London-born-and-bred actor Naomi Ackie tells us about the amazing locations from gripping new thriller 'Blink Twice' – and tells us about the time she left her nephew's birthday party to go and see Queen Bee at the London Stadium (sorry, not sorry!)
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00:00It's not what I thought it was going to be.
00:02What do you mean?
00:04The legendary parties of Slater King, Blink Twice and Vomit Daydream.
00:12Hi, I'm Alex from NME, and today I'm joined by a very special guest.
00:16She's been a Star Wars warrior, a terrifying murderer in the end of the fucking world.
00:20She's played Flippin' Whitney Houston.
00:22Flippin' Whitney Houston.
00:23And now, the star of new thriller Blink Twice, it's Naomi Aki.
00:28That's a cool intro, thank you.
00:30You're welcome, it's all true, it's all true.
00:32I know, that's a nice bit.
00:34Without spoiling anything, Blink Twice starts with your character, Frida,
00:38being whisked away on holiday with a tech billionaire she's never met.
00:43Yeah.
00:44Who is the celebrity that Naomi Aki would say yes to doing that to?
00:48Beyoncé.
00:48Beyoncé? Okay.
00:49Hands down, I trust her with my life.
00:51With or without Jay-Z, just Beyoncé?
00:53It's just Bey, and then her extended family, her husband of course,
00:56you know, not everyone, but ultimately, I mean, I really,
01:00I think even Beyoncé, I would be like, are you sure?
01:04But probably, if anyone, it would be Beyoncé.
01:08What kind of holiday do you think Beyoncé has?
01:10Do you think she's a go-getting sort of city stop,
01:13kind of seeing all the sights, or is she kind of by the pool?
01:15I just, I feel like, I feel like Beyoncé is a, she's a boat girl.
01:21I want to imagine, I feel like she's a-
01:24A super yacht.
01:26Yeah, a big old one, a big one, but it's like still cute.
01:29It's not like, it's not garish.
01:31And then it's like, it's a chill, a really nice villa.
01:34The food is on point.
01:36The chat is on point.
01:37Good music, good vibes, very chill.
01:40It's how I'd like to imagine my holiday with Beyoncé, but you know.
01:43I mean-
01:44A girl can dream.
01:47Back to the film.
01:48Yes.
01:49The villa in that looks pretty incredible.
01:51It's gorgeous, isn't it?
01:52Yeah.
01:53Where is that?
01:54Who owns it?
01:56Yeah, when's it on Airbnb?
01:58It's actually a hotel called Temazon in Mexico, Yucatan.
02:02And yeah, we were there for two and a half months and we lived there too.
02:07And it's stunning.
02:08It's really a gorgeous spot.
02:10And obviously we filled it up with like loads of like film cameras and stuff like that.
02:15But the vibe is gorgeous.
02:17Weirdly, we had, we needed to go back to do some reshoots about a year afterwards, I want to say.
02:24And you were so cross about that, weren't you?
02:28But actually we just got there just in time before it was about to get refurbished.
02:32But the vibe was just so good.
02:34And like Zoe talks about how it has kind of a colonialist history about it.
02:39It's a plantation or explantation.
02:41So she wanted to include that within the story.
02:45Did she tell you how many times does a director of a film like this visit the main location?
02:50So many times.
02:51Really?
02:52I've heard that about a lot of directors.
02:53They'll like, they do, what do they call it?
02:56Scouting.
02:57Yeah.
02:58You scout loads of different places.
02:59My thing is this, right?
03:00I want to be a director so I can be like, I need to, I want to be so amazing.
03:04I need to find like a holiday spot that could be anywhere in the world and we need to see about Tim.
03:09And then just travel the world and be like, is this the right place?
03:13Let's try another one.
03:14And then send Warner Brothers the bill.
03:16It was absolutely, completely necessary to spend three weeks there this summer.
03:20In August.
03:22Yeah.
03:23So yeah, I think she had to do a lot of looking and a lot of,
03:27she was involved in every single piece of this movie.
03:33And it shows.
03:34I mean, her fingerprint is everywhere on it.
03:37Speaking about The Village just reminded me of one of my favourite scenes.
03:40It's when Frida is in the pool.
