Naomie Ackie’s whirlwind ride: On ‘Blink Twice,’ Zoë Kravitz and Bong Joon-ho’s ‘Mickey 17’

Naomie Ackie’s biggest regret in life is that she did not get to be part of the Harry Potter movies. And it is only getting better; next up, she stars as the lead in Zoë Kravitz’s directorial debut Blink Twice, and then will be seen in Parasite filmmaker and Oscar-winner Bong Joon-ho’s long-awaited sci-fi thriller Mickey 17. And we want as many people to feel connected to this piece of work.” The actor elaborates, “There is an amazing line in the trailer from the film, where her character goes, ‘Blink twice if I’m in danger!’ “So there is still that element of the new title linking to the story; it’s just a different angle. So getting into that really collaborative space with Zoë was a real gift, because even if the ideas didn’t necessarily work, knowing that she was always open to it meant that there was a freedom when it came to performing and portraying the character.” The 31-year-old went through a whirlwind summer in 2022 when she was straddling the worlds of three different filmmakers and three very different characters for 12 to 14 hours a day; after filming Blink Twice, she jumped on a plane to do reshoots for I Wanna Dance with Somebody, and then was dropped straight onto Joon-ho’s sets for Mickey 17. More than anything, I just had whiplash being thrust from one world to another: from Blink Twice in Mexico, bam, I’m in L.A doing Whitney again, and then bam, I’m back in London, doing Mickey 17.” Entering the magical world of Bong Joon-ho Her eyes light up at the mention of working with Bong Joon-ho, not to mention the stacked ensemble cast featuring names such as Robert Pattinson, Steven Yeun, Toni Collette and Mark Ruffalo.