Zoë Kravitz Gets Behind the Camera—and Under Our Skin

A tropical island, beautiful people, champagne on demand. Lovely. Now why does the whole invitation feel like a terrible idea?

Blink Twice gave Zoë Kravitz a different kind of entrance. Already familiar as an actor, she stepped behind the camera for her 2024 feature-directing debut, co-writing the screenplay with E.T. Feigenbaum. The result puts an uncomfortable question inside a very attractive package: what happens when the person paying for paradise also makes the rules?

Naomi Ackie plays Frida, a cocktail waitress invited to a private island by tech billionaire Slater King, played by Channing Tatum. The invitation becomes a nightmare. That’s the setup; we’ll leave the discoveries to you. Warner Bros.’ official film page confirms the cast and Kravitz’s debut behind the camera.

Pretty pictures with something lurking underneath

For a website that loves the meeting point between sound, style and moving images, this is the interesting bit. A director gets to make those elements work together—or deliberately turn them against each other.

Production designer Roberto Bonelli explained to The Credits how the film’s Mexican hacienda became an expensive-looking trap. Greens extend from the surroundings into the décor; red is everywhere, while blue becomes a warning. Even the furniture and carefully presented meals contribute to the billionaire’s performance of good taste. The décor has a job. It isn’t just standing there looking expensive.

Kravitz also made a deliberate decision about where she belonged on this project. In her 2024 conversation with Vogue and Ackie, she explained that once she committed to directing, she knew she didn’t want to act in the film. She wanted to build the world and guide someone else through it.

A story she couldn’t put down

This wasn’t a weekend experiment. Speaking to British Vogue in June 2026, Kravitz reflected on developing the project with Feigenbaum from 2017 and becoming consumed by the writing. She described the finished film as an unusually exposing expression of herself. That’s a more revealing career conversation than another discussion about who wore what outside a restaurant.

Her acting continues alongside it: that interview also discusses How to Rob a Bank, directed by David Leitch. That’s an acting role, not another Kravitz-directed film. For this catch-up, Blink Twice is the place to meet her as a filmmaker.

A little family history

Her mother, Lisa Bonet, brought Denise Huxtable to television in The Cosby Show and A Different World, then built screen credits including Angel Heart, Enemy of the State and High Fidelity. Bonet’s career stretches well beyond one familiar character.

Her father, Lenny Kravitz, arrived with Let Love Rule in 1989, mixing rock, soul, funk and psychedelic color. The Recording Academy lists four Grammy wins, including “Fly Away” and “American Woman.” That’s quite a family record collection.

But family history is an introduction, not a substitute for the work. Zoë has put her own name on the screenplay and taken the director’s chair. Give that part of the story some room.

Viewing note: Blink Twice contains sexual violence and other disturbing material.

Featured photograph: Zoë Kravitz and Channing Tatum on the set of Blink Twice. Photo: Carlos Somonte. © 2024 Amazon Content Services LLC. All rights reserved. Image source: The Credits / Motion Picture Association.

Written by Chetuno