03:42Yeah.
03:43And she's speaking to Janet Atom's character.
03:45She's got the raspberries and she chokes on it.
03:47It's one of my favourite scenes.
03:49While watching it, it occurred to me, how many takes are you having to do with that?
03:52How many times?
03:53And how do you sort of direct someone to choke?
03:55It's like, can we have more saliva, please?
03:57I remember, I remember like, yeah, it was like, the coughing was fine.
04:00It was the look that Zoe wanted me to have, which was like, oh, like a help me kind of look,
04:05which did make me laugh quite a bit.
04:08Yeah, that was, it was so funny as well, because you've got to choke on the raspberry,
04:12but not actually like, they were like, choke, make it look convincing,
04:15but like don't actually die.
04:16Okay, action.
04:19But yeah, it goes to show, like, I think, you know,
04:22one of my favourite things about this movie is Frida is quite,
04:27she's quite competitive and she's also a nutter.
04:30Subtly though, isn't she?
04:31Subtly, you know, it's always a question of like,
04:33did she do that on purpose or didn't she?
04:35Like, is she actually as innocent as she's seeming
04:38or is there something else going on?
04:41And that was always fun to play with.
04:43Tell me there's something wrong with this place.
04:48I've thrown out of my nails and I don't know how I got there.
04:51Are you having a good time?
04:53A question, Annie and me, because we're Music Magazine, we always ask,
04:57do you have a go-to album that you're listening to at the moment?
05:00My ultimate, ultimate go-to is Lauryn Hill, Miseducation.
05:05Like, that is...
05:06Pretty good album.
05:07It's alright.
05:10I'll stop on that and then still to say that that is like,
05:13I feel like it's an anthem for like my childhood,
05:15but also like my adulthood too.
05:17And like, the more I listen to it, the more it makes sense to me.
05:21But yeah, I went through a Chaka Khan phase.
05:25Obviously.
05:27Who would I be without saying that? Beyonce.
05:30Plays a really big part in my music.
05:33Did you get to go to any of the big gigs?
05:35Yeah. How was it? Tell me about that.
05:37So this was a thing, right?
05:38I had been asked, do you want to go free tickets?
05:42And I had, I couldn't.
05:44And then I was like, I can't believe I'm going to miss this.
05:47I've seen every single one of Beyonce's tours.
05:51Like every single one.
05:52Back to Destiny's Child when I was a kid.
05:54And I had to say no, I was heartbroken because I saw everything on Instagram.
05:59I was so jealous.
06:00And then last minute, it was my nephew, it's my younger nephew's birthday.
06:04And I get a call on that day being like,
06:06nay, we've got other tickets, two more tickets.
06:08Do you want to go?
06:09I had to call up my sister and I was like, Rosh?
06:12I wouldn't, you know me.
06:14I would not, I would not.
06:15But it's Beyonce.
06:16She was like, go, go now before it's too late.
06:19I remember just like leaving my boyfriends running,
06:21running to Tottenham to go and see Beyonce.
06:25And it was one of my favourite of her shows.
06:28I mean, that woman knows how to like,
06:31captivate an audience at her craft.
06:34Oh my God, I'm obsessed.
06:35I do not want this to become just about Beyonce,
06:37but her craft and her attention to craft shows.
06:40And like, I'm just in awe.
06:42She's such like an inspiration to me.
06:44Maybe you can win like one of those super fan competitions
06:46to go on holiday with her.
06:47No, no, no, no, no.
06:48But this is the point.
06:49I actually can't ever meet her.
06:51I've said that to so many people.
06:53I cannot meet Beyonce because then, you know, it's,
06:57no, no, no, because I'd make a fool of myself.
06:59But also I'm just like, I like the,
07:01like, I just want to keep it as an idea.
07:03Like her as an ideology is enough for me.
07:09It would just be too close.
07:10It'd just be too close.
07:12Thanks so much for chatting to me today.
07:15If we ever interview Beyonce, we'll warn her to stay clear.
07:17Stay clear of me, Beyonce.
07:19I don't need that in my life.
07:21But thanks so much.
07:24What are we going to do about you?
07:27Hmm?
07:31We need to find out what's really going on.
07:38It's a really special place.