Zola

Episode Transcript
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Ashley (00:08):
Welcome to Criminal Adaptations, the show where we
take a look at some of yourfavorite movies and the true
crime stories that inspired them.
I'm Ashley.
I'm a clinical psychologist andforensic evaluator in the state
of Oregon.

Remi (00:21):
And I'm Remy.
I spent over a decade workingin the film and television
industry in Los Angeles,California.

Ashley (00:28):
And welcome back everyone.
I must say, as a little sidenote here, I think it's very
fitting that we are coveringthis movie and story this week,
as you will see later.
But, Remy, how are you doingtoday?

Remi (00:42):
I am excited to talk about the film we are talking about
today.
Ashley, do you want to tellthem a little bit about what we
will be discussing?

Ashley (00:51):
Today, we are talking about A24's magnificent film
Zola, which is the true story ofa young woman who posted a
whopping 148 tweets on Twitterback in October 2015.
That went viral.

Remi (01:08):
Those tweets were, of course, detailing the harrowing
saga that she went through overthe course of one weekend down
in Tampa, Florida, whichdefinitely does not go according
to plan.
But how did we find out aboutthis film, Ashley?

Ashley (01:23):
Well, we are a big fan of A24.
So we tend to watch everysingle movie they come out with
every year, at least in the pastfive or six years.
And this was one of them thatwe had not seen or heard of, so
we just threw it on one day.
We're watching it and I thinkat the beginning maybe it says
this is a true story orsomething like that.

(01:43):
So it caused us to kind of looka little into the story and we
found the Twitter thread andimmediately added it to our list
of movies to cover.

Remi (01:53):
We are both big A24 fans.
Their films are usually veryartfully done and creative, and
this film is no exception.
I had not heard of this storypreviously.
I am not on Twitter and havenever really been on Twitter,
just not my.

Ashley (02:12):
Thing.

Remi (02:12):
I never really got into it .
So the first I heard about thiswas this film.
But apparently this whole thingreally did go very viral at the
time and a lot of celebritieswere talking about it on their
social medias and it became awhole thing.
And before we dive in a funlittle side note here, that we

(02:33):
found out pretty recently aboutone of the stars of the film,
riley Keough, is that she is thegranddaughter of Elvis Presley,
which means her mother was LisaMarie Presley, which also means
that Nicolas Cage and MichaelJackson were both her
stepfathers at one point in time, and she is a great actress.

(02:53):
Loved her in American Honey,but she was also in the worst
film I saw last year, sasquatchSunset with Jesse Eisenberg, in
which she plays a Sasquatch andnone of the characters speak any
words besides grunting.
But she is great in this film.

Ashley (03:07):
We've been following her a lot since American Honey.
I love that movie so much Idon't know.
I've seen it five, six timesand it's so good, she's amazing
in it.
She is hilarious in this movie.
So every once in a while I justgo to her IMDb and see what she
has upcoming and I don't knowhow we missed that she was Elvis

(03:28):
Presley's granddaughter before,literally like three days ago,
but we did.

Remi (03:31):
Seriously, we are both very big fans of her and if she
is in a movie it's usually aselling point for us to check it
out.
She's super talented and wejust somehow missed the fact
that her father was one of themost famous musicians in history
.
You live and you learn.
I guess this film also starsColeman Domingo, who may or may
not be nominated for an AcademyAward by now for his performance

(03:54):
in Sing Sing.

Ashley (03:55):
He was nominated last year for his performance in Rest
In.

Remi (03:59):
I think we primarily remembered him from Euphoria,
where he plays Zendaya's AAsponsor, and he is wonderful in
that, and he usually playsreally inspirational characters,
like the film we just saw himin Sing Sing.
He's trying to get theprisoners to find creative
outlets so they can get outtheir inner turmoil, and I think

(04:21):
it was a similar case withRustin, where he was an
inspirational character for thecivil rights movement.
This film, however, iscompletely different.
He is probably one of the mostevil pimp characters in a movie,
I would say.

Ashley (04:35):
And going off of that, I do want to do a special
listener advisor warning here.
This movie does deal with sextrafficking and prostitution.
So on the episode notes forthis page, I have included three
links for resources If you orsomeone you know is currently
being trafficked.
I believe there's the PolarisProject, a link to the United

(04:59):
Justice Department's websitethat has additional resources,
and then also the National HumanTrafficking Hotline.

Remi (05:06):
Well, with that should we get into the pre-production of
Zola.

Ashley (05:11):
Yes, I did stumble upon a little about it in my research
, but I tried to stay as blindas possible.
But it sounds like there's alot to unpack here.

A'Ziah King (Zola) (05:30):
You want to hear a story about how me and
this bitch here fell out?
It's kind of long, but it'sFelicity Spence.

Remi (05:37):
Zola is a 2020 A24 film directed by Janiksa Bravo and
co-written by Bravo and Jeremy OHarris.
The film is based on a viralTwitter thread from 2015 posted
by Asia Zola King, which laterresulted in a Rolling Stone
article titled Zola Tells Allthe Real Story Behind the

(05:59):
Greatest Stripper Saga Ever,tweeted by David Kushner, which
I believe you read for thisepisode, ashley.
The film stars Taylor Page,riley Keough, nicholas Braun and
Coleman Domingo.
In October of 2015, a Detroitwaitress named Asia Zola King
took the internet by storm byposting a 148-tweet Twitter

(06:22):
thread chronicling her wild tripto Florida.
The thread quickly went viral,resonating with thousands online
and even grabbing the attentionof high-profile individuals
such as Missy Elliott, erykahBadu and Solange Knowles.
One month later, a RollingStone journalist named David
Kushner published an articledelving deeper into the story

(06:43):
and interviewing several keyfigures who had been involved.
Though the article didhighlight a few inconsistencies
in her story, and Zola herselfhas admitted to embellishing a
few details here and there fordramatic effect, most of the key
events of Zola's saga wereultimately confirmed by many of
the other parties.
Zola's Twitter thread alsocaught Hollywood's attention

(07:05):
almost immediately, with JamesFranco quickly securing the
movie rights, with plans todirect the adaptation personally
.
In 2016, it was officiallyannounced that Franco would be
producing and directing theproject, with a screenplay
written by Andrew Neal and MikeRoberts.

Ashley (07:22):
I also want to note something here that I thought
was really funny.
Zola told an interviewer laterthat when she walked on set to
meet James Franco, he was likesitting in a chair just reading
an encyclopedia.

Remi (07:36):
James Franco was a weird dude.
He is, of course, canceled now.
Years ago he was doing weirdstuff all over LA and he had an
art gallery opening in BeverlyHills and I happened to go one
day and his exhibit wasliterally just an empty room
with a beat-up old couch and afold-out table with some empty

(07:57):
cups on it playing DrugstoreCowboy on a screen.
That was his art exhibit.
He was a weird, weird dude on ascreen.

Ashley (08:06):
That was his art exhibit .
He's a weird, weird dude.
It's like that performance artexhibit that Shia LaBeouf did,
where it was just him in a movietheater, like rewatching all of
his movies and just like beingobnoxious about it.

Remi (08:15):
He did another one where he wore a bag on his head and
people could actually wait inline to spend a few minutes in
the room with him and I did that.
So I was in a room with ShiaLaBeouf while he had a bag on
his head.
I took the bag off.
It was him.
But yeah, weird Hollywood shitman.
Unfortunately, in 2018, theproject faced significant

(08:36):
setbacks following numerousallegations of sexual misconduct
against Franco, resulting inthe production being shelved
after Franco voluntarily steppeddown and removed his producer
credit.
Luckily, a few months later, inJune of that same year, the
film would find a new directorin up-and-comer Janiksa Bravo,
with A24, now handlingdistribution.

(08:58):
In an interview with AFI, bravowent into detail about her
approach to directing the film.

House of Gucci trailer (09:05):
Bravo went into detail about her
approach to directing the filmand I said that it was blue
velvet meets bodak yellow.
But yes, I but I really feltthat actually I really felt that
and in that you know, I'venever met David Lynch, but he's
a hero and I think he, to me,really speaks in this kind of

(09:29):
like nightmare space, which isnot, I would not say, is my
space, but I really enjoy likethe tenor of his work.
I enjoy the distress of hiswork and I felt that Asia's
Thread had a lot of distress init.
We're literally talking aboutthe potential of being sold into
sex slavery, which is a riot, Iknow.
But I think that she did thisamazing job of recasting the

(09:51):
narrative so that it read fun.
But if you are reading betweenthe lines, there's a good deal
of terror and anxiety and she'sa 19-year-old girl who's found
herself in a situation that shedoesn't mean to be in, and I
think a part of how she'swriting it is that like I got
this, but I think it's with thedistance of having made it.

Ashley (10:12):
I read somewhere that she and her co-writer had to do
a substantial amount of rewritesbecause originally it was
written by Franco.
Well, it was going to bedirected by Franco and the
original writer was also a whiteman, so it read very masculine.
But she is a black femaledirector and writer and her co

(10:32):
author is a black gay man, sothey were able to soften it.

Remi (10:36):
And she is definitely one to look out for.
She has a great eye for filmand I look forward to her future
projects.
By October, newcomer TaylorPage had been selected to play
the lead role of Zola, withRiley Keough, nicholas Braun,
coleman Domingo and JasonMitchell all joining the cast
shortly after.

