When Zola becomes “@Stefani”: The filmmakers and Zola herself explain the unforgettable scene
“It was really fun to dumb ourselves down and think, ‘What is the worst way to tell this exact same story?’”
Image: Screenshot: Film Features Zola
As far as adaptations go, Zola is remarkably faithful to its source material, the 148-tweet thread known as #TheStory. When director Janicza Bravo and her co-writer Jeremy O. Harris came on board to translate the words of A’Ziah “Zola” King to the screen, they set out to preserve her voice, her agency, in the too-wild-to-be-true odyssey she initially shared with the world. (King also served as an executive producer on the film.) Clearly enamored with King as a person and a storyteller, Bravo and Harris treat #TheStory as scripture, and Zola is the stylish vessel for her hallowed words. In doing so, Zola’s “Zola” (Taylour Paige) operates as both author and audience surrogate—the film almost never leaves her side as we watch her process the events that are spiraling out of control around her, forming the narrative in real time. In that sense, Zola is, in part, a story about storytelling, how we’re all the main characters in our day-to-day lives, and the embellishments we make, both big and small, to craft the stories about ourselves that we think people want to hear.
Though Zola remains loyal to King’s tweets, frequently committing them to film word-for-word, there’s one notable exception. Just before the final act, a title card reading “@Stefani” appears on screen. What follows is a cinematic tangent both hilarious and horrifying as Stefani (Riley Keough)—Zola’s docent on this dark descent—recounts #TheStory from her perspective, with some notable discrepancies in what we’ve seen thus far. As comically ironic and distressingly racist as Stefani’s brief narration is, it, too, was pulled direct from the source: The Reddit post by Stefani’s real-life counterpart purporting to tell King’s story as she remembered it. Quite literally interrupting Zola, the scene serves as a distinct reminder of whose story we’ve been following along with thus far, and just how rare a movie like Zola is, where Black women control their own narratives.
In conversation with The A.V. Club, Bravo, Harris, and King unpack the memorable moment when Zola becomes “@Stefani,” revealing why they felt compelled to include it in the film, and how they balanced its humor with the uglier realities it brings to light.
The A.V. Club: So much of Zola’s narrative very closely adheres to #TheStory, as tweeted by A’Ziah. But, right before the final act, we suddenly switch to “@Stefani,” to see Stefani’s version of the events. What’s the genesis of that scene, and what did you hope to convey with it?
Janicza Bravo: When I read #TheStory first on Twitter in 2015, I went after it soon after I had read it. I had done my dramaturgical digging, and I came across the “Stefani” of our story—the real person—[telling] their version of it on Reddit. And “Derrek”—Nicholas Braun—that real person told their version on Facebook, and there were a lot of similarities. There was a lot of overlap between all three stories. I really wanted there to be Stefani’s version mainly because, in addendum to finding those pieces, almost every article that existed at the time had questioned the validity of A’Ziah’s story. They seemed to be so invested in whether or not what she was telling was true, and more focused on that than the subject matter she was discussing, which kind of disturbed me.
I assumed there was a portion of our audience that would show up from the jump, from the first frame, already questioning what this dynamic was between a Black and a white woman. And so I was feeding them the thing that I already thought they were asking, which is, “Well, what’s her version of the events?” And I think it serves to remind you that the story we have been watching, up until this moment, is also told from one person’s perspective.
AVC: So, A’Ziah, what do you think of that scene? Why do you think it’s important to the film?
A’Ziah “Zola” King: That’s one of my favorite scenes, for sure. I mean, that’s how she did me in real life! That’s exactly what her version was like, just like that, you know? So, it was on brand. [Laughs.]
AVC: A lot of the deeper racism of the character, of Stefani, kind of bubbles to the surface in this moment, but you’re juggling the ugliness of that with comedy. Jeremy, how did you and Janicza navigate that in scripting the scene?
Jeremy O. Harris: I think that the real woman was—I mean, I think it’s evident when you read her [Reddit post] why there’s this crumb of a friendship that was available to her in A’Ziah at some point. Because, you know, the line, “she only made $1,” was not invented by us—it was actually her line, and that was hilarious, right? [Laughs.] Also, the idea that someone would only make $1 at a strip club?
I think that, in scripting it, [the scene] became a space for a lot of joy for us. Because we loved A’Ziah so much—and her ability to tell such a beautiful, complex, and hilarious story—it was really fun to dumb ourselves down and think, “What is the worst way to tell this exact same story?,” and see what kind of comedy can come from that. Like, these moments where she said, “Well, I’m a Christian”—
AZK: That’s just so funny.
JOH: It’s all these weird asides—that don’t need to be there in order to make you the lead character in your own story—she does. And that was really exciting to script. It also gave me and Janicza a chance to lean into our theatrical backgrounds—we both are theater nerds. And I think that, you know, just the chance to make a full fourth-wall breaking monologue was a dream. It took us back to Playwrights Horizons and DePaul Theater School—shout out!
For more of The A.V. Club’s coverage of Zola, you can check out our film review, read our interview with the cast, and watch our conversations with stars Taylour Paige and Riley Keough below:
Zola is now playing in select theaters nationwide.
