Q&A with Diablo Cody

What inspired Juno?
I was kinda sitting in my kitchen in Robbinsdale, and thinking about the image of a teenage girl sitting across from these uptight yuppies in their living room. They’re basically auditioning to be the parents of her unborn child. And I was like, that’s possibly the most awkward thing I could imagine, and it is therefore hilarious. And I wound up building the film around that image. And then I just based the character of Juno on myself as a teenager, although I was never that cool.

That’s what people are saying—that it’s an idealized wit.
Well, I always found the perfect comeback, so it’s steeped in reality. I’m kidding, by the way. That was clearly sarcasm.

Are your parents exceptional wits?
No, I don’t come from a family of writers. I did not come from a family of cinephiles. My position in the family was the youngest child and the clown, and uh, kind of the wild card.

Youngest of how many?
Just youngest of two, but that was enough. And uh, I’ve just, um, yeah, I’ve always been different. I think I have one member of my extended family that people frequently compare me to: this sort of eccentric aunt in San Francisco. But that’s about it. I couldn’t really relate to anybody else in the family.

What do your parents do?
My dad works for the Illinois Tollway, and my mom is an office worker at a construction company.

So straight-up blue collar?
They’re actually not blue collar. My dad has a white-collar job. I mean, he’s sort of like a big boss at the Tollway. But they’re middle class.

You grew up outside Chicago?
I did grow up in a very sort of blue collar southwest suburb, Lamont. And I went to high school at, like a tony Catholic school in a suburb called Lisle.

How long did you live in Minneapolis total?
I lived there for four years. I think it was college, I now have an undergraduate degree in “Minnesota.”

So we can claim you?
Here’s the thing, I never expected you guys to claim me, because I was there such a short period of time in relation to the time I spent in Chicago. And yet, my whole ride as a writer began in Minnesota. Google has the feature now where you can see who’s Googling you regionally, and like 99 percent of my Googles are still coming out of Minnesota. LA is second place, New York is third, and Chicago is way at the end. So I think you guys have officially adopted me. I don’t think Chicago necessarily cares about my origins.