(10:57):
To prepare for her role as Zola, taylor Page worked as an
exotic dancer for a month at aclub in Los Angeles called Crazy
Girls and had this to say aboutthe experience I actually
really needed the money.
I was like fuck it, why don't Ijust go undercover and see what
this is like?
Page would later describe hertraining at the club as a way to
gain confidence and insightinto her character by fully

(11:20):
immersing herself in theenvironment to ensure that her
performance felt authentic,stating I just wanted to have a
sense of agency before I left togo do the movie, and what
better place than working in astrip club where it's eat or be
eaten?
I didn't want to look like anactor trying to dance.
I didn't want to look like adancer trying to strip.
I wanted to look like thisperson in the given

(11:42):
circumstances, who works at arestaurant and also dances
Elvis's granddaughter, rileyKeough, who plays Stephanie in
the film, was the director'sfirst choice for the role and
worked closely with Bravo tohighlight the cultural
appropriation and uncomfortabledynamics her character embodied.
During a 2021 interview withSam Sanders on National Public

(12:03):
Radio, keough claimed that shehad to get special training on
how to play a white woman,trying very offensively to sound
like a certain type of blackstereotype.
One specific method Keoughutilized to help master
Stephanie's offensive blackscent was by rehearsing her
lines with a wine cork inside ofher mouth.
Keo's performance, completewith black scent, was

(12:25):
intentionally crafted by her andBravo to make viewers feel
uncomfortable and sparkconversations regarding the
controversial issue.

Ashley (12:33):
And there is a lot of that in the movie.
Even preparing for this, whenwe were talking about clips to
show, we had discussions aboutwhether they should or should
not be included.

Remi (12:43):
Stephanie is an extremely offensive character, but I do
think that she is portrayedcorrectly in this film for what
it's worth.
Sing Sing actor Coleman Domingo, who plays X in the film,
recalled first reading thescript and thinking that it was
one of the funniest, darkest,weirdest stories he had ever
read.
Though the character wasinspired by a real individual,

(13:06):
domingo was less concerned withfaithfully portraying that
person and instead focusedmainly on building a layered
performance without personallyjudging the character's actions.
Domingo later explained in aninterview with the Hollywood
Reporter I made the choice toconstantly throw people off, so
just when you think he's goingto be gentle.

(13:26):
Since X is described asNigerian-adjacent in the
screenplay, coleman chose to adda certain level of ambiguity to
X's accent, making him soundsimultaneously foreign yet still
American from scene to scene.
Domingo himself is the son of aworking-class Belizean
immigrant in real life, so drewupon his own understanding of

(13:49):
the immigration experience inorder to help ground the
character's motivations.
While elaborating on thisconcept, Coleman stated he's
just trying to get his money,get his things and have the
American dream, like everyoneelse.
And I just want to say I find itinteresting that this has come
up time and time again, where anactor is portraying a real life

(14:09):
person that is a horrible humanbeing.
They're a bad person in reallife, but the actor needs to
find humanity within them inorder to play them.
Otherwise they're notinterested.
They need to see these peopleand characters as actual human
beings instead of just theseevil monsters that they so

(14:31):
easily could be portrayed as.
Not sympathizing with the realX at all, just want to make that
clear.
I just think that's interesting.
Actors do that.

Ashley (14:39):
Well, people are multi-layered.
No one's 100% good or 100% bad.
There's always some humanityyou can find, even in the worst
of us.

Remi (14:49):
Succession star Nicholas Braun, who plays Stephanie's
boyfriend, derek, in the film,described his character to
PopSugarcom as really vulnerablebut at the same time really
desperate to be in a romanticrelationship.
While crafting the character'slook, braun felt that Derek
should have some kind of facialhair, but wasn't exactly sure
what the style should be.

(15:09):
As a result, braun let hisfacial hair grow out and would
send selfies to the directoruntil they both agreed on the
chin strap used in the film.
To fully immerse himself in thecharacter's headspace, braun
sustained himself on a diet ofcandy, coffee and Red Bull
throughout the entirety offilming, which sounds just awful
.

Ashley (15:30):
How was he not just jittery and shaky 24-7?

Remi (15:34):
He literally said in an interview that he was basically
not eating anything except forall of these sugary sweets, and
he said he was pretty miserablethe entire time and his favorite
day on set was the day thatthey all went out to dinner
together and he got a real mealwith everyone for the very first
time.
The production itself lastedonly 27 days, but despite this

(15:56):
short timeline, co-stars TaylorPage and Riley Keough became
close friends during theproduction.
Keough later joked that Zolamay be the first film in her
entire career where she didn'thave to appear nude but was
still there to support herfriend Paige while she was
filming her first on-screen nudescene for the film.
Lastly, the film incorporates aunique feature tying back to

(16:17):
its original Twitter origins byplaying the sound of a tweet
each time a line of dialogue islifted directly from Zola's
original posting.
And with that should we getinto Janiksa Bravo's Zola?

Ashley (16:30):
Yes, I am so ready.

Remi (16:51):
On October 27th 2015,.
Atzolermoon tweeted thefollowing 148 tweets.
Most of what follows is true.
Our story begins with Zola, anattractive and confident black
woman played by Taylor Page,working her shift at a
country-western themedrestaurant as she attempts to
juggle the demands of gossipyco-workers and irritating

(17:14):
customers.
At one of her tables sits animposing black man alongside
Stephanie, a loud and abrasivewhite woman being played by
Riley Keough, who blurts out anawkwardly enthusiastic
compliment about Zola's breastsize as soon as she approaches
the table.
After taking their order, Zolatakes a quick break, only to
encounter Stephanie again, whostrikes up a conversation and

(17:36):
asks if they've ever met before.
The two soon bond over theirshared profession as exotic
dancers, resulting in Stephanieenthusiastically inviting Zola
to join her dancing at a localclub later that evening, which
is something I didn't know was athing.
I did not know that exoticdancers could book single night
gigs around town at differentclubs.

(17:57):
I didn't know that.

Ashley (17:58):
Not only that, they can travel to different states to
dance.

Remi (18:01):
Which is exactly the pretext of this film.
And yeah, I had absolutely noidea.

Ashley (18:07):
How it was described in a lot of the source material I
read is it's something that theycan do to kind of shift things
up a bit and get exposure to newcustomers who might pay them
more because they're noveldancers.

Remi (18:22):
There are the regulars who are working there, but these
are like freelancers orcontractors or something like
that, who are just brought infor a night or two.
But very interesting, I had noidea.
I'm not a strip club guy.
I've maybe been to two in myentire life, it's just again not
my thing.
So a lot of this is totally newinfo for me.
Fast forward a few hours wherethe two are now in their element

(18:45):
, working the poles and dancingon stage at an exotic nightclub
Under the flashing lights andeager gaze of horny customers.
Zola and Stephanie bothsensually perform their routines
as money rains down on the pairlike confetti on New Year's Eve
.
Throughout the course of theevening, the two begin to
connect and seemingly form afast friendship, despite the

(19:17):
music and salacious atmosphereall around them.

Zola clip (19:22):
It, oh God, oh God Like why you?
On my.
Twitter, why you on my Facebook?
Why?

A'Ziah King (Zola) (19:27):
you on my Tumblr, why you DMing me, sis?
Why you tagging me in photos?
You don't even fuck with me.
Let me know.
Let me know, yes, sis.

Remi (19:35):
And I just need to say that there were subtitles in
that clip translating what thetwo girls were actually saying
to each other, and it translatesto I see you, I feel seen, I
feel heard.
We also learn that Stephaniehas a young child back home,
leading to the two womeninevitably parting ways.
After exchanging their socialmedia information the following

(19:58):
day, zola spends much of hertime glued to her cell phone
texting with Stephanie non-stop,much to the annoyance of her
boyfriend, who looks on withgrowing irritation.
Later that night, whilecontinuing to text one another,
stephanie tells Zola about atrip she took to Tampa, florida,
where a girl she knew made$5,000 from one night dancing at

(20:18):
a cute spot.
Stephanie continues byrevealing that her roommate is
planning another trip to Floridathe very next day and casually
invites Zola to join them sothat she can make some
additional income.
Although surprised by thesudden offer from someone she'd
met less than 24 hours ago, zolais still intrigued by the
lucrative opportunity, so agreesto Stephanie's proposition, to

(20:45):
Stephanie's proposition.
When Zola inquires if anyoneelse will be accompanying them
on their journey, stephanieoffhandedly mentions that her
boyfriend and roommate will alsobe tagging along.
The two finalize theirarrangements by agreeing to meet
up at 2pm the followingafternoon to embark on their
ho-trip adventure together.
Their words, not mine.
The next day, Stephanie picks upZola, just as planned, and she
is introduced to the rest of thegroup in the loosest sense

(21:08):
possible, meaning she does notreally get most of these
people's names.
First there's Derek,stephanie's boyfriend, played by
Nicholas Braun, who has asimilar white trash demeanor as
his girlfriend, only far lessconfident and assertive.
Then there's Stephanie'sroommate, played by Coleman
Domingo, who is simply referredto as X due to lack of

(21:28):
introductions.
X sits confidently in thedriver's seat, sporting a flashy
silk shirt and exuding acommanding, pimp-like presence
that is not to be trifled with.
As the group hits the road,they quickly settle into an
oddly energetic dynamic,recording playful videos and
jamming out to bass-bumpin'gangster rap music as they speed

(21:49):
down the freeway.
Side note this scene where thegroup is partying in the car was
actually shot by all of theactors using GoPros At 2.25am on
Friday.
The group makes a quick pitstop to gas up while the girls
take a pee break and we see thatStephanie is severely
dehydrated, which isn't reallypivotal to the story in any way,
but is still gross enough tomention nonetheless.

(22:11):
I mean seriously.
We commented on it when wefirst saw this film.
It's pretty gross.
Hours later now, just 10 milesoutside of Tampa and a grueling
20 hours away from home, zola'spatience is understandably
wearing thin thanks to theuncomfortably cramped car and
the insufferably endless hoursof annoying chatter coming from

(22:33):
her travel companions.

Zola clip (22:36):
Dude, this bitch was up in my face.
I was like, look, look up there, just get your ghetto ass up on
my face.
It's not my fault, you nasty.
It's not my fault, I'm not moremoody than you.

House of Gucci trailer (22:53):
Clean your butt.

