Everyone on earth has had their routine interrupted in the last month, as COVID-19 and the quarantine measures associated with it have swept through society. But only one person on earth was right in the middle of playing Catwoman, and is now forced to figure out how to stay in Catwoman shape without leaving her house.

On this week’s Little Gold Men podcast, Zoë Kravitz phones in from self-isolation to talk a bit about how she’s spending her quarantine days—but much more about High Fidelity, the Hulu series adaptation of the Nick Hornby novel that was also adapted into a much-loved 2000 film starring John Cusack. For many people, the very notion of a High Fidelity TV show seemed like sacrilege—why remake something that was already perfect? But Kravitz, who loves the book and movie as much as anyone, was committed both to being true to High Fidelity and to building something new with it—from her casting in a role originally written as a white man to figuring out what it’s even like to work at a record store now, in the age of Spotify and Shazam.

In her conversation with Joanna Robinson, Kravitz also talks about the Easter eggs worked into the show for fans of the movie, how she surprised everyone by taking her executive-producer credit very, very seriously, and what went into her joyful nude scene.

This week’s podcast also includes a look at the finale of The Plot Against America and two new films you can watch at home this week: Bad Education, a hit at the Toronto International Film Festival last fall that will air on HBO this weekend, and True History of the Kelly Gang, another Toronto debut from the fall that is, among many other things, an opportunity to see 1917 breakout star __ George MacKay__ in another fiercely committed performance, as well as Nicholas Hoult proving that he might be one of the best movie villains we have.

Listen to this week’s show above, and find a partial transcript of the Kravitz interview below. You can also subscribe to Little Gold Men on Apple Podcasts or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

Vanity Fair: Being a star and executive producer on a project means different things to different people. What did it mean to you? What did you want your role to be?

Zoë Kravitz: It meant I was probably very annoying to a lot of people. Part of me thinks that when an actor, or maybe even more specifically, an actress gets asked to be a producer, executive producer, there’s maybe even a slight hope or that it almost means that they’ll do nothing. But I got way involved and I think everyone was a little bit surprised by how involved I got. I was involved in the casting, I went to the castings, I was in the writers room, I was making playlists and putting songs in and I was in the edit. I was very, very involved all the way to posters and promotion and things like that.

Was that degree of involvement at all inspired by your costars on Big Little Lies and their level involvement in that show?

I mean, I’m definitely incredibly inspired by Nicole and Reese. I mean, Reese is an absolute powerhouse and I think the way that she’s absolutely unapologetic as a producer, she knows her place, she knows that she deserves to be there and her opinion matters and she’s a fighter. I think seeing that really inspired me to know that I had the right to be as involved as I wanted to be and the reason that I wanted to be so involved because I love this property. I have a lot of love and respect for the book and also for the film. And it felt really important to me that this story felt honest and I needed that in every avenue of the show. So that required me to be on every phone call and every notes call I needed to. I had this very specific thing in my mind about what I wanted this to be and I think I realized early on, the only way to help realize that was to be ruthlessly involved.

You also cowrote an episode, one of my favorite episodes of the season, episode five, “Uptown.”

Oh, thanks.

I immediately went back to episode five because I love your chemistry with Jake so much, I love Parker Posey so much. It’s just an incredible little bottle episode, almost. Can you talk about your process of making that episode, putting that together?

I remember the first time I read the book and also when I was rereading it, I’m reading this moment where Rob doesn’t take the records and I think I literally threw the book down, I was so frustrated. And I thought it was such a genius situation that Nick had put his protagonist in and it explains so much about who this person was and it was so complex and so fun. And again, kind of got this really deep reaction for me. So I thought it would be such a great thing to put in the show. And they did shoot it for the film as well and it ended up being cut out. But so that was also something that was exciting to me. Something that I loved so much from the book that wasn’t in the film that we got to work with. And Parker Posey was always who he wrote that role for, we couldn’t believe we got her. That was so cool.