18 Comments
almost every article that existed at the time had questioned the
validity of A’Ziah’s story. They seemed to be so invested in whether or
not what she was telling was true, and more focused on that than the subject matter she was discussing, which kind of disturbed me.
And yet, if we change the gender and race of the storyteller… that challenge of proving the story’s validity deflates quite a bit, doesn’t it?
The subject matter isn’t challenged as to its validity unless it’s something like an alien abduction in that case.
Not really. Just in general, it’s a pretty unbelievable story and it did turn out that a lot of the more outrageous parts ranged from embellishments to outright fiction on King’s part.
Snore
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This is a very interesting story. I’m intrigued that they shifted POV to the other woman’s perspective. I’ve seen her reddit referenced a few times, but not linked. I’m curious to see it after reading the twitter story from Zola’s perspective.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AnythingGoesNews/comments/3quslp/the_zola_story_jesss_side/
Interesting. Very different story. Thanks for the link!The part of the original story that was clearly fiction was when the sad-sack BF jumped off the balcony, but then was hanging there. That only-in-bad-movies moment is not how the physical world works. (I prove that every time I jump into Superior off the cliffs where people have been jumping for generations, never touching, much less clinging to, the rocks we clear by a wide margin.)I think both are unreliable narrators, but it’s a hell of a yarn.
Might want to check this out if you’re interested:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2015/11/02/the-true-story-behind-zola-the-epic-twitter-story-too-crazy-to-be-real/
Anyone have “Derrek”’s version that he apparently posted on Facebook?
Read them both.#TeamNooneIn this story (no matter which version I read), I can’t root for anyone; they all seem to be unlikable idiots.
Yeah. I just find this whole thing gross. I don’t care if she was a racist piece of shit, this is the story of a woman – who (if you read up on it) was a victim of several rapes – being sex trafficked at 20-years-old and then someone recounted that trauma for the entire world and – as I replied to someone below – she embellished the hell out of it.
Steffanie’s version of the story is definitely bullshit, but you can not make this a story about Black women controlling their narrative when the Black woman in question has admitted that she made up huge chunks of the story. And it’s debatable whether or not this is her narrative when she spends the majority of the story as a passive observer to someone else’s trauma.
It’s grotesque that a sex trafficking victim has been turned into the villain of the story where they’re sex trafficked and the internet is experiencing some kind of collective schadenfreude having a laugh because the victim is racist.
If you want to take issue with racist White people from Michigan appropriating Black culture, Eminem and Kid Rock are right there. I don’t think we should be collectively demonizing someone who said some racist shit at 20 but it as in regards to a story where they were kidnapped, beaten, and raped being treated as a joke and on a global scale.
I was ready to post something very similar to this – and, to add to your point, the extent of her racism appears to be ‘cultural appropriation’ which is a MUCH more problematic accusation to levy at someone who’s been forced into the world depicted in the story.The reason I didn’t post it, though, is because there seems to be a lingering question over Stefani’s complicity with the whole thing, and two of the girls arrested in Vegas have directly accused her of being her pimp’s accomplice. This is not to say she wasn’t also a victim, but it sounds like she’s been operating in a grey area.However – judging by an article over at Refinery29, the movie is leaning hard into this interpretation of things, and seems to be portraying Stefani as even more of a villain than even the pimp. A couple of choice quotes:
Zola thinks they are going to Tampa to strip, while Stefani is really
trying to lure her into a nonconsensual sex working relationship with
her pimp, X[…] At every twist and turn of this tale, Stefani is gaslighting her way
through each step, and stepping over Zola to wield her whiteness as a
weapon. Sure, it’s Domingo’s X who is supposedly calling the shots[…] [but Stefani is] the one who Zola feels like she needs to protect, even when she’s
exposing her to danger. As Stefani plays the classic white woman in
distress card, which people of color have been conditioned to feel
obligated to help and save, Zola consistently falls into her trap of
coercion masquerading as naivety.
https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2021/06/10518512/zola-cast-director-interview-interracial-friendship-review
… and honestly, this feels shady as fuck. The only conclusions I can really draw about all this is that the makers really wanted the movie to have a white villain and to make it about race, and in doing so have kinda skipped over a lot of moral complexity in a way that doesn’t sit right with me. Also, I have spent too much time reading about this fking story so IDK.
I agree that the movie eschews a lot of moral complexity that could’ve made it even more interesting (although this is so pervasive in “Based on a True Story” movies that I’m not sure why anyone is surprised), but to say the “makers really wanted … to make it about race” implies they’re fabricating an angle out of thin air.
It wouldn’t be Twitter otherwise. It’s like a showcase for the worst version of everyone.
You don’t have to be on #TeamAnyone to enjoy a good yarn.
The @Stefani killed the momentum of the movie IMO. I understand why they wanted to include and why they didn’t want to tack it on at the end, but where they ended up placing it didn’t work for me at all. It’s pretty funny on its own though.
I agree, I loved that part and didn’t know it existed, but its placement was odd.
Sadly, the only thing that’s ‘unbelievable’ to me is that the pimp let Zola go back home at the end of their little road trip. Sex trafficking is some scary, heinous shit that happens all too fucking often.