FROM TWITTER TO THEATER
Zola: Who’s starring in the movie and when it is being released?
INDEPENDENT films have an underdog history, shocking the world and becoming big box office successes.
Known as the greatest stripper saga ever tweeted, Zola, looks to explore the taboo subject of sex-work.
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Who's in the cast of Zola?
Originally an independent film, the cast of Zola is small.
The actors include:
Taylour Paige
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Taylour Paige, 30, plays Aziah "Zola" King.
Paige is best known as VH1's Ahsha Hayes in Hit The Floor and was a featured dancer in Disney's High School Musical 3: Senior Year.
Riley Keough
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, 32, plays Stefani.
She is best known for her roles in Mad Mx: Fury Road, American Honey, It Comes at Night, and The House That Jack Built.
Nicholas Braun
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Nicholas Braun, 33, plays Derrek.
He is best known for his roles in HBO's Succession, How to Be Single, Disney's Sky High, and Perks of Being a Wallflower.
Ari'el Stachel
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Ari'el Stachel, 30, plays Sean.
Stachel is best known for his roles in Jessica Jones, and The Two Princes.
Between 2020-21, he guest starred in three episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as Sergeant Hasim Khaldun.
Colman Domingo
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, 51, plays X.
He is most famously known for his roles in Lincoln, Selma, and Passing Strange.
Domingo also stars as Victor Strand in AMC's Fear the Walking Dead.
Jason Mitchell
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, 34, plays Dion.
Mitchell is most famously known for his roles in Straight Outta Compton, Mudbound, Detroit, and Kong: Skull Island.
Back in April 2020, Mitchell was arrested in Mississippi on drugs and weapons charges after police found two pounds of marijuana, 1,300 dosage units of Ecstasy, an AK-47, and a Glock 9mm pistol.
Nelcie Souffrant
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Nelcie Souffrant plays Gail.
She is most famously known for her roles in Strings Attached, Life is Too Short, and 72 Hours: A Brooklyn Love Story.
Nasir Rahim
Nasir Rahim plays Jonathan.
He is most famously known for his roles in Sinner Wanted, Good Girls, and Inner Demons the Thrillogy.
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When is Zola being released?
Zola originally aired at the Sundance Film festival on January 24, 2020. It was greeted with critical acclaim, and was then picked up by Sony for international rights.
Sony released the film through A24 on June 30, 2021.
The trailer for the movie was released back in March 2021.
was originally announced as the director back in 2016, before ultimately being replaced by Janicza Bravo, after accusations of sexual misconduct.
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Is Zola based on a true story?
The film is a comedy and a drama, about a Detroit waitress being seduced by her new friend Stefani into spending a weekend in Florida stripping for some quick cast.
The movie is based on a real life story that comes from a tweet thread back in 2015.
In October of 2015, A’Ziah Wells King, aka Zola, posted a string of tweets detailing her story of the trip she took to Florida with a stripper named Jessica, whom she met while waitressing.
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The thread includes the story of a weekend that includes murder, a suicide attempt, a pimp, abuse, gangsters and even more unexpected adventures.
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The tweet thread almost immediately went viral. It caught the eye of notable celebrities such as Missy Elliot and Solange Knowles.
The story was too good not to be told through motion picture and went into development soon after.
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