‘I’m pro-cellulite and stretch marks’: Blink Twice star Adria Arjona on red carpets, Zoe Kravitz and why she is playing against the rules

It’s the movie everyone is talking about – Zoe Kravitz’s directorial debut, Blink Twice. Now, one of its stars has revealed the real reason its title was changed from ‘Pussy Island’.

Adria Arjona at the Los Angeles premiere of the Zoe Kravitz-directed thriller, Blink Twice. Picture: AFP

After starring in Hit Man opposite Glen Powell, Puerto Rican actor Adria Arjona is cementing her “It” girl status with a new role in Zoe Kravitz’s directorial debut Blink Twice – and keeping it real on red carpets.

As the 32-year-old tells Stellar, “I will not wear Spanx. If they catch me with cellulite, well, I am a woman”.

Stellar: You play Sarah, a reality star, in the new film Blink Twice, opposite Channing Tatum and Naomi Ackie. How did you become involved with the project?

Adria Arjona: It started with an audition. Zoë [Kravitz] was really cool about it. She’d had issues casting Sarah, and they were really close to filming. She called me and pretty much set me up for success. She was like, “Hey, I know you don’t have the script and I hate when they do this to me when I’m auditioning …” She gave me the movie within two or three days. [The audition was a scene where] Sarah is high, drunk, she’s scared but she can’t be scared, can’t show any emotion. She has to pretend that everything is fine. There were so many complexities.

‘It was always Pussy Island for us.’ Adria Arjona has revealed the reason Blink Twice’s title was changed from ‘Pussy Island’. Picture: AFP

Picture: AFP

Stellar: It was co-written and directed by Kravitz. Can you tell us about your relationship with her? [Arjona is dating actor Jason Momoa, who split from Kravitz’s mother, Lisa Bonet, in 2022.]

Adria: It started from that phone call. I really liked her point of view, and the way she spoke and broke down a character. Very early on, I realised her process as a director intrigued me – as she’s an actor herself, she’s so empathetic when it comes to each actor and their process. It was so cool to watch. It’s an ensemble piece, and that’s hard to direct. Her instincts were so on it. I knew from the first day on set: oh sh*t, she’s a director. She was born to do this.

Stellar: Given that it’s such an intense movie, what was the set like?

Adria: We all lived where we shot [in a hacienda in Mexico]. We shot in rooms that people were staying in. We had breakfast, lunch and dinner together – there was no escaping the island. When we were there, we didn’t really leave. We very much lived there. There were parts of the hacienda that were really spooky. Everyone got so close; because we lived in the space, it helped us get into these scenes so much quicker.

Zoe Kravitz and Adria Arjona. Picture: Getty Images

With Glen Powell – the pair co-starred in Netflix’s Hit Man. Picture: Getty Images

Stellar: The original title of Blink Twice was Pussy Island. Why was it changed?

Adria: It was always Pussy Island for us; it really was, I’ll be frank. They made the decision to change it … I guess it’s harder to promote a movie with the P-word in it. And I get that.

The story is about women taking control of a situation where they’re completely powerless. Yeah – and for me, personally, it’s about taking power back. It’s not necessarily the “men and women” perspective of it. The movie makes a statement about the misuse of power, right? And that power or money gives the illusion of safety.

A common thread in the characters you’ve played – in Blink Twice as well as in other projects, such as Good Omens and Hit Man, your recent Netflix movie co-starring Glen Powell – is women who stand for something. What do you think the roles you choose are saying about modern feminism?

I’m not doing that on purpose, but I do gravitate to those characters. As a Latin-American woman I’ve put pressure on myself to showcase Latin-American women in different lights, and show we’re not just one thing, we’re so many things. Something that we haven’t seen so much in the past is Latin-American women [in] their power. Our power has always been taken away from us.

Is that changing, particularly in Hollywood?

I feel a difference since I started out. The younger generation probably isn’t going through as much as me and my group of Latin-American actresses might have gone through, trying to break that stereotype, or being hyper-aware of not being stereotyped. You constantly see people comparing Latin-American actresses, which is really boring to me. I think there’s still a long way to go for representation.

Zoe Kravitz co-wrote and directed Blink Twice. Picture: AFP

Real life couple Zoe Kravitz and Channing Tatum – Tatum stars in Kravitz’s movie, Blink Twice. Picture: AFP

’She was born to do this!’ Zoe Kravitz was a natural as a director, according to Adria Arjona. Picture: AFP

You’ve become a fixture on the red carpet. How do you feel about that side of being an actor?

I’m a little more comfortable with it now. It’s nerve-racking. It’s a reality a lot of people don’t see: you’re being photographed from every angle, it’s not natural, it’s a lot of pressure. I surround myself with people who make fun of it all and laugh. I try to create a character with every dress I put on and that kind of helps. I’m like Cinderella – I have 20 minutes then I’m, “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!” When I walk the carpet, the dress really takes over. If I feel comfortable in what I’m wearing, I can really feel that power coming from the fashion. And then I turn into a pumpkin when I’m inside.

How do you handle the scrutiny?

We have to deal with all these people commenting on how we look. I kind of embrace it; part of being a woman is embracing everything about our bodies. I’m so pro-cellulite and stretch marks. I f*cking love it. If they catch me with cellulite, well, I am a woman. I’m 32, I work out, it’s real – we all have it. That’s the way I have leant into it. It makes it a bit more organic. If it was too “perfection”, then I get really nervous. If I embrace the imperfections then it makes me feel more comfortable. Isn’t that weird? It is weird.

Blink Twice is in cinemas now.

Originally published as ‘I’m pro-cellulite and stretch marks’: Blink Twice star Adria Arjona on red carpets, Zoe Kravitz and why she is playing against the rules