“I need to know two people can stay together forever.”
Juno
(Winning an Oscar) doesn’t mean anything. It’s like winning class president.”
Diablo Cody
Someone once said that in America we love to cheer victors as they enter the triumphal arches and then throw rocks at them as the pass through the other side. If you’re older than 15 you’ve seen the cycle repeated a time or two with athletes, political leaders, and especially movie and pop music stars.
Welcome to the jungle Diablo Cody. The first negative thing I remember hearing about Cody was the day after she won her Oscar for Juno and some critics decided they had had enough of the Cody love fest and mocked her choice of dress for the Oscars.
Now is when things get ugly. Cody’s second film Jennifer’s Body was released Friday and the reviews are mixed, but with a heavy dose of criticism:
“Jennifer’s Body is never scary and it’s only sporadically amusing.” Christy Lemire. AP
“It’s a serviceable premise, but the execution fails on almost every level.” Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune
“An unoriginal and mostly unscary horror-comedy from, surprisingly, the pen of Diablo Cody.” Kirk Honeycomb, Hollywood Reporter
Diablo Cody called unoriginal? Ouch.
But I’m not really interesting in talking about Jennifer’s Body, I’m more interested in Diablo’s body. Her arm actually. I want to talk about what happens after you’ve been to the top of the mountain because they don’t generally have a class for this kind of thing.
A few months ago I was doing a shoot in Minneapolis and went to eat at Al’s Breakfast in Dinkytown. (A must-do eating experience if you’re ever in the Twin Cities.) I sat next to a guy who looked like a rock star (as a lot of people do in Minneapolis). I asked him if he was in a band and he said he used to be. We talked about the music scene in Minneapolis and then about Diablo Cody. He said years ago he met her once (when she went by the name Brook) at a bar across the street when she was there to watch her boyfriend/husband, Jonny Hunt, play in a band. (A good musician I was told.)
The same Jonny that Steve Marsh at Mpls St. Paul Magazine asked Diablo Cody about in October 2007 just as her career was taking off:
Marsh: Let’s say $100 million gross, little gold man—does that mean, bye, bye Jonny?
Cody: WHAT? Are you kidding? That’s a ridiculous question. Like, he’s sitting right here. He’s not going anywhere. Everything we do we do side by side. I’ve got him tattooed on my arm for god’s sakes.
Jonny responded to the question on his blog a week after the question was asked and wrote about he and Diablo’s relationship, “We’re doing just fine. Out here in Hollywood, despite what you have heard, people don’t always ditch each other randomly when they get successful, okay?”
But by the time the article hit the stands two months later (Dec. ’07) the tattoo “Jonny’s girl” was inked over with roses. ( News of their split hit the press the day the film opened , and I’m not sure if the divorce was final before or after Juno passed the $100 million mark.)
Cody has basically lived the whole Hollywood life cycle in just two or three years (write script in Minneapolis—sell script to Hollywood—move to Hollywood—movie gets rave reviews and is a box office hit—hired by Steven Spielberg—talk show circuit—win an Oscar—nude photos circulated—next movie gets some stinging reviews and stumbles at the box office—talk of her demise). In a year or two everyone will be talking about her comeback film.
Diablo’s body of work is not that large but the University of Iowa grad does have an Oscar and the TV show she created (The United States of Tara) landed the lead actress, Toni Collette, an Emmy Monday night. She’s doing fine, thank you.
Even if Jennifer’s Body doesn’t make another dime, Cody will. And she’ll continue to develop as a writer and will have hits and misses in the future (just like all working writers, directors, producers, and actors). Winning the Oscar really will be a burden for her as everything she does will be compared to Juno, and she may never be on that mountaintop again. (But what would most writers give to have that burden?)
There were many factors that made Juno a success. And one of those factors I believe is the one who gave Cody a lot of early support and inspiration— Jonny Hunt (the one covered in roses on Cody’s arm). Cody once said of him, “My now-ex-husband convinced me to use our last $200 to buy Final Draft, so I just sat down and started writing a movie. It’s that simple.”
It’s too bad their marriage didn’t survive.
I think two people can stay together forever. But it isn’t easy for any couple. As Don Henley sings in New York Minute: “If you find someone to love in this world/You better hang on tooth and nail/The wolf is always at the door.”
Related Posts: Juno has Another Baby (Emmy)
Screenwriting from Iowa 
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I saw Jennifer’s Body. My reaction was that it’s a horror movie written and directed by people who don’t really know horror movies. It’s littered with Cody’s dialogue (which I personally enjoy), but the pacing is off and the rules are never fully established.
I’m a big fan of Cody’s. I loved Juno and was infinitely impressed by United States of Tara. I think this was a first draft script that got greenlight off Juno’s success. I hope Cody’s around for a long time.
Unfortunately, it seems popular to hate on Diablo Cody for some reason.
After the low opening weekend box office numbers for JB, I posted a little snippet of support for Diablo Cody on my Twitter account. I wasn’t really targeting Diablo herself; anyone familiar with her blog, Tweets, or interviews can probably surmise as I do that she’s going to be just fine. Her confidence appears endless, her skin thick. I was actually targeting the haters, and it went something like this.
“look at it this way, you’re 2 for 3 w/Juno & Tara v. JB, & JB does have that cult potential. That’s a nice batting avg.”
And that’s probably the true source of the hate. Diablo’s story is the one-in-a-million story we all wish were ours. Let me know if I have any of this wrong, but in short, her blog was a hit. This leads to a book deal. What about making it into a movie? Okay, write a sample script to show you can do it. Miraculously, that ‘sample’ is so good it becomes her first feature credit, wins an Oscar, and defies the Dues Paying Gods. She creates a cable show and writes a new movie. Show does great, movie not so much. Two for Three.
Tom Hanks is supposed to be box office gold, but even he has some duds in his past. No, I will not apologize for thinking Joe vs. the Volcano is one of the worst movies ever made. My opinion, of course.
Juno was a great movie. The United States of Tara is a great show. Jennifer’s Body didn’t do so hot. She’s 2 for 3, and the haters will have to deal with that excellent batting average.
And I hear she’s sold her angle on Sweet Valley High to Universal. Even after Universal said they weren’t putting any more money into development this year.
For what it’s worth I wouldn’t be writing this blog for the last two years without Cody’s inspiration. And as far as success and failure? Well, the football stadium at the University of Florida is named Ben Hill Griffin Stadium and I once did a video for his family.
When Griffin, an orange grove baron, died his estate was estimated to be worth $600 million. He was once asked the secret of his success and he smiled and said, “I honestly don’t know if I’ve succeeded more than I’ve failed, it’s just that my successes have outshone my failures.”
May that be true of all of us.
Great post. Thanks for a great blog.
I think the Diablo-hating is just like Justin said — jealousy. I think writers are irked by the fact that people think anyone with an idea can just bang out a script or novel and be successful.