Zoë Kravitz Opens up About Meeting Boyfriend Channing Tatum on Set of Her New Movie

Zoë Kravitz is opening up about the special connection she has had with her boyfriend Channing Tatum from the start. The Batman actress spoke candidly about her relationship in a new interview for GQ’s Men of the Year issue, calling the Magic Mike actor “just a wonderful human.”

“He makes me laugh and we both really love art and talking about art and the exploration of why we do what we do,” Kravitz continued. “We love to watch a film and break it down and talk about it and challenge each other.” The couple first met during the casting of Kravitz’s directorial debut Pussy Island, and the actor, who plays philanthropist and tech mogul Slater in the film, would go on to be Kravitz’s “protector” on set. 

“Whether it was making me tea or pouring me a drink or going to whip someone into shape or whatever – he really was my protector and it was really wonderful and sweet,” the new director shared. Kravitz admits she was “just a crazy person” while making Pussy Island, which she also co-wrote with E.T. Feigenbaum. “I still am. It was always frantic,” she said. “A glass of whiskey at the end of the night or something would calm me down a little bit. But there was no getting out of it.” The Big Little Lies star noted, “I think if you can do something like that together, it’s a good test. And we came out even stronger.”

In the film, Tatum’s Slater whisks away cocktail waitress Frida (Naomi Ackie) to his mysterious private island. “Despite the epic setting, beautiful people, ever-flowing champagne and late-night dance parties, Frida can sense that there’s more to this island than meets the eye,” reports Deadline of the plot. “Something she can’t quite put her finger on. Something that is a bit terrifying.”

Kravitz previously said in an interview for WSJ. Magazine’s Fall 2022 Women’s Fashion issue that she cast Tatum in Pussy Island because she wanted someone who hadn’t played “a dark character before because I think that’s exciting to watch someone who’s mostly played boy next door, good guy, love interest, all of that.” She continued, “I felt, even from afar, before I knew him, that he was a feminist and that he wasn’t afraid of exploring that darkness, because he knows he’s not that. That’s why I was drawn to him and wanted to meet with him. And I was right.”