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OG Twitter users might remember that October night in 2015 when A’Ziah ‘Zola’ King broke the internet with a 148-part thread about a very wild weekend in Florida. The trip started as a “stripping for money” hustle for the main characters, Zola and Jessica. The thread, which is also known as #TheStory, took readers on a 48-hour adventure featuring pole dancing, a pimp, Tampa gangsters, murder and more wild twists.
After the thread blew up literally overnight, many readers hoped for (and tweeted about) a movie version of the story. Well, after five years of patiently waiting, A24 finally delivered. The film ‘Zola’ made its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2020. A24 released the official trailer today.
A portion of the movie blurb, posted to A24’s website, describes the film as a “wild, see-it-to-believe-it tale.”
‘Zola’ is scheduled to be released in theaters on June 30th, 2021.
The film is directed by Janicza Bravo and and co-written alongside Jeremy O. Harris. Janicza has also directed episodes on the FX series ‘Atlanta’ and ‘Dear White People’.
The film carries a few notable names including VH1’s ‘Hit the Floor’ actress Taylour Paige as Zola. Riley Keough from the movie ‘American Honey’ stars as Jessica — whose name was changed to Stefani in the movie. Jarrett, who is Jessica’s boyfriend in the thread, also got a name change to Derrek. Nicholas Braun from the HBO series ‘Succession’ plays his role. Colman Domingo, of the HBO series ‘Euphoria’ stars as the pimp, X. Entrepreneur and LGBT activist Ts Madison also joined the cast.
A24 is the New York-based, independent film company behind hits like ‘Moonlight,’ ‘Ex Machina,’ ‘Springbreakers,’ ‘Room’ and ‘The Witch’.
The real-life Zola celebrated the trailer release and premiere announcement on Wednesday with a tweet captioned “#HappyZolaDay” and four pictures rocking a sheer, lavender two-piece.
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