Zoë Kravitz Says Audiences Were “Not Ready” For Movie’s OG Title ‘Pussy Island’: “We’re Not There Yet”

deadline.com:

Zoë Kravitz is ready to make a splash with her directorial debut, even if audiences might not be. While discussing her upcoming thriller Blink Twice, which premieres August 23, Kravitz reflected on the movie’s original title, Pussy Island, and why they ultimately had to come up with a new one. “It was made very clear to me that ‘p—y’ is a word that we, our society, are not ready to embrace yet,” she told Entertainment Weekly. “There were a lot of roadblocks along the way, whether it be the MPAA not wanting to put it on a poster, or a billboard, or a kiosk; movie theaters not wanting to put it on a ticket.” Kravitz explained that her intention was to “reclaim the word, and not make it something that we’re so uncomfortable using,” but she ultimately found that “women were offended by the word, and women seeing the title were saying, ‘I don’t want to see that movie.'” “But we’re not there yet,” she continued. “And I think that’s something I have the responsibility as a filmmaker to listen to.

I care about people seeing the film, and I care about how it makes people feel.” When Kravitz’s announced her directorial debut in 2021, she told Deadline that “the title means a lot of things,” adding: “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,” Kravitz explained. “People are evolving and changing but there is still a bad taste in