I do love how little is changed about Rob. Down to some of the pieces of wardrobe you wear that John Cusack wore in the original film,

We knew that we were going to be compared to the movie. You kind of can’t avoid that when you remake something. So we wanted to embrace that, we wanted to put in a bunch of Easter eggs for people who love the film and I’m a huge fan of the film. So there were moments where we would be writing a scene and I was like, ‘Oh, this is similar to that same moment in the movie.’ And instead of trying to stray away from that, it was more fun to just lean into it.

So you mentioned being involved in casting, I’m fascinated by the casting of Jake Lacy, who is the world’s best supportive boyfriend of interesting female characters, that seems to be the role that he is best suited for. What were you looking for in that role and how does Jake Lacy fulfill it?

It’s funny because I haven’t really watched The Office. I didn’t watch a lot of Girls. I saw Obvious Child after the fact. So I wasn’t familiar with him, kind of reprising this role, people were saying he’s kind of the nice-boyfriend guy. But we wanted someone who at first seemed kind of harmless and they wouldn’t be a real contender. And then the second you get to know that person, your heart just melts and you’re rooting for these two people. But someone that she could dismiss quickly early on. And Jake is, he can have this kind of like sweet white bread thing to him. But then the minute he starts talking, he’s so witty and smart and fast and soulful. And so we were really excited to give him space to go a little bit deeper than I think he’s been able to do in a lot of shows where he kind of plays the boyfriend.

I think we hint at a lot of complications in his past. There’s this moment in episode seven where he talks about trying for years to cut this chaos out of his life and you get the feeling that he's maybe moved to New York, running away from something. He’s trying to change his life a little bit. And I would love to see more of that in the future if we continue with Clyde.

So many reboots and remakes, I don’t think it’s controversial to say, miss the mark of what we loved about the original. I responded really well to this, but I think most people responded really well to this season of High Fidelity. What do you think made for a successful remake here?

Yeah, I mean, I agree with you and I think a lot of the times, you switch the gender just to switch the gender, and it becomes kind of a gimmick. But I think we were able to kind of update the story in a really interesting way. One part of that is, okay, what does this world look like of record stores and stuff when we have the internet and Shazam and Spotify and all of that. And the idea of someone that's kind of hanging on to dear life to this analog world. And then also shifting from a male to female with Rob, but still really, like I was saying earlier about my conversations with Nick Hornby, still really keeping the energy and the tone of the book.

I’ve always thought that High Fidelity was the most punk-rock romantic comedy. And if you soften anything too much, especially because now we’re dealing with a woman. So if you make her softer or try and make her more likable or too likable, then you lose the heart of what this story’s about. This is about a person who is looking in the wrong places for the answers and finally realizes, oh, maybe I should look at myself. and I think a lot of people can relate to that. And a lot of women can relate to that. And so I think it actually felt like a breath of fresh air for a lot of women who watch the show. And also for the men who watch the show, the things they loved and enjoyed about the original or the book are still there.

It’s probably too reductive to put any character in this story into a villain or hero box. But what’s interesting for me is that I read the book when I was a teenager and I was just fully in Rob’s journey and I felt I was on his side the whole time and then rereading it later in life, I was like, Oh wait. When you grow with a book like this, you’re just like, Oh, look at all the ways in which Rob is wrong and totally off the mark all over the place.

I always identified with Rob, which was one of the reasons I wanted to do this. When I saw the movie or read the book, the person who I identified with wasn’t any of the girlfriends, it was the Rob character. And I think one of the biggest shifts has been kind of, people romanticize that character a lot and going back and reading it, he is a bit of a misogynist and a narcissist. But I do think that’s what the book is about. It’s about a person who’s stunted. So I think when I was younger and I read the book, I think I romanticized it in a way where I was like, Oh, this person’s so cool and interesting. And then I think reading it later, I was like, This person needs to work on themselves.

