'Pussy Island': Zoë Kravitz Refuses To Censor The Title Of Her Directorial Debut

Thanks to “KIMI” and her turn as Selina Kyle/Catwoman in “The Batman,” Zoë Kravitz has had a stellar 2022. But even more good stuff is on the way for the model and actress, like her directorial debut “Pussy Island.” The upcoming thriller follows a cocktail waitress who becomes love-struck with a tech mogul and travels with him to his private island, where things soon sour. So, yes, the film’s title means exactly what it implies.

READ MORE: ‘Pussy Island’: Zoë Kravitz To Make Directorial Debut With Tropical Island Thriller Co-Starring Channing Tatum

And Kravitz stands by the movie’s title, even as she encounters pushback for her to change it to something else. In a recent piece for The Wall Street Journal, Kravitz defended her choice of name for her first film, claiming the story would lose its potency without it. “The title came from that world.  The title is the seed of the story,” she told WSJ. Kravitz co-writes “Pussy Island” with E.T. Feigenbaum (a writer on Kravitz’s canceled “High Fidelity” series for HBO), and takes inspiration from stories both have heard about powerful men inviting women to remote islands for debauched sexcapades.  

Sound like a Jeffrey Epstein situation to anyone else?  Well, that’s one of Kravitz’s many reference points for the film’s story.  “It represents this time where it would be acceptable for a group of men to call a place that, and the illusion that we’re out of that time now,” she continued.  Even though Kravitz started work on “Pussy Island” before the #MeToo movement went into full swing, she cited it as another important touchstone. According to Kravitz, she wants “Pussy Island” to channel the “anger and frustration around the lack of conversation about the treatment of women, specifically in industries that have a lot of money in them, like Hollywood, the tech world, all of that.”

The upcoming thriller stars Naomi Ackie and Channing Tatum (who Kravitz is currently dating) in the starring roles. “Pussy Island” also stars “Red Rocket” star Simon Rex, Christian Slater, Alia Shawkat, Geena Davis, Adria Arjona, and Haley Joel OsmentKyle MacLachlan also has a small role. That’s quite a cast Kravitz has culled for her debut film.

Despite playing a fiendish, womanizing tech mogul in his partner’s movie, Tatum sounds high on the movie. “I didn’t know Zoë before I met her for the film,” Tatum told WSJ. “When we first met the movie was pretty different than its form now, but the themes were the same. All the iterations it has gone through were all pretty punk rock, to be honest.” Tatum also co-produces the movie.

And someone else is confident about the success of “Pussy Island”: Kravitz’s “KIMI” director Steven Soderbergh. “Of the people that I could name who I think have a real shot at coming out of the gate making something really distinctive and strong,” Soderbergh told WSJ, “she’s at the top of that list.” Who could provide a bigger boost than Soderbergh?  

No word on a release date yet for “Pussy Island,” but expect United Arts Releasing to slate it for a mid-2023 release.