Remi (22:58):
Taylor Page is really great in this film.
After what feels like aneternity on the road, the group
finally arrives at their dingymotel in Tampa.
The vibe is instantlyuncomfortable, as Zola's unease
is clearly written all over herface and even Derek, who has
been mostly oblivious up untilthis point, voices his
dissatisfaction with the rundownaccommodations they have all

(23:21):
been presented with.
Sensing the group's tension, xsteps in to reassure everyone
that they will be upgrading to aswankier hotel tomorrow after
they've earned a little extracash from working at the club
that night.
Ever the third wheel, derekwants to tag along with his
girlfriend on the group's outing, but X shuts that shit down
immediately and instead ordersDerek to stay behind and take a

(23:44):
nap at the motel while the restof the crew hits the town.
The three take their leave atexactly 7.45pm that Friday,
abandoning Derek wallowing inhis insecurities back in their
motel room while obsessivelycalling Stephanie over and over
again for the remainder of theevening.
And a little side note here inthe interview that I read with

(24:04):
Braun, he mentioned that when hewas filming the scene where he
is calling Stephanie over andover and over again, he was
imagining all the times that hadhappened to him in his life,
where a girlfriend basicallyghosted him and he actually
broke down and began cryingduring his first take.

Ashley (24:21):
Oh, that's kind of sweet .
A little sad, but kind of sweet.

Remi (24:26):
Derek is kind of a sad character.
After arriving at the club, thegirls head back to the dressing
room and begin prepping for thenight ahead alongside the other
dancers.
Much to her dismay, zola soonlearns that this particular
establishment is a pasties andpanties joint which does not
allow full nudity, and forsomeone like Zola, who prefers

(24:46):
to perform completely unclothedin order to maximize her tips,
this is truly a disappointingrevelation.
Side note, during theirdressing room scene together,
zola and Stephanie's pasties areyellow, plaid and white, which
is a direct homage to Cher andDion from Clueless, which is one
of the director's favoritefilms.

Ashley (25:06):
That is really, really fun.
I love that.

Remi (25:09):
She mentions Clueless in a lot of the interviews I watch.
She is a huge, huge fan ofClueless and she used it as a
weird basis for some of herapproach to this film.
Despite her misgivings, Zolaresigns herself to the task at
hand and reluctantly complieswith the club's dress code.
Moments before her performance,Stephanie convinces Zola to

(25:30):
pose for a few quick selfiestogether and though she's
clearly not in the mood, Zolaobliges then heads out on stage.
Out on the floor, Zola worksthe pole and twerks with
sensuous precision, while doingher best to entertain the crowd.
However, it doesn't take longfor Zola to reassess the
situation and soon realize thatthe clientele and atmosphere of

(25:50):
this establishment are both afar cry from the money-making
environment she had beenaccustomed to.
After her set, Zola retreatsbackstage, where Stephanie
informs her that someone hasrequested a private dance, but,
clearly unimpressed by thenight's lackluster turnout, Zola
doesn't hesitate to decline theoffer and is unwilling to
engage with any more of theclientele any further.

(26:13):
Undeterred, Stephanie startssnapping several more pictures
of Zola and her together beforeimmediately sending them over to
her roommate X.
Already on edge, Zola startsputting the pieces together and
it quickly becomes clear thatStephanie's so-called roommate
isn't just a friend or housemate, but is actually her pimp, and
Zola wants absolutely no part ofwhatever twisted arrangements

(26:36):
Stephanie and X are currentlyinvolved in.
About 30 minutes later, Xarrives to pick up the girls and
wastes no time at all,demanding to know exactly how
much money they had each madethat night In unison.
Both Zola and Stephanie respondthat they had earned nothing,
prompting X to reveal that hehas already gone ahead and set
up a backup plan for them whilethey were working at the club.

(26:58):
Unbeknownst to Zola, X hadtaken the selfies that Stephanie
had texted him earlier andposted them onto a website
called Backpage, which isnotorious for facilitating
sexual encounters in exchangefor financial compensation the
go-to spot for people in the sexindustry, both sellers and
purchasers.

Ashley (27:15):
It was actually seized and shut down by the federal
government in 2018.
And the founder, Michael Lacey,was convicted of money
laundering in August 2024 andsentenced to five years in

(27:39):
prison, Even though he wasn'tcharged with sex trafficking.
The accusations involved himknowingly benefiting from sex
trafficking and promotingprostitution.

Remi (27:49):
I had never heard of Backpage before this film, but I
was guessing that it was asimilar thing to Craigslist,
only for sexual services, whichis kind of what Craigslist has
become.

Ashley (28:01):
I think it kind of blew up after Craigslist.
They used to have like anadults only page, but they shut
it down, and then I thinkBackpage kind of saw that gap I
guess you could call it andreally leaned full force into it
.

Remi (28:15):
I definitely remember back in college, me and my friends
just looking through the I thinkit was called the intimate
encounter section of Craigslistand there was some wild stuff on
there.
Horrified, zola immediatelytries to leave the situation by
exiting the vehicle andadamantly refusing to be any
part of this underhandedoperation, leading to a

(28:36):
terrifying confrontation betweenher and X as the result of
Zola's attempted disobedience ofZola's attempted disobedience.
I get it.

Announcer (28:49):
Trust, I am not the one Get your coin, sis.
It's been real.
Hey, shut the fucking door,bitch, get your ass back in this
car.
Before I put your ass back inthis car, I picked you up at

(29:12):
your house.
I know where you live, I knowwhere you walk.
Next time you fix up your mouthto talk to me, remember that.

Ashley (29:27):
Close my fucking door.
Coleman Domingo does such agood job in this movie, playing
someone who is terrifying.

Remi (29:42):
He is a fantastic actor and in that clip you got a
little taste of the accent thatwe were discussing earlier,
which does a great job of addinga layer of mystery to this
character.
Zola reluctantly gets back intothe car, fearing for her life,
as X drives the girls to thelocation of an appointment he
has arranged for them throughBackpage at precisely 1254 AM on
Saturday, shortly after theypull up to a much nicer hotel

(30:04):
where X leads the girls upstairsto a well-kept suite, then
leaves them alone to readythemselves for the customer's
arrival.
Once alone, zola unleashes herfrustrations out onto Stephanie,
confronting her about the webof lies she had used to
manipulate Zola intoaccompanying her on this trip
down to Tampa.
Furious and desperate to escape, zola opens the door to leave,

(30:26):
only to discover that X hasstationed himself directly
outside of their room to keep awatchful eye on them.
Back in the suite, stephaniepleads with Zola to stay,
insisting that she knewabsolutely nothing about X's
true intentions, and isterrified of what X may do to
her and her child if Zoladoesn't go along with his plans.
Feeling trapped but unwillingto compromise her dignity, zola

(30:50):
begrudgingly agrees to stay, butrefuses to participate in any
of the degrading acts.
Stephanie agrees, suggestingthat Zola simply be nice and
hang back until they can returnto their motel to grab the rest
of their belongings.
Moments later, stephanie's firstcreepy customer of the evening
arrives and Zola reluctantlylets him inside, where Stephanie

(31:11):
quickly ushers him into thebedroom, leaving Zola alone in
the living room anxiouslyawaiting for this entire
nightmare of an evening tofinally come to an end.
After the act has beencompleted, the customer pays
Stephanie a measly $150, thenheads out the door, leaving her
alone with a flabbergasted Zolawho cannot contain her disbelief

(31:32):
that Stephanie had sold herbody at such a low cost.
After insisting that Stephanieshould be making thousands of
dollars a night for renting outher anatomy.
Zola offers to help Stephanie,but only under the condition
that any money Stephanie earnsgoes towards supporting her
child and not to X.
Though skeptical, stephanieagrees.

(31:53):
So Zola grabs Stephanie's cellphone and begins taking a series
of new photos, which are farmore flattering than the hastily
snapped selfies taken earlierat the club.

Ashley (32:04):
Also, she was smart In this one.
She only included body shots,nothing with Stephanie's face.

Remi (32:10):
Interesting.
I don't know if I noticed thatin the film or not.

Ashley (32:14):
I don't know if that's how it's depicted in the film,
but as she describes it in thetweets and then in the Rolling
Stone article, that's what shesaid.
It was important to her to nothave your face associated with
shots like this.

Remi (32:27):
Yeah, of course, Safety concerns.
It makes a lot of sense to me.
Next, Zola updates Stephanie'sback page ad, replacing her old
photos with the polished newones and increasing Stephanie's
going rate to $500 for only 15minutes.
Stephanie, of course, thinksthat nobody in their right mind
would ever pay such anastronomical fee simply for

(32:49):
Punani.
Then, seconds later, shereceives her first pop-up
notification from a new customerwho has agreed to pay the new
rate and is already on his way.
Giddy with excitement at theprospect of actually making some
real cash for a change,Stephanie preps for her client's
arrival.
As Zola, takes a moment to texther boyfriend back home and let

(33:09):
him know that she is stillrelatively safe for the time
being.
Meanwhile, back at the motel,Derek remains completely
oblivious to his girlfriend'swhereabouts and has become
exceedingly bored waiting aroundfor everyone to return.
To kill some time, Derek headsover to a nearby liquor store to
grab some snacks, but whilebrowsing the aisles he
encounters a local man namedDion, played by Jason Mitchell,

(33:32):
who is oddly friendly andstrikes up a conversation with
Derek Before long.
Dion offers to show Derekaround the city and, desperate
for companionship, Derek naivelyaccepts Dion's proposal.
Back at the hotel, business isbooming and Stephanie has been
raking in the customers allevening.
We are even given a lovelymontage of these sexual

(33:53):
encounters, complete withseveral close-up shots of
various penises of unusual sizes, shapes and colors, with one of
them in particular being maybethe grossest thing I've ever
seen attached to a human body.

