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Zoë Kravitz spoke about ex Channing Tatum for the first time since they ended their engagement.
“Channing was the first person I thought of for Slater King, and I don’t know where that came from,” Kravitz, 36, explained during Variety’s Directors on Directors issue, published on Wednesday, December 18, referring to his character in Blink Twice.
Kravitz previously gushed about Tatum, 44, throughout their movie’s press tour, which took place before their October breakup. Looking back, she is still in awe of his skills — and purposely used them to add to his twisted character on screen.
“I knew that the character needed to be somebody who we think we trust, especially because you don’t believe Naomi [Ackie] (who played Frida) is getting on that plane if it’s someone who is immediately insidious,” Kravitz told Batman 2 director Matt Reeves during the sit-down.
She teased, “I wanted to weaponize his charisma,” noting that fans have “never seen” Tatum “do something like that.”
In Blink Twice, which premiered in August, tech billionaire Slater King (Tatum) invites cocktail waitress Frida (Ackie) to join him on a dream vacation. While on his private island, strange things transpire, and Frida begins to question not only Slater’s intentions but also her own reality.
To make sure that fear and mystery was clear from the jump, Kravitz said she leaned on Ackie. “I knew I needed someone’s face to be so expressive,” she said of the character. “Because so much about that character is about her face saying one thing and her eyes saying another, and that’s a hard thing to do.”
Kravitz, who made her directorial debut with this project, added that after meeting Ackie, 32, she “knew that she was capable.”
Kravitz’s complimentary remarks about both Blink Twice actors have become commonplace since it was a passion project for the filmmaker. The movie also brought Kravitz and Tatum together.
Us Weekly confirmed in August 2021 that Kravitz and Tatum began dating after getting close on the set of the psychological thriller. After two years together, news broke in October 2023 that the Magic Mike actor proposed.
The following year, Tatum and Kravitz began their press tour for Blink Twice and showed off their chemistry with every appearance.
“It was really interesting, because we started as friends just working on a project that we both really believe in,” Tatum told Entertainment Tonight in August. “When things start in that creative place … you just respect each other’s point of view, you respect each other’s mind, each others’ experience in life.”
He explained, “I now don’t know what I would do creating without her. Everybody was like, ‘You sure you want to go create with your partner?’ But I actually suggest that to almost everyone now, ’cause you really get to know who that person is and what they are to you and who they are to you when you’re in the trenches.”
Tatum called “creating” his and Kravitz’s “love language” during an August appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Kravitz, meanwhile, revealed she thinks Tatum is worthy of an Academy Award for his role in the film while visiting The Drew Barrymore Show in September.
The following month, news broke that Tatum and Kravitz called off their engagement. “Wedding plans were looming, but neither of them were rushing to the altar,” a source exclusively told Us at the time.
The insider explained that Kravitz and Tatum’s dynamic shifted after they wrapped Blink Twice and were done promoting it. “They realized they were on different pages with what they wanted,” the source said. “It fizzled fast after their press tour wrapped.”
Even though their romance is over, Kravitz and Tatum have another joint project in the works. They are teaming up for Alpha Gang.
“They thrive while being on set together and will be able to get through it,” a separate source exclusively told Us in October. “Both of them are very professional and there is no bad blood between them. Film is their passion, so it could bring them back together.”
