Zoë Kravitz’s directorial debut ‘Blink Twice’ has a stacked cast that includes Christian Slater, Naomi Ackie, Simon Rex, Alia Shawkat and Channing Tatum. In this interview with CinemaBlend’s Jeff McCobb they talk about the important issues, like coming up with the perfect vape noise, douchey tech bro names, Gambit memes and how Zoë Kravitz handled her first outing at the helm.
00:00I've never went through TSA without somebody saying,
00:02my name is Jeff.
00:03No way!
00:04Almost every single time I go through TSA.
00:05Well, my name is Jeff.
00:07Oh, sick!
00:07Is your name actually Jeff?
00:08And I'm telling you, dude,
00:10you have no idea how often people say,
00:12my name is Jeff, to me.
00:13Ha ha!
00:14And I'm like, I...
00:14At least you get to share in the script.
00:15I did it, yeah.
00:17Oh, Jeff.
00:18Okay, here we go.
00:24Slater King's such a perfect douchey tech bro nickname.
00:27Yeah.
00:27He's Slater King.
00:28Slater King.
00:29Slater King.
00:30Were there any others that you threw around?
00:32No, you know, I remember writing the story and just,
00:35I don't know.
00:36It's funny because now Christian Slater's in the movie
00:38and people keep on asking if that was a reference.
00:41And I do feel like now,
00:42I subconsciously may have recently watched,
00:45rewatched Heathers right before.
00:48So maybe that was part of it,
00:49but I just remember writing it down and being like,
00:51that's a good name.
00:52That's a good name.
00:54I remember like the first time I read it,
00:56I was like, oof.
00:57Slater King.
00:58I was like, it feels like a,
01:00it feels like a save by the bell mashup of like,
01:03yeah, I was just like,
01:04I was like, it feels so like up the middle.
01:07And then I sort of sat with it and I was like,
01:08oh no, it's actually exactly what it should be.
01:10Yeah.
01:10I thought about it and I was like,
01:12Christian Slater and Simon Rex also kind of sound like tech names.
01:17And Rex means King.
01:18Rex means King.
01:19Oh shit, so we got Slater King.
01:20Slater King.
01:21Slater King.
01:22There are no coincidences.
01:23My name's Arabic and I have nothing to do with all that shit.
01:25Wow.
01:26I wish my name sounded like a tech name.
01:28I don't know what my name sounds like.
01:30If you move to the Bay Area.
01:32Great.
01:33I'll happily make that tech money.
01:35Listen,
01:36that's what I was thinking.
01:37I don't know what to say.
01:38I ain't got to be in shape anymore.
01:40I don't even know how to do a spreadsheet.
01:42Nah, we're good.
01:43I'll take that dot com, dot com money.
01:45Yeah.
01:46I want a Cybertruck.
01:47I've seen so many around.
01:49I will not ever let you drive a Cybertruck.
01:51I don't know how to drive.
01:52We're going to my island for a few days.
01:54Do you guys want to come?
01:59That vape sound.
02:01I had like heart palpitations by association.
02:04The legendary parties of Slater King.
02:07It was so hard to describe that sound
02:10and try and find the right vape.
02:12I was like, it needs to be more crackly,
02:13but there needs to be air in there.
02:15And like, it's so funny when you have to explain sound.
02:17It's like such an abstract thing,
02:19but I am glad you got it and appreciated it.
02:22I noticed the sound design specifically
02:24was really important to you.
02:25Yeah, I learned so much about sound
02:29and how much it affects the story.
02:31I'd always appreciated it,
02:33but until you actually see the before and after,
02:35it's really hard to really understand
02:37like what it adds.
02:38But because the film is about memory,
02:41you know, I wanted it to be sensory
02:44and it's not about what's real
02:46or, you know, it's about the things that you remember
02:48and those things and how they stick in your mind.
02:50Yeah, that was almost the score.
02:51That was almost the score.
02:52There was some great attention to detail.
02:53Like the chess board that we play chess on
02:56is the floor coloring in the house
02:58and there's just a lot of different
03:00A lot of things mirror each other
03:01that you notice the second time.
03:03Yeah, the music.
03:04There's a lot of hidden eggs in there.
03:06I think I want to actually see it again
03:08now that we talk about it.
03:09Yeah, for real.
03:10Because I think I missed some stuff.
03:11Oh, for sure, for sure.
03:13She did a very good job.
03:14So, you know, people ask like were you nervous
03:17to work with a first time director?
03:18Normally, yeah, but with Zoe,
03:20I was confident she knows how to make them.
03:23You know, she's a smart, savvy,
03:26sensitive, stylish girl.
03:28Around a long time.
03:29Talented family.
03:30Yeah.
03:31She worked with the best people.
03:32Yeah.
03:33She's an actress.
03:34Not surprised.
03:35So she knows what the process is.
03:37So she just was great.
03:39It feels, I don't know, it's just so hurt.
03:42Like, you know, it's so not,
03:45it has the technique and the skill
03:48of like what you expect of good movies.
03:51But it also has this other,
03:53I think, wild factor and it factor
03:55that is just very hurt.
03:57And it's just punchy.
03:58Yeah.
03:59It's just, yeah.
04:00Nice to see a filmmaker's distinct style
04:02right out of the gate.
04:03Yo, the first time I saw it,
04:05I said that to Zoe and I was like,
04:06you have your own style on your first movie, dude.
04:11Yeah.
04:11Like, it's a tone all of its own.
04:14The editing, everything about it was so Zoe.
04:17And it's incredible to see that she has her own language
04:20so, so quickly.
