Psychological thriller “Pussy Island” centers on cocktail waitress Frida, rumored to be played by Naomi Ackie, who sets out to seduce tech mogul Slater King (Channing Tatum). Once Frida finds herself in Slater’s inner circle, she is invited to his private island that has a sinister secret. Kravitz told ELLE that the MGM-acquired film was originally inspired by “the lack of conversation around the way women are treated specifically in the entertainment industry,” and that the script had various iterations to make it the most current reflection of gender politics. “I started writing it pre-#MeToo, pre-Harvey [Weinstein]. Then the world started to have the conversation, so [the script] changed a lot,” Kravitz 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 shit. We’re doing this!’”
“Pussy Island” starts filming this summer, marking Kravitz’s directorial debut. “I have moments of being nervous,” Kravitz admitted. “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?’” Kravitz previously told Deadline that the title of the film “means a lot of things.” “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,” Kravitz said. “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. 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.” Lead actor Tatum, who is currently personally linked to Kravitz and also serves as a producer on the film, told Variety that he advised “The Batman” star to utilize “double days” in production. “She’s a perfectionist in the best possible way,” Tatum added. Kravitz said that Tatum was her “first choice” for the role, “the one I thought of when I wrote this character.” The “High Fidelity” co-writer and star continued, “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.”
Tatum previously told Deadline of his character in the movie: “Slater is a wild character, an extremely committed version — psychotic possibly — but an extreme version of myself. I’m very interested to see what humans are capable of, physically, mentally, spiritually, energetically, all of it. He wants to know what people are capable of, what they want, and what they are capable of when they want something. And how far are you willing to push yourself to get the thing you want. For me, that supersedes gender, race or religion, creed. That’s wildly fascinating to me.” Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
