You may still be talking about Channing Tatum’s Gambit accent, but the rest of us have moved on to his stellar, arguably career-best performance in Blink Twice. His fiancé, Zoë Kravitz, served as director on the film, and critics are going nuts for her debut at the helm. During my interviews with the Blink Twice cast, they completely gushed about the first-time director. However, perhaps the most flattering (and hilarious) anecdote about Kravitz came from Tatum himself, who told me about the time that she improvised his favorite line from the film.
WARNING: there are SPOILERS for Blink Twice ahead.
Towards the end of Blink Twice, things have gotten messy. Naomi Ackie’s Frida discovers she’s been drugged to forget the last time she was with Channing Tatum’s Slater King, and in a disturbing moment that really showcases how twisted King is, he tells her that she’s his best friend and “boops” her nose. Tatum loved the intentionally bizarre discomfort of the scene, and told me that Zoë Kravitz’ request in that moment felt like a Superbad reference:
My favorite is the boop. And that was fully Zoë. I would say ‘You’re like my best friend.’ And she goes, ‘Boop her.’ And I was like, ‘Boop her? Boop like Superbad?’ And she’s like, ‘Yeah.’
It’s fitting that Channing Tatum, who famously worked with Jonah Hill on the Jump Street films and with the rest of the Superbad cast on This Is The End, would immediately think of Jonah Hill “booping” Michael Cera when Kravitz fed him this line. After all, Superbad is considered by some to be one of the funniest films of all time, but more importantly, Tatum has a personal connection with the cast. He even went over his famously meme-worthy “My name is Jeff” line from 22 Jump Street, and to me, the fact that both of these films came up organically in an eight-minute interview with Tatum is very telling. If you don’t recall the boop in question, allow me to refresh your memory:
The praise for Zoë Kravitz didn’t stop with her fiancé, as Naomi Ackie chimed in herself to express her love for Kravitz’ dark filmmaking style:
She’s so sick and twisted, I love it.
Sick and twisted indeed, but in the best of ways! Our Blink Twice review said that the movie's 102-minute runtime “just flies by.” With Channing Tatum also entering the Marvel universe, the dude is having one hell of a year, and given the praise surrounding Zoë Kravitz’ debut, they really seem to be cementing their place as a Hollywood power couple.
You can see Blink Twice in theaters right now! There are still plenty of other 2024 movies to look forward to, so keep it right here at CinemaBlend for all of the latest.
