Social media has produced plenty of stories that have a ring of truth but are packed with ridiculous twists that seem way too good to be true. Thus it was with #TheStory, a 148-part Twitter thread by Aziah “Zola” Wells King — except her thread turned out to be a relatively true recounting of two women on a nightmare Florida road trip. Last year at the Sundance Film Festival, director Janicza Bravo turned that thread into a film that dramatizes the story without losing Zola’s sardonic charm.
Zola’s first trailer is as over-the-top as the Twitter thread it’s based on
Not that long, but full of suspense
Not that long, but full of suspense
is a senior tech and policy editor focused on online platforms and free expression. Adi has covered virtual and augmented reality, the history of computing, and more for The Verge since 2011.
A24 is now releasing Zola in theaters this summer, and the first trailer was released online today. It’s a pretty good encapsulation of the movie, starring Taylour Paige as the semi-fictionalized A’Ziah King and Riley Keough as her volatile frenemy Stefani, who drags Zola into a trafficking underworld after inviting her on a spontaneous strip club tour. Also, don’t miss Succession’s Nicholas Braun — who plays Stefani’s hapless boyfriend — bragging about “schmoney.”
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