There are movies based on books. There are movies based on toys. Heck, there are even movies based on video games. Now, for the first time ever, there’s a movie coming out that’s based on a viral Twitter thread.
Zola, the film, will premier tomorrow at Sundance, and is based on a insane 148-tweet thread from October 2015.
It all started with a woman named Aziah Wells aka Zola recounting a journey from Detroit to Florida. She and a woman named Jessica went there to make money stripping, and Jessica would also get involved in sex work. Along with them was Jessica’s boyfriend Jarrett and their volatile roommate Z (who turns out to be a pimp).
What begins as an off-beat roadtrip soon turns into a freewheeling and outright chaotic few days of sex, shootouts, and total hysteria.
It begins with Z pimping out Jessica, all while Zola is wondering WTF is going on.
Later, Jess gets snatched and stuffed in a closet by some of her clients, and Z goes and shoots one of them to rescue Jess.
Oh, and just in case you thought the madness was over, Jarrett also tries to jump off a balcony, but his pants get stuck on the ledge.
The crazy situation ends with Z getting arrested for human trafficking and Jess apparently starting a new family in a different town.
The entire tale is long but impossible to stop reading. The whole thing is a trip, and it’s understandable why someone would make a movie on this.
