, but the title wound up having multiple meanings. And it alludes to this time and place we claim to not be in anymore, in terms of sexual politics,” she said.
Kravitz noted, “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.”
As for Tatum’s casting, she knew he was perfect for the part of the tech mogul. Kravitz and the “21 Jump Street” star, 41, have been entwined in a romance since at least last year.
“Chan was my first choice, the one I thought of when I wrote this character,” she said. “I just knew from ‘Magic Mike’ and his live shows, I got the sense he’s a true feminist and I wanted to collaborate with someone who was clearly interested in exploring this subject matter.”
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