Los Angeles, Dec 19 (IANS): Hollywood actress Zoe Kravitz has heaped praise on her ex-fiance Channing Tatum's performance in ‘Blink Twice’.

The actress, who directed the film, explained to ‘The Batman’ director Matt Reeves that while casting Tatum, 44, she wanted “to weaponize his charisma”, reports ‘People’ magazine.

“Channing was the first person I thought of for Slater King, and I don’t know where that came from”, Kravitz, 36, said during a special segment of ‘Variety’, with regards to Tatum’s tech billionaire character in the psychological thriller.

As per ‘People’, despite the former couple calling off their engagement in October, Kravitz, who met Tatum after casting him as the villainous Slater, stands by her decision.

“I knew that the character needed to be somebody who we think we trust, especially because you don’t believe Naomi (Ackie) (who played Frida) is getting on that plane if it’s someone who is immediately insidious”, Kravitz said.

The ‘Big Little Lies’ actress explained she wanted to "weaponize" Tatum's charm because audiences have “never seen” him in that type of role.

She told Deadline in June 2021 that Tatum was her first choice to star in her directorial debut. "(He was the one) I thought of when I wrote this character", she said. "I just knew from Magic Mike and his live shows, I got the sense he's a true feminist and I wanted to collaborate with someone who was clearly interested in exploring this subject matter”.

Prior to the couple’s split, they joined one another for the film’s press tour and spoke about working together as they continued their relationship. At the Los Angeles premiere of ‘Blink Twice’ in August, Tatum told ‘People’, "To get to create something with someone that you love is probably one of the most gratifying things”.

We got to work together and go through hard things together and support each other, and it was beautiful", Kravitz added at the premiere.