news Zoë Kravitz: Producers Wanted My ‘High Fidelity’ Character to Be ‘Less Angry’ and ‘Toxic’

Zoë Kravitz is still speaking out on what led to Hulu pulling the plug on “High Fidelity.”

The 2020 series starring Kravitz as gender-swapped record store owner Rob, who revisits her top five past heartbreaks while reeling over one particular ex (Kingsley Ben-Adir). “High Fidelity” is based on Nick Hornby novel, which was previously adapted for a 2000 film starring John Cusack. The critically acclaimed Hulu series was canceled after a single season.

“What was interesting is I had to really fight the producers in a lot of ways to let me be as toxic as she was,” Kravitz revealed GQ. “They really wanted to dull things down. Even at the end of Episode Two, when I screamed, ‘What fucking Lily girl?’ they were like, ‘Can you be less angry?’ Or when I fantasized about beating the shit out of Lily, they were like, ‘It’s so violent.'”

Kravitz continued, “They wanted it to be this cute, likable version of this piece-of-shit character. The point was to show that women could be pieces of shit too.”

The “Batman” star added that the series cancellation made her feel “out of control.” Kravitz executive produced “High Fidelity” and also wrote an episode.

“If you make something and no one liked it and it’s not good, then it makes sense,” the “Big Little Lies” alum added. “But when people connect to it, it’s sad. I felt really out of control.”

Kravitz previously told Elle that Hulu “didn’t realize what that show was and what it could do” and called the series cancelation “a big mistake.”

Now, Kravitz is set to make her directorial debut with “Pussy Island,” a psychological thriller set in the wake of the #MeToo movement starring Channing Tatum and Naomi Ackie. Kravitz co-wrote the script with “High Fidelity” writer E.T. Feigenbaum. The film, co-produced by Tatum, was “born out of a lot of anger and frustration around the lack of conversation about the treatment of women, specifically in industries that have a lot of money in them, like Hollywood, the tech world, all of that,” Kravitz said earlier this year.

You can still stream “High Fidelity” in all its short-lived glory on Hulu.
 
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