Zoë Kravitz explains why directorial debut Blink Twice couldn't use original title Pussy Island (exclusive)

Zoë Kravitz spent years working on the script for her directorial debut, and while the story went through many changes during development, the title always remained the same: Pussy Island. But now that the thriller is about to debut in theaters, it's under the new, less provocative title, Blink Twice.

Kravitz previously made it clear that she was dedicated to keeping the title Pussy Island, but she now explains to Entertainment Weekly why the name had to change despite her original plan.

"It was made very clear to me that 'p---y' is a word that we, our society, are not ready to embrace yet," she says. "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."

But the issues went deeper than logistics. First-time director Kravitz learned throughout the process of making the movie that the target audience she was trying to reach and empower with the title Pussy Island actually had the opposite reaction.

"Interestingly enough, after researching it, women were offended by the word, and women seeing the title were saying, 'I don't want to see that movie,' which is part of the reason I wanted to try and use the word, which is trying to reclaim the word, and not make it something that we're so uncomfortable using," Kravitz says. "But we're not there yet. 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."

Blink Twice, written by Kravitz and E.T. Feigenbaum, stars Naomi Ackie as Frida, a cocktail waitress tired of being overlooked who gets invited to billionaire tech mogul Slater King's (Channing Tatum) private island for what seems like a nonstop luxurious party. But she soon finds out that paradise isn't all that it seems after her best friend Jess (Alia Shawkat) goes missing, and none of the other partying vacationers seem to care — or even remember that Jess was there despite meeting her days earlier. The dark drama soon becomes a literal fight for survival.

Kravitz began writing the script with Feigenbaum in 2017, and she says she still believes in the original title, even though she had to change it.

"I do believe that Pussy Island was the first thing I wrote down when I wrote this movie, and it's the seed of the film, and the spirit of what that means to me is still alive and very much present in the film," she adds. "And I love the new title. I'm happy with the new title. I think everything happens for a reason, and I think it actually really focuses the movie in a great way. And I think that was always the way it was meant to be."

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Blink Twice, also starring Christian Slater, Haley Joel Osment, Simon Rex, Kyle MacLachlan, Geena Davis, and Trew Mullen, opens in theaters on Aug. 23.