It all began with a single question: “Y’all wanna hear a story about why me & this bitch here fell out???????? It’s kind of long but full of suspense.”
From there, Twitter users went on a 148-tweet journey from Detroit to Tampa, full of strippers, money, and pimps. And now the “greatest stripper saga ever” has been turned into an A24 movie starring Taylour Paige as Zola (she’s the only character with the same name as her real-life counterpart), Riley Keough as sex worker Stefani, Nicholas Braun (Cousin Greg!) as Stefani’s loser boyfriend Derrek, and Colman Domingo as pimp X.
Our own Vince Mancini saw Zola at Sundance last year, calling it “entertaining as hell” with a “brilliant” cast. Did I mention that Cousin Greg sports “a Fred Durst chin strap” and aspires to make Instagram fail videos”? This feels important.
Here’s the official plot synopsis:
Zola (Taylour Paige), a Detroit waitress, strikes up a new friendship with a customer, Stefani (Riley Keough), who seduces her to join a weekend of dancing and partying in Florida. What at first seems like a glamorous trip full of “hoeism” rapidly transforms into a 48-hour journey involving a nameless pimp, an idiot boyfriend, some Tampa gangsters and other unexpected adventures in this wild, see-it-to-believe-it tale.
Zola, directed by Janicza Bravo, opens in theaters this summer.