By Fred Topel | Image property of Fox Searchlight Pictures.
Juno
Screenwriter Diablo Cody is already receiving raves for her debut film Juno. A comedy about teen pregnancy and adoption with hints of abortion, early viewers are responding to the unique brand of humor and heart. Cody has a very Juno-esque way of describing it.
Cody Talks Juno
"I'm like allergic to cheese in many ways so I try not to be too cheesy in my responses," she said. "I'm lactose intolerant. That's even better. That was a polish right there, ladies and gentleman. Okay, but no, it's been such an incredible experience for me because I had never written a screenplay before and I was never really even published as a writer up until a few years ago. Then suddenly things just started to happen for me kind of serendipitously and I was discovered, as lame as that sounds, and I was very lucky because I never imagined that I would be in this world. Just to put it this way, I got married three years ago and that was just three years ago and I took my honeymoon in LA because I thought it was an exotic place I'd never get to see. Now I live here and have a premiere tonight. It's very mind boggling."
While Juno is not Cody's life story, Juno herself definitely takes a cue from her creator. "Juno I think is autobiographical in a lot of ways even though I never was a pregnant teenager. I relate to that character on a really deep personal level. Although I do think that the character evolved significantly when Ellen Page entered the picture. Even though she is very different from Juno, there is just a lot of her soul in that character. I feel almost like I can't completely take credit for Juno anymore."
Director Jason Reitman had the right sense of humor to bring Cody's story to the screen. "That's why I think our collaboration went so well. I can't imagine either of us working with somebody who's that politically correct. It would be disastrous. Don't you find that interesting that this guy has like the quintessential Hollywood pedigree, the quintessential Hollywood kid and you would never know it? In fact, I have always said if you had to gauge it simply on like Douchebaggery, if someone had to guess who grew up in Hollywood, they would totally say me. They'd totally say you were the down to earth nice guy from Chicago. There's the f*cking entitled brat over there and then we've got Mr. Nice. It speaks highly of [Jason] and denigrates me, but I'm always willing to do that."
Juno is out in theaters now.
For the trailer, posters, review and more movie info, go to the Juno
Movie Page.
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