It was really important to me that Rob is still kind of an asshole. Because that, to me, that’s what the story is about. People have said to me, “How does a story work and how are you not able to get a date?” And people think that that’s what the show’s about, a person who can’t get a date or can’t keep a relationship. But it’s really about a person who’s selfish and so no one wants to be with her. It doesn’t matter what you look like. If you’re not a kind person, then relationships aren’t going to work. And you have to eventually look at yourself. So to me, yeah, Rob just kind of being a selfish piece of shit was the most interesting thing about the character.

There’s also a moment that, my jaw dropped when I saw this. Rob’s just had sex with a musician, and she’s just really feeling herself. You get a little bit of nudity, but it's such an empowering bit of nudity It's not exploitative, it's not objectifying her.

Yeah. That felt really important to me. Just again, trying to make the story feel as honest as possible. And having Rob in the bath or having Rob after a one night stand, it's more interesting to see her naked in that moment instead of when she's in bed with a person. You know what I mean? I think it’s just so raw and honest and vulnerable. And the thing I love about that moment is that Rob is topless. She’s walking around feeling all cool, putting on sunglasses, and then the guy walks in and she's totally embarrassed and vulnerable and naked. It’s so funny. So moments like that are just, they hit home for me. I’m sure a lot of people can relate to a moment like that.

I wanted to ask you also briefly about Big Little Lies. It’s my understanding that the ending of season two is changed to sort of leave the door open for a season three. What are your thoughts on, on those changes and the idea of continuing Bonnie's story?

There’s a big thing that got changed. There was someone that was supposed to die, but it wasn’t me, but I don’t know what I’m allowed to say, so I don’t know. But someone did die. But I think the way we ended the season was obviously really intriguing, but also everyone got to come together and I think that felt important to everybody because I think that was one of the most powerful things about the end of season one, is these women and our stories are all quite separate, but kind of finally coming together at the end. So I think that was the reason we went in the direction we did. But I would love to do another season. I love that show. I love those people. And I love the response. I love how passionate people are about that show. It makes going to work so much better when you know that people are rooting for you and excited for the thing that you're working on.

Speaking of, obviously people are really excited about Batman. I know that someone will assassinate you if you say anything about that project.

There’s a guy standing at my window right now telling me to shut up.

I’m not trying to get you got or anything, but I know that the production was put on hold because of everything that’s going on. So this is my question. Hopefully this is something you can answer. I know that when one does a comic book/superhero movie, there’s a lot of intensive physical training involved to get you in shape to be Catwoman. Does that mean you have to maintain your Catwoman training all through corona quarantine?

Yeah. So I mean, it’s not like the studio called and said, “Don’t get fat, bitch.” But I had been training now for maybe four or five months and the first couple weeks that I self-quarantined, I remember texting the director, I texted Matt and I was like, We might have to make the cat suit a few sizes bigger when this is over. So I quickly decided to get my shit together and I’ve been working out virtually with my trainer David Higgins five days a week. And it’s actually been really great because it’s been giving me some kind of structure because I do it at the same time and it also makes the weekends feel like a weekend because I don’t workout on the weekends and it gives me just, oh, it’s a different kind of a day. So it’s actually been really great just for my mental health. And kind of foods, kind of the only thing that I have, food and wine bringing me joy right now. So I’m definitely eating whatever the fuck I want. But yeah, try to stay in decent shape so I don’t have to start from scratch.

Food, wine, and Fiona Apple will get us through quarantine.

Yeah. Food, wine, and weed. It’s my favorite things right now.

— Where Are Tiger King Stars Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin Now?
— The Human Toll: The Artists Who Have Died From the Coronavirus
— How to Watch Every Marvel Movie in Order During Quarantine
— Why Doesn’t Disney+ Have More Muppet Stuff?
— All the New 2020 Movies Streaming Early Because of the Coronavirus
— Tales From the Loop Is Stranger Than Stranger Things
— From the Archive: The Making of the Cultural Phenomenon That Was Julia Child

Looking for more? Sign up for our daily Hollywood newsletter and never miss a story.