Zoë Kravitz On ‘Caught Stealing,’ Independence And Thriving In New York City

Actress and filmmaker Zoë Kravitz captivates as Yvonne in Darren Aronofsky’s (Black Swan, The Whale) latest homerun of a film, Caught Stealing. Kicking off during a day as possibly normal as it can get in New York city during the 90’s, Hank Thompson’s livelihood turns into a rampant nightmare after the baseball-prodigy-turned-alcoholic protagonist gets caught in the crosshairs of mobsters. Yvonee grounds Thompson throughout Aronofsky’s glorious character study on a small town kid who must grapple with a brutal series of events that undertakes his sensibilities. “Charlie and Darren really know New York City,” Kravitz breaks down working with Aronofsky after directing her first film, Blink Twice. “And as someone that’s lived here for a very long time—it is instant. You can tell if someone knows what they’re talking about or not when it comes to the city. You kind of have to have a certain amount of grit to make it out alive here.”

In 2004, Caught Stealing was written by novelist Charlie Huston and thus became the source of material for Aronofsky in his movie distributed by Sony Pictures. Out August 29th, the film focuses on a slew of characters who are representative of different vignettes of New York’s cultural fabric. “I live in Brooklyn,” Kravitz tells me. “I feel like all of the boroughs have their own energy to them. We live in this city that has so many little cities within that city and that’s what makes it so great here.”

Austin Butler as Hank Thompson highlights the performer’s way of getting physically apt to inhabit a character who is tortured by their past and is only able to survive his life with the nurturing of his lover, Yvonne, his distant mother, and his athletic upbringing. Kravitz and Butler’s choreographed intimacy and onscreen chemistry is thunderous, and the cinematographer, Matthew Libatique, gives the audience closer examinations into their rocky relationship. Bad Bunny plays Colorado, the drug ring leader, and Regina King is a crooked NY cop who tears the protagonist’s ordinary life apart. In Caught Stealing, each caricature of every borough is a part of the greater story of conquering loneliness and desperation in a rough environment that makes it seem impossible to survive.

“There is a caring kind of maternal energy to Yvonne,” Kravitz says. “She is an EMT. She takes care of people but also can leave Hank at any time and I think that is a really lovely combination of qualities. Oftentimes, in films specifically with women, it can be one or the other.” Kravitz is accustomed to retelling stories of women who acquire power and must learn to navigate with their new positioning, as she did in her 2024 film, Blink Twice starring Naomi Ackie. “Personally, I am a very independent person so I probably am drawn towards characters that feel that way. It can even be more difficult to find the softness and the vulnerability within and finding that balance.”

Characteristically, Yvonne carries this feline nature where she is willing to pounce at any moment but has the capability to be affectionate to those she trusts with her heart. “Living in New York is walking around and seeing these glimpses of life,” Kravitz speaks on the cinematic inspiration that makes New York city such a spectacular landscape for storytelling. “Everything is in such close proximity to each other. It’s so intense. In one place you see a couple fighting and screaming on the street, and in another, you can see someone dancing. So many different kinds of people in such a small space and really big personalities. It is constant inspiration and constant contrast.”

Aronofsky concentrates on the over-saturation of individuality in Manhattan and Brooklyn and even brings the audience into destinations as far out as Brighton Beach to highlight just how far the soul of New York city stretches. “Working on set was a really fun environment, it is similar to watching a master at work. Darren is so light yet his films can feel so heavy,” Kravitz states. “After directing Blink Twice, I look at characters in a much more macro way. I was really focused on Yvonne’s purpose in this story. This tender move towards real commitment is interrupted so violently. The audience has everything stolen from them in a way.”

The director’s hyperfocus on flawed humanity and the way prized life moments can be ripped away at any given second fixates on the way anything is possible in a chaotic atmosphere. Kravitz provides an emotional foreground in her performance alongside Butler  that feels so real and grounded, which makes the character’s fates so devastating. “I was so curious about Darren and his process and how he runs his set.” Filming Caught Stealing, “ended up being very liberating in a way, because I felt like I was paying much more attention to him as a director and learning; versus thinking about me and my performance so much,” Kravitz says with ease. Her character’s tethered relationship to the protagonist is nowhere near easy yet Zoë Kravitz’s subtlety in the way she can convey emotion makes the most bizarre circumstances feel deeply personal and close to home.

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