Naomi Ackie, now 31, stars alongside Channing Tatum in Zoë Kravitz’s highly anticipated directorial debut, Blink Twice. She can’t quite believe it herself. “It’s crazy. It’s not normal,” Ackie says. “If [someone had told me] you’re gonna work with [Tatum] one day, I would be like, ‘Oh, no way. You’re lying.’” In 2021, Ackie first read the script for Blink Twice. “This is really special,” she recalls thinking. “I really, really, really want to do it.” After a long call with Kravitz, Ackie got her wish. She was cast in the leading role of Frida. In the film, Frida, a cocktail waitress, is invited to tech tycoon Slater King’s private island for a high-rolling weekend of partying. It soon becomes clear, however, that behind the never-ending champagne and white linen lies something more nefarious. Think White Lotus meets Get Out, with a dash of A Promising Young Woman. —Paulina Prosnitz