Ashley (34:09):
This was, for sure, the most memorable part of the movie
, and it went on for quite sometime.

Remi (34:16):
And these are all real penises, so that's fun too, I
guess.
Anyway, by the time X returnsto wake the girls up the
following morning, stephanie hasslept with at least a dozen men
and earned an impressive $8,000throughout the course of the
evening.
At first X is overjoyed withStephanie's unexpectedly hefty

(34:36):
profits from only a singlenight's work, but his mood
quickly sours when he discoversthat Zola had altered
Stephanie's backpage ad withouthis consent.
Viewing this as an act ofdisrespect, x becomes enraged
and refuses to let Stephaniekeep any of the cash she is
entitled to.
The group then finally returnsto the dingy motel where their

(34:56):
chaotic evening had began, justas Derek is wrapping up his
night hanging out with DionInside the room.
X loses his temper over Derek'sclueless behavior, particularly
his choice of spending half thenight chatting it up with some
random stranger he had nevereven met before.
So X proceeds to slap theever-loving shit out of Derek at

(35:17):
maximum full force.
Shortly after, x drives thegroup to a new hotel across town
which is far more upscale thantheir previous accommodations
and comes complete with agloriously scenic view of the
group to a new hotel across townwhich is far more upscale than
their previous accommodationsand comes complete with a
gloriously scenic view of thebeach to boot.
Unfortunately, tensions are nowrunning high between Stephanie
and Derek, especially since hefinally deduced exactly what his

(35:37):
supposed girlfriend had been upto the night before.
Seeking solace from thecouple's drama, zola heads
poolside to try and relax for abit, but her moment of serenity
ends abruptly when X sidles upnext to her and grabs himself a
seat.
After handing her a wad of cash, x informs Zola that he expects
her to replicate last night'ssuccess again later that evening

(35:59):
, but Zola stands her ground andfirmly refuses reminding X that
she is only a dancer and wantsnothing more than to go home.
At this point, unsurprisingly,X does not take kindly to Zola's
defiance and threatens her withviolence until she is forced to
comply with his demands.
Back in the hotel room, derekand Stephanie are still in the

(36:20):
midst of their latest fight,where it is revealed that
Stephanie has a long history ofluring other women into
similarly dangerous situationsinvolving forced prostitution.
Their argument continues toescalate until Derek spitefully
takes screenshots of Stephanie'sbackpage ad and posts them onto
Facebook for her friends andfamily to see.
Moments later, x returnsaccompanied by a tall and

(36:42):
intimidating burly white womanwho pulls a gun on Derek after
learning about the Facebook post.
And this character is so randomshe doesn't even really say
anything.
She's just a big, burly whitewoman who I guess is one of X's
girls.

Ashley (36:57):
He had a fiancé, so I wonder if this is who she is
supposed to be.

Remi (37:01):
Oh, okay, okay.
Asserting his dominance, x thendemands that Derek, along with
everyone else in the room, chanthis name in unison, which is
how we learn that X's real nameis actually Abagunde Owali.
I think I said that right,fingers crossed Afterwards.
X forces Derek to delete theFacebook post and smashes

(37:22):
Derek's phone, causing Derek tobecome so overwhelmed with
terror that he vomits rightthere on the carpet in front of
everyone.
X, of course, makes him cleanit up later.

Ashley (37:31):
I don't think I've ever vomited because I was so afraid
Me neither.

Remi (37:35):
That has got to be some legitimate fear if it causes you
to upchuck like that, needingsome air.
Zola steps outside onto thebalcony just as the sun begins
to set.
She is joined soon after by X,who passes Zola a gun to take as
protection for the eveningahead.
Later on, at 9.17pm thatSaturday, stephanie is dropped

(37:57):
off at an opulent mansion tomeet with her first client,
while Zola and Derek are stuckwaiting in the car watching dumb
YouTube videos.
At the next stop, zolaaccompanies Stephanie inside and
is immediately confronted by alarge group of intimidating men
eagerly awaiting their arrival.
Tensions only continue to risefrom there over a discrepancy

(38:18):
regarding a discounted price Xhad apparently offered the men
as part of a special gangbanggroup deal.
As the air thickens withhostility, zola hastily calls X
to get clarification, whileStephanie, who is seemingly
aroused by the uncomfortablesituation, is slowly surrounded
by the other men as the screencuts to black.
A title card then reads OnOctober 30th 2015,.

(38:41):
Stephanie Jasowski recountedthe following on Reddit and for
this section, I think I will letStephanie herself tell her side
of this story.

Zola clip (38:57):
We meet at the restaurant she work at.
I was with my community leader,jonathan.
This very ratchet and veryblack woman comes to take our
order and listen.
I know that they supposed to beflirtatious and everything, but
not like she was.
I'm a Christian, I fear God.

(39:17):
So we exchange numbers.
The next day she called me andshe's like I'm an ex dancer, I'm
broke, I need welfare.
And I told her I don't fuckwith that life no more.
And she's like well, who do youfuck with?
And I was like I'm an ex-dancer, I'm broke, I need welfare.
And I told her I don't fuckwith that life no more.
And she's like well, who do youfuck with?
And I was like I fuck withJesus, my Lord and Savior.
I told her that my good friendAbadwande Aluwale, who was

(39:41):
promoted in Tampa, had invitedme and my boyfriend to Tampa to
be his guest for the weekend andshe was like let me dance at
the club he promoted.
And I was like is that how thatworks?
Because I don't know how thatworks In Tampa.
The club don't let her dancebecause she dirty, but everybody
loved me.

(40:02):
Reason to be a jealous bitchnumber one.
So she takes all these picturesand she pops off a back page ad
and I was like back page ad,like what is that?
At the hotel I stay with herbecause I'm worried about her
safety.
She wasn't getting any calls,so she puts my picture up with

(40:24):
her picture and she ain't evenasked.
I was very put off.

Remi (40:46):
Nobody liked her.
She made one dollar.
I seriously question thelegitimacy of that story.
But Riley Keough is so fuckinggood in this movie.
Returning to Zola's story, thegroup has just arrived at their
final hotel spot for the eveningand Zola once again accompanies
Stephanie up to the room inorder to ensure her safety.
As the two reach the door, zolatakes a moment to ask Stephanie
if she's sure she wants to gothrough with this again and

(41:07):
reassures her that they could.
Just to ask Stephanie if she'ssure she wants to go through
with this again and reassuresher that they could just leave
right now if she really wantedto.
Stephanie instead chooses toignore Zola's plea and proceeds
to knock on the door Withoutwarning.
The door suddenly swings openand Stephanie is violently
yanked into the room by a large,unseen man.
Reacting instantly, zola fleesdown the hallway and back to the

(41:28):
hotel lobby, where shefrantically calls X to explain
what she had just witnessed.
Minutes later, x arrives outsideof the hotel, gun in hand and
ready for action.
Zola and Derek meet him outfront and, though still visibly
shaken, zola pleads with X tocall the police, but X simply
ignores her, preferring to dealwith the situation his way.

(41:49):
Surging with adrenaline.
X forces Zola back upstairs tothe room where Stephanie is
being held, with a reluctantDerek trailing right behind them
.
Once standing directly outsidethe door, x pulls out his gun
and positions it right at thepeephole just before knocking.
After a bit of banter throughthe door, x lowers his firearm
and the door opens, revealingnone other than Dion, the

(42:11):
seemingly friendly guy Derek hadmet at the liquor store earlier
, standing right there beforethem.
Only this time Dion isn'tsmiling, he's holding a shotgun
and forcing the group inside theroom where another man even
larger than Dion is standing by,also armed with another shotgun
.
Next, x is instructed to puthis gun on the table and take a

(42:33):
seat, just as Zola notices thatStephanie appears to be
unconscious and slumped over inthe closet.
Turns out old Dion is a localpimp from right there in Tampa
who is furious that X had beentreading into his territory
without permission.
To make things right, diondemands $20,000 from X to
release Stephanie and all willbe forgiven Never one to back

(42:56):
down.
X counters with an offer of hisown, suggesting that Dion pay
him $50,000 to keep bothStephanie and Zola.
Dion then molests Zola whileconsidering his options as X
covertly slips the small pistolhe had given to Zola earlier out
of her purse and into his hand.
While still distracted, x turnsthe gun on Dion, aiming the

(43:17):
firearm directly at hisopponent's crotch.
Now, with the upper hand, xdisarms both men.
While Derek retrieves Stephaniefrom the closet, just when it
seems like the group is about tomake their escape without
incident, dion begins taunting X, daring him to pull the trigger
.
So X unflinchingly obligeswithout hesitation, shooting

(43:39):
Dion squarely in the neck.
With blood gushing from hiswound, dion collapses onto the
bed as X yells for the others tograb whatever they can and make
a break for it.
As the dawn begins to break, at7am that Sunday, the crew heads
back to their hotel andStephanie nonchalantly tosses
the guns from the robbery out ofthe car window into the Gulf of

(44:00):
Mexico.
Along the way Back at the hotel, they return to find the tall,
burly woman blending a smoothiefor X in the kitchen, as
everyone else staggers in one byone in awkward silence.
Zola takes the opportunity toonce again ask for X to drive
her back home, but before he canrespond, derek explodes into
another meltdown, ranting andraving about his girlfriend has

(44:22):
been unapologeticallyprostituting herself, while
treating him like total garbage.

Ashley (44:31):
I think a meltdown is appropriate in this situation.
However, it should be moredirected towards the whole
murder that they just witnessedand near-death experience they
all shared.

