Zoë Kravitz plays Christina in “Allegiant” (Left). Kravitz at the film premiere this week (Right). Photos courtesy of Lionsgate Films.
Arturo Hilario /El Observador
Zoë Kravitz is a musician, an actor and model. Daughter of actress Lisa Bonet and musician Lenny Kravitz, the apple did not fall too much further than the tree in this case. Yet, Kravitz has attained acclaim through her own merits, and just this past year starred in a varied amount of films in completely different genres.
Her 3 roles in 2015 as Nakia in “DOPE”, Toast the Knowing in Academy Award darling “Mad Max Fury Road”, and Christina in “Insurgent”, made her a very recognizable face to general audiences. Kravitz says, “it was an interesting year in terms of they all came out at the same time, so it was a very cool experience. Seeing all the working pay off was very cool.”
Her new film, “Allegiant” hits theaters with a bang on Friday, although the journey to this film has been a long adventure for Kravitz, going back to her initiation into acting.
Although acting seemed to always be there it is up for debate whether it was because it is something that runs in her family (Even her father Lenny Kravitz has been in film) or a yearning that came from within. “It’s just always been my passion. My mother’s an actress, my grandmother was an actress but I mean I don’t know if that was really what did it. It was always what I was interested in. In every school I was in every drama class, musical theater, it’s really what made me happy. And it’s kind of how I communicated from a very young age,” says Kravitz.
Now that Kravitz’s career has blossomed her pursuits are far reaching in terms of roles. When she first began acting in meatier roles she was in dramas like “It’s Kind of a Funny Story”(2010),“Yelling to the Sky” (2011), as well as her stint as a recurring character in Showtime’s “Californication” (2011).
She then shifted towards the blockbusters of which “X-Men: First Class” (2011), a reboot of the popular comic film franchise which began in 2000, was the first. This was likely the first time general audiences remember her work playing the mutant Angel Salvadore, also known as Tempest. Since then, nearly every other film she has done has some sort of Science Fiction (Sci-Fi) background to it.
Kravitz says that although there is truth in her being involved with a lot of Sci-Fi films, it wasn’t her direct desire to be in these types of genre films. “It was never really my plan, I’m kind of surprised more than anyone else being in action and Sci-Fi films but you know when I’m reading scripts I’m really just looking for stories that I find to be intriguing, and I let the genre go while I’m reading it. It really just so happens to be that there were some stories that I really liked that were action/Sci-Fi films.”
With films such as Will Smith and son Jayden’s project “After Earth” (2013) as well as her recurring role as Christina in the “Divergent” film series, there is something in these other-wordly characters which she has found a connection with. “They resonated with me for whatever reason, so it was less about ‘okay I want to do an action movie now or a big studio film’, and more about ‘I think this is an intriguing story or an important story’, in whatever form that it’s told.”
Another trait found in most of the characters Kravitz plays is their strength. “I would be very intrigued to play an incredibly weak female character because that’s interesting too. There are people like that in the world as well but I guess it’s easy to naturally navigate towards things that you relate to or admire. It’s probably easier for me to play a strong, you know loudmouth person that I did, than a quiet, weak person but that would be interesting as well to play.”
In her latest role as Christina, continuing in the “Divergent” series’ new chapter “Allegiant”, Kravitz says that her character’s evolution has been one of reflection and maturity. “I think she’s really matured in a lot of ways. She, and they (other lead characters) have all been through a lot at this point. In the first film “Divergent”, there’s a lot of angst to her. And she’s trying to find herself and the world that she’s in. And she wants to be heard and seen. She doesn’t think before she speaks and it’s kind of like how we we’re all like first finding our independence in the world. So much has gone on, there’s been death and love, revolution. I think she’s a lot quieter, she’s a lot more militant, she’s a lot more focused on the goal that is surviving and standing up for what they believe in I think. There’s a bigger picture now that she understands.”
After “Allegiant”, Kravitz will return to the screen in “Vincent N Roxxy”, a crime thriller, as well a “Adam Green’s Aladdin”, described as “a hypersensory, poetic, and humorously modern take on the Arabian Nights Classic tale.”
But for now, Kravitz says that “Allegiant” will be a good time. “It’s a really fun film and it’s good message. When you go to be entertained at the movies it’s nice to slip in a little bit of depth. I think these films really explore some interesting subjects and I mean hopefully you’re already invested in the first few so you’ll come on this (new) journey with us.”
