Channing Tatum says he went to dark places to play his “psychopathic” character in Zoë Kravitz’s new thriller Blink Twice

Zoë Kravitz’s directorial debut Blink Twice is a tense thriller dissecting wealth, lust, and power. For one of its stars, Channing Tatum, it also meant leaning into some dark places to create his performance as a billionaire tech mogul.

His character, Slater King, is the linchpin of Kravitz’s story, which she co-wrote with E.T. Feigenbaum, as it follows him, and his group of followers, jetting off to a privately owned island paradise. However, for one islandgoer, Frida (Naomi Ackie), things take a turn that leads her to start questioning her own reality. You can see a sneak peek of the pair in our exclusive image below.

“It’s the first time I’ve ever played anyone [like this],” Tatum tells Total Film in our new issue out on Thursday, July 19, which features Alien: Romulus on the cover. “Every character I play, I usually have some sort of love for or a connection to.” Yet, with King, that approach was out of reach, he adds. “I don’t think I’ll ever tell anybody what I had to create inside my head to play this person,” Tatum continues. “He’s a psychopath.”