Remi (44:40):
Well, the argument escalates very quickly, with
Stephanie continuously brushingoff Derek's accusations as if
nothing is wrong.
Pushed to his breaking point,derek makes the impulsive
decision to attempt suicide bysprinting towards the hotel
balcony, hurling himself overthe railing and landing firmly
on the solid poolside below asZola watches on in complete

(45:04):
disbelief.
Hours later, the group finallyembarks on their long and
painfully awkward drive home,where we see that Derek has
miraculously survived but wasbadly injured in the process.
From the driver's seat, x yellsat Derek repeatedly, screaming
don't die.
As he recklessly speeds downthe freeway, stephanie, who

(45:24):
seems completely unfazed by thetraumatic events of the past
weekend, turns around in herseat, looks at Zola, smiles and
says you know I still love you,girl.
Zola responds by ignoringStephanie, rolling down her
window and gazing off into thehorizon as she ruminates over
the surreal experiences she hadjust been through over the past
48 hours.

(45:45):
And that was Janixa Bravo'sZola.
What do you think, ashley?

Ashley (45:51):
It is such a wild ride of a movie.
It's fun, it's funny, but it'salso full of action and, like
Zola herself said, full ofsuspense.

Remi (46:01):
A lot of stuff happens on this crazy weekend of theirs and
you're right, it really runsthe gamut of being tragic, being
funny, being frightening.
It's a really, really well-mademovie, in my opinion.

Ashley (46:15):
And we watched another movie not too long after this.
I cannot remember for the lifeof me what it was called.
Maybe you will, but it wasabout a young girl in Los
Angeles, I believe, who was anaspiring pornography star.

Remi (46:29):
I had to just look this up , actually, but the film was
released in 2021 and is calledPleasure, and I recommend it.
Is a graphic film, but it is avery honest portrayal of this
type of lifestyle.

Ashley (46:43):
It's certainly not as funny as Zola.
I don't think there is muchhumor in it.
A little bit, but not as muchas this.

Remi (46:52):
Yeah, it's primarily not a comedy.

Ashley (46:54):
I would say but I like both of these movies because
they kind of pull the veil backon the sex industry a bit and
show it in a different light.

Remi (47:05):
Agreed.
I feel like both films exposeme to things that I would have
never known.
Again, this isn't my world.
I will most likely never livein this world unless my life
takes a drastic change later on,but it is interesting to find
out how it all works, to findout how these people live, to
find out how they make theirliving, how they get their jobs,

(47:27):
how they meet people in theindustry and make connections,
and things like that.
It's fascinating to me.

Ashley (47:33):
All in all, this made me want to watch Zola again,
especially the clip that youplayed with Riley Keough reading
her version of the tweets, orStephanie's version of the
tweets.
That's one of my favorite partsof the movie.

Remi (47:46):
I do think that is probably the funniest portion in
the entire film, when she isgoing over her version of things
which are clearly not unbiased.
All right, let's get into therelease of Zola.
Zola premiered at the SundanceFilm Festival on January 24th
2020, where it was nominated forthe Grand Jury Awards

(48:10):
pre-screening and was plannedfor release later that same year
, until eventually beingpostponed to June 30th 2021.
Can you guess why, ashley?

Ashley (48:21):
I watched an interview of this.
It was COVID.
So Zola talked about how it wasso exciting to be at Sundance
and she was super stoked for thefilm's release in theaters.
And then there was this longpause before she got to actually
see it with other people.

Remi (48:34):
Yeah, it kind of killed all the momentum that this film
had going for it, unfortunately.
But in the United States andCanada, zola went on to gross
$1.2 million in its openingweekend and $2 million over the
five-day frame, finishing ninthat the box office, but fell 48%
in its second weekend, finishingin 10th place, which I would

(48:54):
also blame on COVID, becausenobody was going to the movies
at this time.

Ashley (48:59):
No, for like two years after, the only movies that
people were going to see werethose big budget box office hits
.

Remi (49:09):
And even half of those were getting released directly
to streaming at the time.
This was probably the worsttime to try and release a movie
in theaters and I feel badbecause this movie got
overlooked and kind of forgottenas a result of that, Like we
know, every A24 movie and whenwe came across this we had never
heard of it before Zolacurrently holds an approval

(49:29):
rating of 88% on Rotten Tomatoes, with a critical consensus that
reads Zola captures thestranger-than-fiction appeal of
the viral Twitter thread thatinspired it and announces
director-co-writer Janikza Bravoas a filmmaker to watch, which,

(49:50):
per usual, I agree with theRotten Tomatoes score, Except
for last week with Chapter 27.
That was all wrong.
In 2021, Zola received sevennominations at the Independent
Spirit Awards, including one forBest Screenplay.
However, Asia Zola King, thevery person whose viral Twitter
thread inspired the film, wasneither nominated as a writer

(50:10):
nor invited to the ceremony.
Feeling snubbed, King expressedher frustration on Twitter,
writing.
I think it's hilarious.
Zola is up for seven awards andno one thought to invite me,
nor include me in the writer'saward category, as if there
would have been a film or ascript to write if I didn't um,

(50:30):
write it.

Ashley (50:32):
I just looked it up on IMDb because usually whenever
any sort of story or book isadapted, the original author is
listed with a credit in IMDbunder the writer category with
something that's like story byor adapted by, and she is listed
there with the parentheses thatit's adapted from tweets by her

(50:52):
.

Remi (50:53):
Then I personally think she should have been there and
she should have been included inthe nomination.
Like she said, there wouldn'tbe a story if she hadn't written
it first.

Ashley (51:03):
Well, all those celebrities we mentioned earlier
Missy Elliott, solange Knowlesand Erykah Badu they all tweeted
about it and they actuallyreached out to her personally to
comment on how good her Ibelieve.

Remi (51:15):
But she did clarify that her issue was solely with A24,
the film's production company,noting that writers Janicza
Bravo and Jeremy O Harris hadbeen incredibly supportive of

(51:39):
her throughout the entireprocess, and that was Janicza
Bravo's Zola Thoughts, ashley.

Ashley (51:46):
It's a shame that she kind of left this with a bad
taste in her mouth about A24.
I hope that she did end upgetting some of the recognition
she deserves.
One good thing that happenedwith A24 taking over that I read
is that not only did she getmoney for story rights life
rights but they actually agreedto pay her 2.5% of the film's

(52:10):
profits, which when it was underJames Franco he only offered
her 1%.
So the demand of 2.5% wasactually hers.
A friend of hers who worked fora Nickelodeon show told her to
ask for that and it sounds likethey really treated her well and
were really invested in havingher have a lot of control for
how the story is told.

(52:30):
I mean, she's listed as thewriter she worked a lot with
Taylor Page and the director andwriter and she's also listed as
an executive producer.
So it's just kind of sad thatshe kind of got snubbed at the
end there a bit at the end.

Remi (52:50):
There a bit, I will say that I do think if Franco had
been the one to do this project,she probably would have gotten
screwed over and had next tozero creative control if he was
running things, and the factthat this director seems
extremely collaborative fromevery interview I read with any
of the actors, anyone involved.
She likes talking it out andworking on the story and
characters with people,especially the people who wrote

(53:11):
them or will be portraying them,and I do not think she would
have had that opportunity ifFranco was at the helm.

Ashley (53:18):
It would have been a different movie, that's for sure
.
Just the fact that it wouldhave been a male-dominated crew
would have just changed thewhole feel, I think, of the
movie.
Dominated crew would have justchanged the whole feel, I think,
of the movie.

Remi (53:28):
I'm picturing more of a Spring Breakers type thing if he
had directed it, which I know.
Some people like.
That movie I'm not a fanpersonally.
He's okay in it, I guess.
But enough about the adaptation.
Ashley, are you ready to tellme all about the true Twitter
story behind this?

Ashley (53:47):
I sure am Buckle up people.
Asia Zola King was born inDetroit, michigan.

(54:10):
I couldn't find her exact birthdate, but it's either in 1995
or 1996.
Her mom described her as thetype of kid who always put
everybody in their place,including her seven younger
siblings.
She was a tough cookie andoften got into fights at school.
For example, one time a boysmashed a bottle over her head
in math class because she wasanswering too many questions

(54:31):
correctly.

Remi (54:32):
That's a bit excessive, don't you think?

Ashley (54:35):
Another time she was court-ordered to complete a few
hundred hours of communityservice after she slammed a
girl's head against the groundwhen the girl spit on her.
From a young age, zola loved tobe the center of attention.
She dreamed of being MissMichigan when she was younger
and enjoyed singing.
At 18, while still in highschool and living at home, she
started waitressing at Hooterswith the goal of earning enough

(54:56):
to get her own place.

Remi (54:58):
And I remember knowing quite a few girls who worked at
Hooters and it is a well-payingcareer, from what others have
told me.

Ashley (55:06):
I have a friend who used to work there.
You get a lot of tips.

Remi (55:08):
That's what I hear.
I heard the tips are likedouble the amount you would get
at a normal restaurant.

Ashley (55:14):
I also heard that the management looks out for the
girls to protect them againstcustomers who try to cross the
lines.
Zola was popular with customersand realized she could bring in
even more tips as an exoticdancer.
Once a co-worker told her howmuch money she made stripping on
the weekends.
Zola's mom, who worked as aparalegal, wasn't excited about
her daughter's new careerprospect, but she also

(55:36):
recognized that Zola was anadult and capable of making her
own decisions.
Nonetheless, she did takeprecautions.
She warned her daughter to becareful, told her to quit and
come to her if she encounteredany trouble, and had Zola share
her cell location with her soshe would know her daughter was
safe.
Within no time, zola wasquickly earning $1,000 per night
in tips.
She made the most money whenshe traveled to out-of-state

(55:59):
clubs in Charlotte, atlanta andFlorida.

Remi (56:02):
That seems like a really far drive from Detroit.

