James Franco to direct Twitter tale of stripper Zola's sordid road trip

Drama is based on viral tweets by Aziah 'Zola' Wells - which won praise from Ava DuVernay and Missy Elliott - about her brush with a violent pimp

James Franco has signed up to direct a potentially controversial true-life drama based on a wild and unsavoury stripper road trip to Florida that went viral on Twitter.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Franco's film will be based on the Rolling Stone article Zola Tells All: The Real Story Behind the Greatest Stripper Saga Ever Tweeted, which was published in November. The piece related the story of stripper Aziah "Zola" Wells' 148-tweet splurge, described as "like Spring Breakers meets Pulp Fiction, as told by Nicki Minaj", in which she claimed she narrowly avoiding being tricked into prostitution by a fellow stripper and her violent Nigerian pimp.