“Y’all wanna hear a story about why me and this bitch here fell out????? It’s kind of long but full of suspense.” Those are the famous first words of a viral 148-part Twitter thread from Zola, a Detroit-based stripper. Now, those those words are immortalised in Zola, the A24-produced film about the wild story. We’ve just been blessed with the first full trailer, so buckle up – it’s about to get messy.
If you’ve forgotten the details of the Twitter thread (or this is your first introduction to it), then here’s the summary: Aziah ‘Zola’ King meets a fellow stripper while working at Hooters, and they spend the night “vibing over our hoeism”. They exchange numbers, and the next day this “white bitch” asks if Zola wants to come strip in Florida.
What follows is a 48-hour road trip story that sees a weekend of “hoeism” derail into violence, with pimps, Tampa gangsters, an idiot boyfriend, and a possible suicide attempt. (Zola admitted to Rolling Stone she embellished some of the details, and others were denied or played down by other characters.)
#TheStory, as it became known, went off its clacker. Now it’s a movie, starring Taylour Paige (playing Zola), Riley Keough, Nicholas Braun (aka Succession’s Cousin Greg), Ari’el Stachel, and Colman Domingo.
It comes out in Aussie cinemas September 23, which is not soon enough. The first full trailer is below, so watch if for a taste of the chaos to come.