Ashley (56:06):
While Zola was doing pretty well for herself, she did
run into her fair share oftrouble.
For example, she saw a bouncerget shot, dated an older guy who
had his house raided while shewas sleeping there, and
associated with a group ofcredit card thieves.
Each time she assured her momshe learned her lesson.
One afternoon in mid-March 2015, 20-year-old Zola was

(56:26):
waitressing at Hooters when21-year-old Jessica Rae
Schuwautzki came in to havelunch with a friend.
Jessica was drawn to Zola andcalled her over to talk, mainly
because she thought Zola waspretty.
Jessica's mom was only 15 whenher daughter was born.
She was raised in a troubledhome, surrounded by drugs and
alcohol.
As she aged, she had a stringof abusive relationships and

(56:48):
started working as an exoticdancer at age 18.
At Hooters, jessica and Zolastarted talking, vibing over
their hoism, as it was describedin the viral tweets from
October 2015.
Zola showed Jessica her Tumblrpage and as she scrolled through
, jessica noticed a shot of Zolain a red sequins thong with a
rack of laundry behind her.

(57:09):
Jessica asked if she was adancer and they swapped stories
about clubs they both had gigsat before the two girls
exchanged numbers and Jessicasaid they should dance together
sometime.
Zola was lounging aroundwatching the Powerpuff Girls on
Netflix when she got a text fromJessica on March 26, 2015.

Remi (57:27):
Shout out to the Powerpuff Girls.

Ashley (57:28):
Jessica told her she was leaving for Florida soon with
her boyfriend and wanted Zola tocome with her to dance.
Zola had actually been toFlorida two months prior and
made $15,000 over the weekend.
So, even though she had justmet Jessica and thought it was
kind of weird, she was alreadybeing invited on weekend
getaways.
She was intrigued by thefinancial prospects.
Her 20-year-old boyfriend, seanKing, on the other hand, was

(57:50):
not as enthused.
He worked as a loan processorfor a mortgage company, had
known Zola since the sixth gradeand although he wasn't jealous
or worried about her cheating onhim, he hoped she would stop
dancing soon.
Nonetheless, he was easilyconvinced that everything would
be just fine.
A black SUV pulled up at Zola'shouse around 8pm and Jessica's

(58:10):
boyfriend of one month,22-year-old Jarrett Scott,
loaded her bags.

Remi (58:15):
One month, that's how long these two were dating.

Ashley (58:20):
Yeah, isn't that crazy.

Remi (58:21):
That is much shorter than I was thinking.

Ashley (58:25):
Zola was surprised to see a large black man in the car
who wasn't the same one Jessicawas with at Hooters a few days
prior.
Per the viral tweets, she sentJessica a text about how she had
a type and was surprised todiscover the man who introduced
himself as either his nickname,Rudy or Z I'm not sure.
In the tweets Zola refers tohim as Z had her phone.

(58:46):
He laughed and said he wasn'tJessica's sugar daddy, just her
roommate and long-term friend,and was using her phone for GBS
Rudy, whose full name I'm noteven going to try to pronounce,
but it was similar to what RileyKehoe says in the tweets that
she's reading off as Jessica.

Remi (59:05):
Can I look at it really quick?
I just want to read if it'sspelled the same as it was in
the film.
Okay, it is definitely not thesame name as it is in the film.
This name is much longer andlooks even harder to say, so I
do not blame you for passingthis one out.

Ashley (59:24):
Well, rudy was a 35-year-old Nigerian native.
Rudy and Jessica met shortlyafter she started dancing at 18.
He was introduced as the bestfriend of her booking agent.
He comforted her after she wasraped by a customer in a club
and seemed to generally have herbest interests at heart.
He found her work at adifferent club and let her stay
at his duplex near the Hootersin Detroit Per Jessica.

(59:46):
She slept with Rudy twice, methis parents and accepted money
from him to hire a lawyer.
When she lost custody of herdaughter, she claimed he
initially kept her in the darkabout how he made his living,
but it wasn't long before itbecame obvious it was through
pimping.
He allegedly went to parties,preyed upon the drunkest girls
there and made them backpageaccounts within the week.

Remi (01:00:07):
This guy was just a pure predator.

Ashley (01:00:10):
The group spent the 17-hour drive to Tampa listening
to Lil Wayne and Gucci Mane,only stopping to get gas or
McDonald's.
Jarrett talked about how he andJessica wanted to get their own
place, while Rudy cracked jokesand hyped up all the money they
were going to make over theweekend.
Although Zola was under theimpression that the group would
be staying at Rudy's fiance'scondo, their first stop was a

(01:00:31):
dingy hotel, but Jessica assuredher it was just a crash pad for
Jarrett while the girls weredancing.
After dinner, Rudy drove Zolaand Jessica to the Tampa Gold
Club.
Unlike in Detroit, wheredancers are required to have
some sort of license, the girlsonly had to fill out an
application, show some ID andpay a small house fee.

Remi (01:00:51):
I didn't know that a license was required either.
That's new to me.

Ashley (01:00:55):
After changing into the club's uniform tiny black shorts
and pasties they took a selfieby the locker and got to work.
Both girls agree it was a slownight, which is why they didn't
stay for very long.
I want to note that everythingI'm about to tell you about how
the trip unfolded from here isbased on Zola's account.
Jessica and Jarrett have theirown versions, which I'll touch

(01:01:15):
upon a little later, and Zola'saccount from here is what Zola
told the Rolling Stone interview, not necessarily what she
tweeted about.

Remi (01:01:23):
So this is the more accurate version of the story.

Ashley (01:01:27):
Yeah, tweeted about, so this is the more accurate
version of the story.
Yeah, a little later I'll kindof highlight what she had said
was embellished, and it won't besurprised what was embellished
and what wasn't.
While waiting outside for Rudyto take them back to the hotel,
jessica told Zola to hide hermoney and lie about how much she
made.
Zola asked Jessica to explainthe nature of her relationship
with Rudy and she was able toput two and two together that he

(01:01:49):
was her pimp.
At first she wasn't tooconcerned, since Jessica was an
adult and it was up to her tomake her own life decisions.
However, she started to suspectRudy had an aggressive side
when he picked them up and toldJessica exactly what she was
going to be doing to earn herkeep for the rest of the trip.
Zola remained calm after Rudychecked the girls into a suite

(01:02:10):
in a much nicer nearby hotel.
As he was heading out, he toldher to text Jessica the picture
they took together at the club.
Although she didn't realize itat the time, he used that
picture to make both girls abackpage account.
He then tossed Jessica a burnerphone and told him that they
would be getting a lot of calls.
Zola flipped after he left andthreatened to leave.

(01:02:31):
But Jessica burst into tearsand begged her to stay, saying
she only invited her because shedidn't want to be the only girl
on the trip.
Zola decided to stick it out,since she felt sorry for Jessica
and was worried about what Rudymight do if she left.
He did, after all, know whereshe lived and worked.
Her only condition was that shewas not going to exchange sex
for money.
Instead, she agreed to act assort of a security guard for

(01:02:54):
Jessica.
She would search the men oncethey arrived to make sure they
weren't undercover cops, deleteany requests that came in for
her services and turn the otherway until Jessica and her
customers were finished.
Zola was shocked when the firstguy only gave Jessica $100.
She snatched Jessica's phone,took some body shots and made a
new ad with the minimum fee of$500.

(01:03:16):
Right away the phone explodedwith potential customers.
About half a dozen men came andwent, one after the other, with
Zola sticking to her routine.
Rudy returned to collect themoney several hours later.
He was shocked at how muchJessica made and surprised Zola
hadn't gotten any calls.
Nonetheless, he gave Zola $500and kept Jessica's portion of

(01:03:37):
the profits with the excuse thatshe was behind on rent.
He then had sex with her on thecouch and left to rejoin his
fiance.
Jarrett woke up at the dingyhotel around 4 in the morning
and immediately started blowingup Jessica's phone.
Since he didn't know Rudy washer pimp.
She assured him she and Zolawere dancing at another club
that stayed open until 6.
She made another excuse fortheir absence once 6 came and

(01:04:01):
went.
He then went outside, probablyto distract himself and calm his
nerves.
He met a guy at a nearby gasstation and asked for a
cigarette to take the edge off.
It sounds like he hung out withthis guy for a little bit at
the guy's house, drinking a fewbeers and smoking some weed.
Once 7am hit, with no word fromJessica, he logged onto
Facebook and posted a message onher wall accusing her of

(01:04:22):
prostituting.
Rudy took the girls to Jared'shotel immediately.
When Jared got back from hisearly morning wake and bake sesh
, jessica was sobbing on the bed.
Since she had family memberswho could see that post, rudy
grabbed Jared's phone andpromptly deleted it.
He yelled about how he shouldkill Jared, but Jared didn't
care and instead encouraged himto do it.

(01:04:44):
Since the girl he loved was awhore.
Rudy decided it was time toteach Jared a lesson.
He considered having sex withher in front of him, but
ultimately decided Jared wouldbe the one to drive her to the
day's clients.
But first everyone needed tomove to a new hotel, since Rudy
was paranoid that Jared's newbuddy would come looking for
them.
Since Jared told the guy thathe came to Florida with two

(01:05:05):
girls who earned money dancing,rudy once again left.
After checking everyone into anew hotel Once alone, jessica
unleashed her rage on Jarrett,who responded by punching and
slapping himself in the face.
As the two were screaming ateach other, zola grabbed her bag
and headed to the pool because,as she said in her tweets, she
was in Florida after all.

(01:05:25):
She again contemplated leaving,but was still afraid about what
Rudy would do.
No matter how pissed she was ather new friend, she couldn't
bring herself to leave her alonewith Rudy.
Rudy was furious when he showedback at the hotel to find Zola
taking a nap.
He demanded she get dressed,threw her the burner phone and
instructed her to tell Jarrettwhere to drive Jessica for the

(01:05:46):
night's calls.
They drove to a few places andwaited in the car until Jessica
was finished.
Then a special request came in,one that would involve five
guys.
Jessica agreed to do it for$5,000.
Jarrett walked Jessica to thedoor but came running back a few
minutes later yelling about howthe guy snatched her and
slammed the door in his face.
Rudy hurried over as soon as hewas told what was going on.