04:22I'm obsessed with tone in movies.
04:23Me too.
04:24Like, it's kind of like the only thing
04:25that makes a movie for me.
04:26Because you can have a well-written script
04:28or well-acted or whatever, or even shot.
04:31But if you don't have a tone, you don't have a movie.
04:34And if it's not clear,
04:35that tone isn't clear,
04:37then the actors don't know what world they belong in.
04:39Because certain things,
04:40you can see wild stuff happen in certain films,
04:43but because of the tone.
04:44Tropic Thunder.
04:45Tropic Thunder is wild.
04:46It's crazy.
04:47Who else could get away with that?
04:48But the tone was so specific that it worked.
04:52The sugar made the medicine go down in a way.
04:54Because, like, this movie could have easily been very one-noted
04:57and, like, it would have been hard to watch.
04:59Yeah.
05:00And, like, sort of just been like,
05:01oof, this is heavy.
05:02This is painful.
05:03I'm not enjoying this at all.
05:04I know I should watch this because it's important,
05:07but I'm not enjoying watching this.
05:09And, like, I think she does a tonal shift midpoint in this movie.
05:14And it is brilliant.
05:15It's so good.
05:16It's such a brilliant tonal, like, like, pivot.
05:18And I don't really know very many movies that do that.
05:20Yeah.
05:21And, uh...
05:22They're brave enough to...
05:23Man, you're a masterful stroker.
05:25Yeah.
05:26So...
05:28Everybody's dead.
05:33Has anybody sat down and said,
05:35ooh, I'm about to make a name for myself here?
05:37Uh, they haven't said that they are going to make a name for this,
05:39but they brought that up, yeah.
05:40Would you laugh longer?
05:41Of course.
05:42Yeah, man.
05:43I'm so proud of that.
05:44I'm so proud and just so grateful for that thing.
05:46I mean, man, Kevin Feige and Ryan,
05:49they just gave me the biggest gift of my life.
05:51Did you know it was going to be the biggest gift?
05:53Was it going to be memed when that...
05:54I had no idea that that was going to be memed.
05:56No.
05:57No, that...
05:58It's weird what happens in pop culture like that.
06:00You know, same with My Name is Jeff.
06:01My Name is Jeff.
06:02It's such a small moment in the movie.
06:04It's so cool.
06:05Like, I remember we did a table read,
06:06and it wasn't even that funny at the table read.
06:08It was, like, whatever.
06:10All of a sudden, man, just like...
06:12It goes to show you can't try and be a meme.
06:14You've just got to be.
06:15Yeah.
06:16And then if the meme comes, the meme comes.
06:18That's it.
06:19And if people want to find it, they will find a meme.
06:20They will find a meme out of it.
06:22My name is Jeff.
06:23I feel like you've all had really peculiar careers.
06:27You know?
06:28Like, weird niche stuff, and you're not afraid to...
06:31We've never really been, like, franchise people.
06:33Right.
06:34Although we would love one.
06:35Well, that's not...
06:36With us three as a true.
06:37Yeah, with us three, it'd be fantastic.
06:38Superheroes.
06:39All right, all right, all right.
06:40Of course, we wanted to do it.
06:41You know, like you just said, choosing those types of roles.
06:43I remember reading the script and being a little scared of it
06:46in the sense that it's dealing with some heavy subject matter
06:49that will come up that's uncomfortable.
06:51So I said, I got to do it.
06:53Yeah, I think totally, too, the cast reflects it.
06:55You know, it's kind of like a vibe of...
06:57You know, we wanted to feel like a Boogie Nights kind of rad, like
07:00different levels of, you know, we got some...
07:03Some like Gina Davis in there.
07:05Raw, authentic, yes.
07:06And everyone's, like, particular and specific, and there's nobody
07:09that you forget about.
07:10Like every character, no matter how small or big.
07:13It's like everyone feels like a real fully-fledged weirdo.
07:16You know?
07:17I don't think it was intentional, but I do think that the reason
07:20that they were attracted to this story is because that's the kind
07:23of artists that they are.
07:24And I keep on comparing this to, you know, when you make something
07:27very strange and kind of out there and specific, it's like a destination
07:31wedding when you're like, well, half the people won't come.
07:34But those are kind of the people you don't want there anyway.
07:37And I feel like this is kind of like that, where it's like the people
07:40who are excited by this kind of story and want to participate in telling it.
07:44You know, we all have a similar frequency.
07:46Do you still refer to the film by its original name?
07:49Only by habit, only because it was so many years of calling it that.
07:52But now I have to get used to the new title, which I do love.
07:54It's just like a, it's a, it's a reflex.
07:58Our text thread is still...
07:59Is still P Island.
08:00But you know, now I stop myself.
08:02I'm like, yeah, Blink twice.
08:05Blink twice.
08:06I just have a little hiccup.
08:07But I like Blink twice.
08:08I like Blink twice, too.
08:09It's a good name.
08:10It is a good title.
08:11It's worth the change just for the piece of trivia.
08:13Yeah, totally.
08:14That's true.
08:15That's right.
08:16Yep.
08:17Did you have any sort of reservations or were you nervous taking
08:20on a project that talks about class warfare that also requires
08:24millions to make, you know?
08:26How did you like toe that line there?
08:28That's a good question.
08:29I mean, that's a really good question.
08:31I don't think I really thought about that that much.
08:36I think I was mostly focused on wanting to make this because I felt like this was a contribution.
08:46And I do feel like that's how I approach art.
08:49There's so much noise that I think I feel like I have to really believe in my heart that this is deserving of taking up space and it's adding something versus taking away.
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