Where Was 'Blink Twice' Filmed?

Would you take a free trip to Epstein island? It’s a question that Zoë Kravitz’s debut film asks and also answers: perhaps yes, if you need a vacation badly enough. But you’ll also sorely regret it. The film follows down-on-her-luck cater waiter Frida (Naomi Ackie) who, after using her credentials to sneak into the gala at which she’s meant to be pouring Champagne, meets-cute with tech billionaire Slater King (Channing Tatum, with a name more evocative of Elon Musk—consider him a conglomerate). King is re-assimilating to society following a narrowly-skirted cancellation for vaguely defined and sexually suspicious maybe-crimes. By the end of the night, she and her friend (always bring a buddy!) have been whisked aboard a private jet replete with halfway-handsome bachelors and a few other beautiful ladies, bound for King’s private island that, presumably, sits somewhere in the Caribbean.

Vacation mode is activated as Frida, Slater, and company post up in the island’s hacienda, eat a ton of food, drink and smoke even more, and while away day after day by the pool. What happens at night is a tad less clear to viewers and to Frida at first. Vacation mode steadily malfunctions. Paradise becomes a pit. Check-in was more than easy, but check-out might prove impossible.

Slater King’s island does not, perhaps thankfully, exist in real life. The film wasn’t made on an island at all, in fact, but deep in the jungles of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula—you’ll notice no lounging is done on the beach. Mérida was production’s home base and Mexico City-based production designer Roberto Bonelli had visited the colonial city many times as a tourist, but this was his first time working there. Below, he lets us in on how the setting—namely, a bountiful boutique hotel scene and unique local flora—informed the filmmaking, as well as how he filled his few free hours.

Blink Twice, set on a private island, wasn’t made on an island at all, in fact, but deep in the jungles of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula

Can you start by telling me where this island exists, in real life?

The island is a fictitious island, which comes from a need to make it exclusive as well as geographically weird and mysterious—nobody knows where it is, and it’s difficult to escape because you can’t just leave. There’s this comment: “There are no doctors on this island.” We needed to invent it, and we went for not an island at all. In a previous draft, there were more scenes on the beach, but we turned out not to need it. We went for an existing location, a hacienda in the jungle, and we changed it so that it would not be recognizable.

It was Zoë who first suggested it, when we were scouting all over and went to the Yucatán, that we go for a place with a bit more history. It would give Channing’s character a bit more depth—not just a rich kid, but someone who is into culture and history. We got inspiration from several haciendas, and at the end we had to choose just one.

And which one was that?

We chose Temazon Sur, which is a hacienda about an hour-and-a-half south of Mérida, where we would stay. We would also sometimes stay in Temazon Sur in various groups—first, we had a construction crew to make changes, then the set decoration crew, then producers and assistant directors, and by the time we were shooting, it was just the actors and I was happy because it was a long time to be staying in the jungle and Mérida offers wonderful places to eat and great jazz clubs.

The film setting—namely, a bountiful boutique hotel scene and unique local flora in the Yucatán—informed the storytelling of Zoë Kravitz’s debut film.

What was it about Temazon Sur that spoke to you, and what did you want to bring to it?

We wanted to use a lot of red as a base, and this hacienda was all red outside with nice little white accents. We also liked that this particular hacienda had produced hennequin plants, which are used to make ropes and fibers. And, in the film, the island produces a very unique and special flower so that was a nice thread.

The hacienda is set in this lush area where we did a lot of greening because we wanted it to be a bit more graphic—we wanted a pristineness. As much as I personally love when a hacienda has some texture and aging, it didn’t go with this character who is obsessive and a show-off despite his desire to be authentic. The other place where we did a heavy intervention was around the pool, we put down some huge slabs of local Yucatán marble. So, if you go and stay there now, because it’s a hotel, it won’t look exactly like the movie. But it is very beautiful.

“[Around the pool,] we put down some huge slabs of local Yucatán marble,” says production designer Roberto Bonelli. “If you go and stay there now, because it’s a hotel, it won’t look exactly like the movie. But it is very beautiful.”

What can you tell me about working in Mérida?

Mérida was a great place to be for us to have options—antiques, drapery, and all sorts of flowers. We thought a lot about this flower that they make a perfume out of. At one point, when we were scouting and we saw this striking red flower called the Hibiscus tiliaceus. It would come out yellow in the morning, in the afternoon it would be a stunning red, and then it would fall off. In the hotels, they would pick them up and put them on the pillow and they would last. I think the first time Zoë saw this flower, she was at her hotel and it was in her bathroom by the sink and she came storming out and said, “Look at this flower!” We had been searching all over for a flower and here was this visual reference right there.

But to use them in a film production would get us into too much trouble, even though they were native, because they had such a delicate life. So we considered making them in latex, but it was too hard to get them to look right. So we would instead take a very dark lily flower, which you can also get lots of in Mérida, and dip them in a little pot of bright yellow curry to get a pollination effect.

And what about spending time in Mérida?

I really love Mérida, and working with more locals really helped me get into the vibe and see many of the places that the city has hidden away. It’s not that I’m a giant jazz fan, but there is a little bit of a live jazz scene happening there and it was a good thing to unwind listening to live jazz rather than hanging around the hotel bar drinking cocktails. A jazz bar is a great place to go alone, you’re not being looked at as a weirdo for being alone. I loved Dzalbay, in particular, as well as this place for vinyl called Bird and the restaurant-bar-nightclub Salón Gallos.

“I really love Mérida, and working with more locals really helped me get into the vibe and see many of the places that the city has hidden away,” says Bonelli.

Tell me about Mérida’s food.

I am a great fan of the tortas de lechón, which is a pork sandwich that they traditionally only have for breakfast. The food scene is really interesting. There are some great restaurants there, both high end traditional cuisine, traditional street cuisine, and international fare. There’s a very interesting sushi scene and Italian scene, which was great for us for variety although tourists don’t really go for it. You have to eat at Kuuk in the center of Mérida; they call it a lab because they experiment a lot with Mexican food. And one of the restaurants’ chefs made the food for our movie—Nectar. They collaborated with us to make the food so colorful and noticeable.

And the hotels?

The boutique hotel scene in very impressive, they are really stylishly done up. They maintain all the history of the area, they have restored furniture but everything is still so luxurious and clean. We took these aesthetics into the movie, heightened, old, and rescued interiors. There are so many good hotels, I’ll list them: Casa Olivia, Rosas y Chocolate, and outside of Merida haciendas such as Itzincab and San Antonio Hool where you can also stay. You could just go from one place to another.

You shot a little bit of interiors in Mexico City—are there any locations there that you want to shout out?

The amazing Museo Soumaya, which has a very big collection of sculptures by Auguste Rodin that we were able to shoot with. It was very delicate work with these beautiful sculptures in a sharp, minimalist space, and very worth it.