Q&A with Diablo Cody

So since you have a B.A. in Minnesota. you realize that we will soon resent your homegrown talent and success?
What are you talking about? You guys have resented me since I was in town like a month. I’m a pretty blunt person, and Minnesotans do not like that, and so, indeed, like 99 percent of the criticism I receive has also been from Minnesota, which continues to perplex me, because I always feel like your home turf is where you get the most support and love.

You said you have a degree in Minnesota.
It ceases to surprise me at this point, but it still hurts. It still hurts.

We’re mean to all our great writers.
You really are terribly cruel to your writers, and it’s not just me. It’s so weird to me, because I didn’t think I cut like a swath of destruction through town. I thought I made a lot of friends and had a good time.

You’re a cultural omnivore—what are you influenced by?
Everybody knows that I’m not a snob when it comes to pop culture, obviously. I love reality shows. I will go see crappy movies, happily. I’m not an especially highbrow person, but I have always loved small, quirky, edgy movies. To use a string of obnoxious adjectives. And you know, like I loved Harold and Maude, I loved Rushmore. I saw Napoleon Dynamite for the first time while I was in the process of writing Juno. And it kind of renewed my vigor for writing. Because I thought like, this is a total oddball little movie and yet all these people have responded to it so maybe my script isn’t going to get lost in the shuffle. That was inspirational to me. Even though I think [director, Jason] Reitman has tired of the Napoleon Dynamite comparisons, they’re somewhat warranted. Movies that are smart and meaningful as opposed to a big corny ass movie where a pretty girl falls down.

But smart meaningful movies are making money now—this dork with a heart of gold.
Yeah, I met Judd [Apatow] a couple days ago, and I was like, “Dude, let me in.” I make no qualms about it.

But as a contrarian, as someone who searches out the misfits, once that’s the norm, isn’t there a part of you that wants to write a big, dumb Adam Sandler comedy?
Yeah. And eventually I think I will. I don’t see why not. I don’t know if I’ll ever feel completely comfortable in my own skin so I’m bound to write a lot more tortured misanthropic things. I’m actually writing a really broad comedy right now for Universal and I’m enjoying the process immensely. But you know what . . . it’s about misfits.

What’s it about?
It’s about these three teenage girls in college. It’s sort of my female Porky’s or Losin’ It. Sex comedy. You know. And you know, it’s risky to put women front and center in movies. But it’s a risk I’m willing to take.