(01:06:09):
Jarrett and Zola stood behindhim as he pounded the door,
threatening to shoot if no oneopened up.
The threat did the trick.
There were multiple beds in thehotel room covered with fake
designer purses and lingerie.
Jessica was cowering in thecorner, clearly afraid.
Turns out one of the guys was arival pimp who offered to buy
Jessica for $20,000, but Rudyscoffed and demanded she be

(01:06:31):
handed over.
On the way out he told hotelmanagement that they probably
wanted to call the authoritiessince there was a pimp working
out of their establishment.
It also sounds like this pimpis not the same guy Jarrett was
talking to at the gas stationearlier.
It was just someone else.
Rudy gave Jarrett and Zola planetickets home the next morning,
despite Jarrett's pleas, asecond round of face punching

(01:06:53):
and threats to jump off thebalcony.
Jessica said she needed to stayand make more money for her
daughter.
As Zola was leaving.
Jessica said she hoped theycould still be friends, but Zola
informed her they would neverspeak again.
Jarrett and Zola's plane tookoff a few hours later.
During the flight, she handedhim her phone and showed him a
picture of Jessica and Rudyhaving sex on the hotel couch.

(01:07:13):
Jarrett later confirmed that hesaw the photo and thanked her
for showing him.
Zola's boyfriend, sean, metthem at the airport and drove
Jarrett home.
Three days later, on April 1st2015, 21-year-old Brianna Pello
and 19-year-old Jessica Forgeywere driving back to Michigan
after a Cali vacay when Pello'struck broke down on a desolate

(01:07:34):
stretch of highway three hourswest of Reno.
The girls didn't have cellreception, but a state trooper
drove them to a gas station sothey could connect to the Wi-Fi.
The girls only had a fewhundred dollars left between
them and their parents couldn'tafford a plane ticket, so they
sent out an SOS to their friendson Facebook Not long after
Pello got a response fromJessica.

(01:07:55):
The two girls had hung outtogether a few times in Michigan
.
Pello had flirted with the ideaof dancing, but had never done
it before.
A few days before her car brokedown, she actually got a
message from Jessica thatsounded to me like it may have
been her way of feeling Pelo outto see if she was willing to
join her in Florida.
That's speculation on my part,but she basically said something

(01:08:18):
like I love money, I'll doanything for money, something
along those lines.

Remi (01:08:23):
Trying to bait her in a way, trying to bait her in a way
.

Ashley (01:08:25):
Nonetheless, jessica said she and her agent were
actually on their way to Reno todance at some local clubs and
would front the girls the cashto get home.
A car was arranged and took thegirls to the airport to pick up
Jessica and Rudy.
When they landed he theninstructed the driver to drop
them off at the Atlantis CasinoResort.
Once there, he took Forgy'sphone, scrolled through her

(01:08:50):
photos and made a backpageaccount for both girls.
He threatened to beat them ifthey didn't go with Jessica to
meet clients, but he ultimatelyallowed Forgie to stay behind
and work the phones.
After getting a call from a manseeking a threesome, he dropped
Pello and Jessica off and tookForgie to the Peppermill Resort
Hotel.
Pello said she hid in thebathroom while Jessica had sex
with the man.
While Jessica insisted, the twogirls both prostituted

(01:09:12):
themselves willingly.
Back at the Peppermill, forgiepleaded with Rudy to let her and
her friend go home.
He told her well, sure, but youhave to earn your return ticket
and then proceeded to rape her.
When he took a phone call inthe bathroom, she fled and
called 911.
Soon after Rudy brought Pelloand Jessica back to the resort,
pello was understandablyterrified to discover that her

(01:09:34):
friend wasn't in the room.
When she asked Rudy about herwhereabouts, he told her he
kicked that bitch to the curb.
He then got another call aboutthe Backpage ad but realized
something was up, since thecaller phoned Pello's phone and
not Forgie's as was listed inthe ad.
That seemed to spook him enoughto decide it was time to leave
Reno.
When the elevator door opened,in the hotel lobby, a swarm of

(01:09:58):
agents from the streetenforcement team the agency
assigned to investigate sextrafficking cases tackled and
arrested him.
Before being put in their owncars, jessica warned Pillow to
not say a word.
After the arrest, all threegirls were referred to Awaken
INC, a religiousanti-trafficking organization.
The Department of VictimServices put them up in a hotel

(01:10:21):
and the two agencies arrangedtheir flights home.
In July 2015, rudy was chargedwith sexual assault, sex
trafficking, battery, attemptedpandering and other felony
counts related to a fight injail.
Pello and Forgie were presentduring the arraignment, but
Jessica was noticeably absent.
She defended him at first, butby the end of the year, with

(01:10:43):
increased distance, she acceptedsome responsibility.
Telling Rolling Stone quote Iwas helping other girls be put
into that situation and, assomeone who's been sexually
abused, why would I do that?
All I can say is that I wasliterally brainwashed by Rudy.
Rudy pled guilty to one counteach of sex trafficking and
coercion with sexual motivation.

(01:11:03):
He was sentenced to 16 years inprison on February 10, 2017.
Pello Forgey and anotherunnamed victim testified at a
sentencing hearing Per Nevadastate parole documents.
He became eligible for parolein July 2021, after five years.
Although he was denied, hisparole was granted in April 2023

(01:11:25):
.
He was released from theNorthern Nevada Correctional
Center two months later.
His last registered address wasin Bloomfield Hills, michigan,
but he was not compliant withmandatory reporting requirements
as of the recording of thisepisode.
Zola quit her job at Hootersafter she learned she was
pregnant in July 2015.
On October 27th, she sat downat her computer and fired off

(01:11:49):
the 148 tweets that changed herlife.
She was overwhelmed with howpopular the tweets became almost
immediately after she postedthem.
She actually deleted them onceher followers started sending
her Jessica's personal socialmedia accounts, but by that time
, they were alreadyscreenshotted and archived
online.
The saga got hashtagged, thestory and trended worldwide.

(01:12:12):
The day after the posts, sheheard a radio DJ talking about
them.
The celebrities we've mentionedbefore tweeted about her and
reached out personally.
Bet and MTV covered the tweetsand her thread even got rated on
Goodreads.

Remi (01:12:27):
This would be insane to have happen to you.
After posting something onTwitter, she was probably not
expecting any of this.

Ashley (01:12:36):
In a November 2015 Rolling Stone article written by
David Kushner, zola admitted toembellishing some of the more
sensational details, likeJarrett's suicide attempt, in
her tweets.
Actually, he doesn't fall, helike gets caught and is dangling
by a bush.

Remi (01:12:54):
Upside down or something.
Yeah, okay that would have beenfunny.

Ashley (01:12:58):
Him being forced to watch as Jessica gave Rudy a
blowjob.
Was that in the movie?

Remi (01:13:03):
I believe he did make him watch, as she did some sexual
act to him.
I couldn't really see what itwas.
It wasn't a graphic scene oranything, but she was doing
something and he was makingDerek watch.

Ashley (01:13:16):
And Rudy dangling Jared over the balcony, shooting the
pimp and throwing Jessica overhis shoulder as they fled.
She essentially said she gotcaught up in the moment and fed
off the reactions her tweetswere getting in real time.
She also said she actuallyposted and removed the story
twice before, when no one seemedto care about what she went

(01:13:36):
through.
To gather more interest thistime she made her tweets darkly
comedic, while preserving thegist of what happened.
In the end, she didn't haveregrets because in its essence,
this is a sex trafficking storyand people finally cared about
what happened to her.
In several interviews she'sspoken about how she wanted to
bring awareness to theprevalence of sex trafficking,

(01:13:58):
including during this one on theTamron Hall show.

A'Ziah King (Zola) (01:14:02):
I guess I just want people to understand
that this is because, forwhatever reason, people think
this topic is kind of taboostill.
But I just want people to knowthat this is something that
happens every day and it'ssomething that can happen to
anyone.
I mean, it's not black andwhite, it's not a white van
pulls up and throws you in theback.

Ashley (01:14:20):
It's you meet a really pretty, really nice girl at your
job and you go on a trip likeyou always do, and you kind of
just don't make it home.
After Zola's tweets went viral,jessica and Jarrett gave their
own accounts of what happenedduring that Tampa weekend.
Per Jessica Zola only made $1at the strip club and suggested
prostitution to earn some extracash, as she said she had done

(01:14:41):
it before.
She claimed Zola was the one tomake them both back page
accounts and was the only one tomeet with customers the entire
trip.
While she agreed, rudy boughther a plane ticket home.
Her story was he did so upon herurging, since Zola wanted to
keep going after a sketchyinteraction with a group of men
who spoke little to no English.
Jessica obviously insists Zolawanted to keep going after a
sketchy interaction with a groupof men who spoke little to no

(01:15:02):
English.
Jessica obviously insistsZola's side of the story was
completely fake and believes shemade the thread for money and
followers, though she did tellRolling Stone she hoped it
brought attention to sextrafficking.
As of 2015, she was pregnantand lived outside of Flint,
michigan, with her fiance,travis Barjoski, a 26-year-old

(01:15:23):
aspiring DJ.
I couldn't find anything elseabout her since then.

Remi (01:15:27):
Did you read her Reddit post?

Ashley (01:15:29):
I did and I basically just took away the main points.
She just made it seem that sheinvited Zola on this trip to
dance because she connected withher when they met and Zola was
pissed that she only made onedollar at the club and decided
to do all of this prostitutionon her own accord.

Remi (01:15:49):
How closely would you say the version you read was to the
version we heard from Stephaniein the film, because she is
portrayed as sounding extremelyignorant in her section.

