- Title: Twitter thread about woman's sex trafficking tale now a movie
- Date: 28th June 2021
- Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (JUNE 11, 2021) (REUTERS VIA ZOOM) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTRESS, RILEY KEOUGH, SAYING: (ON THE DIRECTOR'S DECISION ON NOT TO HAVE FEMALE NUDITY IN THE FILM) "I mean, I'll just say, because I've been naked in, like, every movie I've ever done. And I don't have an issue with nudity at all, you know. I really like it, I think it's really weird how much, you know, in America specifically, women aren't allowed to show their boobs on TV. And it's like but you can show people getting murdered, you know like there's just such so much weirdness around the female body. So, I don't have a problem being naked. But there was something so genius to me about the fact that, like the first movie I'm not naked in is 'Zola,' you know because it just feels like you're just going to see a lot of, like, titties, you know. And I love that and you just see, you know, a variety of wieners."
- Embargoed: 12th July 2021 17:16
- Keywords: sex work social media stripper saga trafficking tweets twitter zola
- Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA + NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES / UNKNOWN FILM LOCATIONS
- City: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA + NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES / UNKNOWN FILM LOCATIONS
- Country: USA
- Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Film,United States
- Reuters ID: LVA00CEJBCV9P
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:EDIT CONTAINS PROFANITY
A viral Twitter thread about one woman's experience of sex trafficking during a 2015 trip to Florida has been turned into a movie, "Zola."
Inspired by A'Ziah "Zola" King's 148-tweet thread and a subsequent story in Rolling Stone magazine about her experience, the drama follows Detroit waitress and exotic dancer Zola whose customer Stefani convinces her to travel to Florida for a weekend.
But the trip soon turns sinister when Zola realizes they are traveling with a pimp who has other intentions.
"What I do is sex work and that's what I'm used to and that's what I'm confident in doing," King said in an interview. "But the difference here is I was put into a situation that the conversation turned into sex trafficking."
King's account of the trip, whose details she later said she embellished, lit up social media, trending under the hashtag #TheStory. Some of those she named in the tweets have disagreed with her depiction of what happened.
"I don't really feel anything on that specific experience anymore," King, a producer on the film, said about watching her story unfold on the big screen.
"I'm a completely different person in a completely different space. At this point in time when I watch the movie, I can enjoy the artistic side of it. ... This is many different conversations. This is a sex work conversation, this is a race conversation. This is a feminism conversation."
"Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" actress Taylour Paige plays Zola while Riley Keough, known for "Earthquake Bird" and "Mad Max: Fury Road", portrays Stefani.
"I was a little bit stressed at first because I didn't get to hang out with Zola," Paige said of her role preparation.
"But (director) Janicza (Bravo) was like, 'Remember, this is an interpretation of an interpretation of a perception, and it's hyperbole. So ... this is like the exaggerated version.'"
"Zola" will be released on June 30.
(Production: Alicia Powell) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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