Four years ago, director Jason Reitman found a screenplay by a writer named Diablo Cody and decided to make it his second movie after his acclaimed debut Thank You For Smoking. The resulting movie Juno was an enormous hit, garnering multiple Oscar nominations and an unprecedented win for Cody’s very first produced screenplay.
Now, Cody and Reitman have reunited for Young Adult, a dark comedy that has Charlize Theron playing fiction writer Mavis Gary, whose impending divorce leads her back to her small hometown of Mercury, where she plots to get her ex-boyfriend Buddy (Patrick Wilson) back even though he’s married with a new child. After arriving in town, Mavis ends up connecting with Patton Oswalt’s Matt Freehauf, an old acquaintance from high school who is as damaged physically as Mavis is emotionally, but the two form an uneasy alliance while she’s in town.
It’s certainly an interesting follow-up to Juno, one that maintains Cody’s dark and cynical sense of humor but involves people who talk like normal people (sorry Juno!) and the interaction between Theron and Oswalt is certainly one of the things that makes the film so entertaining. (You can read our review here.)
ComingSoon.net had a chance to sit down with screenwriter Diablo Cody and actor-comedian Patton Oswalt to talk about their latest endeavor.
First up, we have Diablo Cody, whom we’ve spoken to quite a few times, both before and after her Oscar win for Juno; some of the things we discussed this time around include:
* How this isn’t the type of movie studios normally make
* When Jason Reitman agreed to direct it
* How her relationship with Jason has changed
* Their collaboration process
* How Hollywood has changed as indie directors infiltrate the system
* Why she decided to direct a movie herself
* She tells us that the metal band “Lamb of God” means they’re looking for a new title
* Having really strong female characters in all her movies
* Why we don’t see enough women who feel real in movies
* More about her plans for her directorial debut
And more!