Ashley (01:16:02):
There isn't any mention about how she only fucks with
Jesus or anything like that.
But she does list out thereasons why she thought Zola was
a jealous bitch.
So it's not as absurd as it isin the movie, but it's clearly
so different from Zola's storiesand it doesn't actually

(01:16:23):
completely match up with Jared'seither.
As for Jared's side of thestory, he acknowledged
threatening to jump off thebalcony to see if Jessica cared
about him, but he made it clearthat everyone knew it was an
empty threat.
He said both girls went on atleast one prostitution job
together, but Zola left thatSunday because she really didn't
want to do it.
And he did say that Jessicawent on more than one.

(01:16:46):
He also said the wholeconfrontation with the other
pimp was completely fake andthat no one offered to buy
Jessica, but it did happen.
As to Rudy needing to come andrescue her, there was just no
offer to buy her for 20K.
Lastly, he said he found outJessica was in Nevada when she

(01:17:06):
called him after Rudy's arrestasking for help.
He did not come to her rescue.
Zola briefly moved toCalifornia after her initial
meeting with James Franco.
Her and Sean were married atthe time and returned to Detroit
where their first daughter wasborn in 2016.
While waiting for the moviedeal to be finalized, she filmed
an episode of a reality showcalled you the Jury, where a

(01:17:29):
panel of jurors and I say thatin the loosest sense of the term
were tasked with deciding ifJessica had grounds to sue her
for defamation for painting heras a sex worker.

Remi (01:17:40):
Was Jessica on the show as well.

Ashley (01:17:42):
I couldn't find that.
I don't think so because ininterviews as late as 2021, Zola
said she and Jessica had notspoken.

Remi (01:17:50):
Okay, the show sounds completely pointless then.

Ashley (01:17:54):
So I don't know if they filmed separately or what
happened, but I don't think theyinteracted.
But the show was canceledbefore the episode aired and her
and Sean divorced soon after.
Zola returned to waitressingand bartending until the
pandemic forced the bar to shutdown.
She then moved to Atlanta withher mom and sisters for a fresh

(01:18:14):
start in May 2020 and released afive-track EP titled Zola, and
here's a clip from one of hersongs called Get Out of my Way,

(01:18:37):
zola's second daughter was bornin 2021.
Since then, she's focused on herwriting, painting music and
running her social media,including a popular OnlyFans
account.
Her tweets were published in astandalone movie accompaniment
book called the Story, and thatis the true story of Janixa

(01:19:00):
Bravo's Zola.

Remi (01:19:02):
Zola has led a pretty crazy life for such a young
woman and she seems to have apretty great business savvy.
So I don't think this is thelast we'll be hearing from Zola.
I think she'll be popping upsomewhere in the entertainment
business again at some point intime.
But I think that it is a veryeye-opening tale of how real

(01:19:27):
human trafficking can be carriedout and, despite the
embellishments, I do think thatit is a good story to promote
that message of anti-trafficking.

Ashley (01:19:38):
When we talked about this too a little in the Sound
of Freedom episode about childsex trafficking.
It really typically isn't a big, scary white van patrolling the
streets, kidnapping people andwhisking them abroad.
Most of the time when peoplefind themselves in these
situations it is because theyare coerced by people they know

(01:19:59):
and trust.

Remi (01:20:00):
Being manipulated away from their friends and family
and everything they know toanother location, and things
just get worse from there.
But yeah, it's fuckinghorrendous and terrible that
this sort of thing even happens.
But the story itself I believeI will save most of my thoughts
for our verdict section.

(01:20:21):
But is there anything else youwould like to add?
Or shall we get into ourobjection of the week?

Ashley (01:20:27):
The only thing I'd like to add is that, zola, if you are
listening to this, we wouldlove to have you on the podcast
to talk about what yourexperience has been like since
the movie, what you're doing nowand anything else you would
like to share with us.
We will be tagging her onInstagram and, who knows, stay
tuned.

Remi (01:20:46):
We will be reaching out to a few of the people featured in
our past episodes to see if wecan maybe get some of them in
for follow-up interviews, butthat's a project in the works.
But now our objection of theweek.
Your Honor, I object.
And why is that, mr Reed?

House of Gucci trailer (01:21:04):
Because it's devastating, to my case,
overruled, good call.

Remi (01:21:09):
And I will kick things off this week.
Just a little reminder.
Our objection of the week isthe most unnecessary change from
adaptation of the true storyinto the movie and mine for this
week.
I can sum up in a single letterZ.
In real life this man wasreferred to as Z and in the

(01:21:30):
movie he was referred to as X.
I don't think that that wasnecessary at all.
I understand changing people'sreal names for legal purposes.
X and Z.
I'm pretty sure you could haveused either one.

Ashley (01:21:41):
I didn't even catch that .
I mean I did.
I knew it was a change ofletter, but I didn't even think
to write that down.
That's a really good one.
I'm already going to pick yours.
Mine was that Jessica slashStephanie picked Zola up at 2 pm
instead of 8 pm.

Remi (01:21:56):
And there were a couple of little things with like the
amount of money she said thather friend made in a single
weekend and smaller stuff likethat.
And of course, Hooters notbeing featured in the film was
probably for copyright reasons.
But yeah, X and Z, ourobjection of the week.

Ashley (01:22:12):
And now that brings us to our verdict.

Announcer (01:22:16):
At the conclusion of each episode, our hosts will
deliver a verdict based on thefilm's accuracy.
At the conclusion of eachepisode, our hosts will deliver
a verdict based on the film'saccuracy.
If the film is an honestportrayal of the events, then it
will earn a not guilty verdict.
If the adaptation is mostlyfactual but creative liberties
were taken for the sake ofentertainment, the film will be
declared a mistrial.
But if the film ultimatelystrays too far from the truth,

(01:22:39):
then it will be condemned asguilty and sentenced to a life
behind bars.

Remi (01:22:44):
Since I started things last round, how about you begin
things this round, Ashley?

Ashley (01:22:50):
So, coming into this episode, I was thinking a lot
about whether the verdict isgoing to be based on the true
story or the Twitter thread andI think, regardless of that, it
doesn't really change my verdict.
I'm going to go with a mistrial.
I have a lot of notes here and,putting aside the things that

(01:23:10):
Zola admitted to embellishing,which were in the film, there
was still a lot of differencesin the movie that diverged from
the tweets.
So, for example, the whole partabout them going dancing when
they first met and them textingall day the next day, I get they
probably put that in toestablish some sort of
relationship so they would beable to have some fun scenes

(01:23:33):
together and play off each othermore.
There was a lot of other littlechanges, like how Z slash X got
the pictures of the girlsdancing, how she realized he was
a pimp, how Jarrett slash Derekmet the guy at the liquor store
when really it was a gasstation.
So there was just a lot oflittle things like that.
Why Z slash X kept the moneyfrom Stephanie.

(01:23:58):
So just a lot of little detailswere changed and I just
couldn't give it a not guiltyverdict, even if we were only
comparing it to what was tweeted.
What about you, remy?

Remi (01:24:10):
I agree with you.
I was thinking this could get anot guilty verdict when the
story began, but as weprogressed I kind of realized
that the movie is based more onthe tweets than it is the real
story, and even in that respectthey changed a lot of things

(01:24:30):
along the way.
There was a lot of random pricechanges, location changes,
events were happening indifferent orders tons of little
things like that.
It is essentially the samestory, but I think that enough
of it was changed to warrant amistrial in this scenario.
So double mistrial on Zola.

(01:24:50):
But what do we have coming twoweeks from now?
Ashley, again a very differenttype of film.
We like to mix things up here.

Ashley (01:24:58):
Well, we just had so much fun talking about Jared
Leto last week that we are doingit again, but this time we are
going to be joined by Lady Gagaand Adam Driver, meaning we are
talking about Ridley Scott'srather new movie, house of Gucci
.

Remi (01:25:16):
Jared Leto's Razzie award-winning performance in
House of Gucci, which we will bediscussing, and I think we've
only seen this film maybe onetime.
I remember it being kind of amess and I am looking forward to
Ashley being able to siftthrough all of that mess and

(01:25:36):
create a coherent story for usto follow.
What do you think, ashley?

Ashley (01:25:41):
I did read the book that the movie is based on and I'm
glad I did.
It is very, very detailed.
One of the most interestingparts about it is it really
breaks down the rise and falland rise again of the Gucci
brand and it's just very, veryinteresting all of that.
But on the other side.
Because it's just very, veryinteresting all of that, but on
the other side because it was sodetailed.

(01:26:03):
There is so much I'm going tohave to condense and sift
through, but we will tackle thatin upcoming weeks.

Remi (01:26:11):
I do feel kind of bad for you because when I was looking
through some notes for House ofGucci there was an entire
section of family members in theGucci clan that were excluded
from the film but were involvedheavily in the real events,
Literally like a whole page of alist of people.
So my thoughts are with you,Ashley.
I hope you can get through thiswithout losing your mind.

Ashley (01:26:34):
Thankfully, when I was looking at the family tree that
is in the front of the book,which is like two full pages
long, the actual characters thatreally do play a role and that
I will need to mention are farless than that.
So that's at least one reliefI've had.

Remi (01:26:52):
Well, until then, if you like what you heard everybody,
please tell a friend I'm justgoing by word of mouth at this
point and, of course, leave acomment and yada, yada, yada.
But right now we are going toleave you all with a little
sneak peek of House of Gucci.

Zola clip (01:27:23):
And until next time court is adjourned.
Peritone worth style power.
Who wouldn't care for that?
I have been a Gucci all my life.
It is an empire.

You can help the family.
Gucci is not exciting andeverybody knows it.

Remi (01:27:33):
At least it's my name, sweetie.

Our name , sweetie Gucci needs no blood.
This is not a woman's game.
Remember that.
It's time to take out the trash.
We're a family.

Zola clip (01:27:51):
Don't Miss.
What game are you playing?

No, I don't consider myself a
particularly ethical person, butI am fair.

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