Zola is out today, this week. Zola is the film based on the viral Twitter thread about sex trafficking, a “ho trip” to Florida, murder and crime. Taylour Paige stars as Zola, the narrator of the film and the woman who tweeted out the story. Riley Keough plays Stefani, the white stripper/prostitute who persuades Zola to travel to Florida with her. The film is directed and co-written by Janicza Bravo.
At last night’s LA screening, it does not look like Taylour Paige was there, so Riley was the one posing with everybody. Colman Domingo wore a fabulous yellow suit. A’Ziah King – the real-life Zola, co-writer of the screenplay and viral-tweeter – is the beautiful Black woman in red. Riley wore head-to-toe Chanel at the premiere and she looked really cute.
The reviews for Zola have been coming in all week, and there are already some bad and problematic takes. I get that the film isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but some of the criticisms that I’ve seen are basically along the lines of “dudes don’t want to watch this.” And? Janicza Bravo wanted to protect the story and ensure that they were telling it from an entirely female perspective.
Zola comes out Wednesday so I just want to remind everyone why Black critics matter pic.twitter.com/hkB9iVVbHr
— Official Dev Patel Fan Account (@gomisdiouna) June 29, 2021
Jodie Turner-Smith came to the screening last night too!
Photos courtesy of Getty.
I completely forgot this was coming out until I saw the preview the other day. I can’t wait! I need to reread the thread in preparation.
Was TS Madison at the premiere? I frigging LOVE her and I hope she wore something gaudy 😁.
Ghettotastic ? Jesus F Christ. We need more diverse criticism so we get less of ignorance like that.
I am hyped to see this movie!
I cringed so hard reading that.
Riley’s voice affectations in the movie trailer annoy the sh*t out of me. There is no way I can get through this film listening to her.
Did she have weird work done? I feel like I used to think she was pretty. She is uber ordinary in these pics (LA skinny and it would seem botoxed even though she’s quite young, but not the stunner her grandma was).
This is literally a story about human trafficking and forcing a woman to do sexual acts and we’re all just suppose to be like “haha this is crazy!”….??????
Jodie Turner Smith looks wonderful as usual
Jodie is a goddess!
She does! I love her whole look here.
Loved her in Girlfriend Experience