Zoe Kravitz is more than meets the eye in ‘Caught Stealing’

For director Darren Aronofsky, the chemistry between his two leads Austin Butler and Zoë Kravitz in crime thriller “Caught Stealing” is electric. “Hank (Butler) is madly in the throes of a new relationship with Yvonne (Kravitz),” says Aronofsky. “They have a very exciting passionate love affair that feels like it’s about to get to a more serious place.”

Kravitz adds that other than their sizzling romance, her character Yvonne, who is an EMT, comes from a place of genuine care and concern for Hank. “Yvonne’s an empathetic person,” Kravitz says. “I think she likes to take care of people, including Hank. She doesn’t do the best job, but she tries.”

In “Caught Stealing,” former baseball star Hank Thompson and his girlfriend Yvonne are thrown into the dangerous NYC criminal underworld after Hank’s neighbor Russ (Matt Smith) asks Hank to take care of his cat for a few days. As the gangs close in on them, Hank does everything to survive long enough to find out why the gangsters are out for his blood.

In the frenetic action of “Caught Stealing,” Aronofsky feels that the spark that drives the film is the way Kravitz and Butler interact on screen. “There’s so much heat between Austin and Zoë in this film,” says Aronofsky. “Their characters’ love affair is really special and intimate.”

Charlie Huston, who wrote the book of the same name the film was based on, felt like working with Kravitz and the cast was just like seeing their characters come to life before them. “I wrote this book decades ago, and now I’m making a movie with Darren Aronofsky and Austin Butler and Matt Smith and Regina King and Zoë Kravitz,” he says.

“It’s so amazing. Darren and I were both living in the East Village in the ‘90s, and our paths must have crossed at some point. When I first moved to New York, I was couch-surfing and living next door to where he was living at the time, so part of the joy of this project is just the shared experience and authenticity of that. To be able to look back and revisit that period of our lives is just fun.”

A thrill ride like no other awaits as “Caught Stealing” is now open in Philippine cinemas.