Zoë Kravitz Talks Hollywood Typecasting in Nylon Magazine

Zoe Kravitz Covers Nylon Magazine August 2015

Actress and Lolawolf singer Zoë Kravitz covers Nylon Magazine ‘s August 2015 issue where she speaks on her upbringing, avoiding stereotypical casting and more.

For her Bella Howard -photographed cover story , she wears 70s-inspired denim looks selected by stylist Sean Knight . Check out photos and interview snippets below.

Zoë Kravitz for Nylon Magazine August 2015 photographed by Bella Howard

On unlearning mainstream media’s portrayal of “black culture”:

“I identified with white culture, and I wanted to fit in. I didn’t identify with black culture, like, I didn’t like Tyler Perry movies, and I wasn’t into hip-hop music. I liked Neil Young . Black culture is so much deeper than that, but unfortunately that is what’s fed through the media. That’s what people see. That’s what I saw. But then I got older and listened to A Tribe Called Quest and watched films with Sidney Poitier , and heard Billie Holiday and Nina Simone . I had to un-brainwash myself. It’s my mission, especially as an actress.”

Zoë Kravitz for Nylon Magazine August 2015 photographed by Bella Howard

On avoiding certain roles:

“I don’t want to play everyone’s best friend. I don’t want to play the role of a girl struggling in the ghetto. It’s not that that story isn’t important, but I saw patterns and was like, ‘I don’t relate to these people.’”

On why she was happy to star in DOPE :

“It hit all the points that I believe in. I know those people. I got the sense of humor.”

On being typecast:

“In the last Batman movie [The Dark Knight Rises], they told me that I couldn’t get an audition for a small role they were casting because they weren’t ‘going urban. It was like, ‘What does that have to do with anything?’ I have to play the role like, ‘Yo, what’s up, Batman? What’s going on wit chu?’”

Zoë Kravitz for Nylon Magazine August 2015 photographed by Bella Howard

On landing a role in Mad Max: Fury Road :

“It was the fourth movie I ever booked. I saw the trailer last summer and cried. It took a lot out of me. Being in such little clothing in the desert in a car for 12 hours a day—we all started to go a little crazy. But it was worth every second. I can’t believe I’m in it.”

“I’m hyper-aware that people are judging me based on who my parents are. You book jobs like Mad Max because of you and not because of your dad. George Miller doesn’t fucking care who my parents are. There was a point in my teens where I was very self-conscious and didn’t want to make any music because I would get compared to my dad. But I knew I was working hard. I’m not a fucking genius, but I know who I am as an artist. The one thing about art is you can’t question it. Everyone is looking at everyone else to find out what’s cool. No one knows what’s cool. Just do it with confidence—no one can take that away from you.”