“I mean, honestly, plenty of things that happen in life is stuff that you don't see coming that isn't an obvious joke, and Jason with his first film, Thank You For Smoking, did something similar where I don't think anybody ever expected a comedy with a tobacco lobbyist as the hero. That's why he was actually the perfect director for this.”

~ Diablo Cody

By Jed Bronstein & Jon Mosca   |  Send to Friend

By now you’ve all heard and read about the Cinderella-film story that is Juno. Written by Diablo Cody, once a stripper, and directed by Jason Reitman, whose only other film was Thank You For Smoking, this quirky little indie film about a pregnant teenage girl looking for the perfect adoptive parents quickly gained the attention of mainstream movie-goers and quickly became an overnight hit. And of course we have to mention the Oscars nods -- one for Ellen Page’s Best Actress Nomination for her portrayal of the title character and Diablo’s Award for Best Screenplay. Of course when I first interviewed Diablo and Jason, the film was hardly on the radar and they hadn’t yet announced Academy Award nominees. I’m glad to see films like these are finally getting their play, especially when the creatives behind it are all new, because it just shows that when all you wanna do is make a movie, the rewards feel so much better.


Catz: What inspired you to write the screenplay?

Diablo: I was not so much inspired by the idea of teenage pregnancy as the idea of two affluent yuppies sitting down in their home across from this teenage ragamuffin and having to basically audition for the privilege of being parents. I thought that was an interesting twist on the parent dynamic you might expect from these three people, and the idea of her being a strange presence in their home and the idea of how she might interact with the guy and with the woman and how it might affect their marriage. That dynamic was what was interesting to me. I saw a whole movie just in that, and then I started creating Paulie and Juno’s parents and then those characters started to enter the picture.

Catz: But you tell the story from Juno's perspective.

Diablo: Yeah, I relate to Juno the most. She’s sort of a projection of myself as an adolescent in a lot of ways.

Catzie: So, this isn't based on real experiences?

Diablo: No, I never had a baby, but my relationship with my high school boyfriend was the direct inspiration for Juno and Bleeker.

Catz: How did you manage to write about something like teenage pregnancy -- something so serious -- but keep it so light?

Diablo: Jason [Reitman] and I are similar in that we always make light of heavy situations, and I try to find the humor in everyday situations, not just the obviously comedic ones. I mean, honestly, plenty of things that happen in life is stuff that you don’t see coming that isn’t an obvious joke, and Jason with his first film Thank You For Smoking did something similar where I don’t think anybody ever expected a comedy with a tobacco lobbyist as the hero. That’s why he was actually the perfect director for this because we [have a] very similar sensibility and we are also both the kind of people instead of gazing mournfully at a subject, say 'What’s funny about this?'

Catz: How did you two meet?

Diablo: Well, I didn’t meet him until he had actually been hired to direct. I’d heard great things about him. They hired him and I still hadn’t seen TYFS so we decided to have sort of an initial meeting and I was really excited. I was apprehensive but we got along immediately.

Catz: So, as a director, do you audition or anything?

Jason: No, the full story is that when the script first came around I couldn’t get the job because I was just finishing TYFS and hadn't established myself as a director. There was [already] a director [attached to] the movie for a good year and then everyone parted ways. It didn’t work out -- which happens all the time -- and at that point Thank You For Smoking had played Toronto, and had done very well. I kinda made a name for myself; and when they went back after directors, I came in really strong. I really loved [the screenplay]. I had a meeting with the producers, expressed my passion for it and they said, 'Great, let’s make this movie together,' at which point Diablo and I had met.

Catz: I want to talk about the tone of the movie: I know that a part of it is humorous, but she’s still a young girl dealing with teenage pregnancy, though, luckily, she has the support of her parents. Isn't it almost too optimistic?

Diablo: I love my characters. I wanted things to work out for them. I needed that scene at the end of the movie where Juno is riding her bike and she’s okay. I don’t know if I had ever thought of it as a happy ending, but you’re right: It is.

Catz: Everybody sort of gets what they want.

Diablo: It’s strange. In some ways, I feel like the story was writing me because initially I intended it to be a very dark, twisted comedy. I was inspired by movies like Election. It’s funny, even in the months leading up to us filming, I was still describing it as a dark comedy to people.

Catz: How about the idea of casual sex amongst teenagers? When I was growing up, if you had sex with somebody, basically, he was your boyfriend. Here, they're just sort of friends who hooked up and didn’t really get together.

Diablo: Yeah, it’s kind of interesting, isn’t it? Like, we have this moment where we are totally intimate and affectionate and suddenly we’re not together? No, I think Juno is one of these people who really puts up a front, and I think she’s terrified to expose herself and be vulnerable. She truly loves him and she expresses that the day they have sex but then that’s as far as she can go. She just goes, 'Well, see ya.' Even though we don’t see it, I can see her hopping on her bike and going home, and Paulie just being left completely perplexed by what just went down. I can only guess that the sex was very awkward. They don’t really have that catharsis until she confesses her feelings to him.

Jason: I think that’s actually par on course with the screenplay. It doesn’t try to make a big deal out of situations that are often considered a big deal, but it’s just like when Juno calls for an abortion saying, "I’d like to procure an abortion." Now, I imagine, at some point -- and I remember kids saying this when I was in high school -- there was this 'I gotta get this over with and outta my system' attitude toward losing your virginity.

Diablo: That was the attitude I had, for sure. I couldn’t wait.

Jason: Even though she obviously loves Bleeker and doesn’t know how to admit that. I love that her character has these unusual ways of expressing her love. She seems fearless able to just go right at people, but when it comes to expressing her love for Bleeker, she does so by putting a living room furniture set on his lawn, or filling his mailbox full of tic-tacs. Here was a girl who, while so self-possessed, was incapable of expressing her love. I can imagine her trying to take those first steps, and not knowing quite how to do it, and inadvertently having sex with him because she’s trying to get into a relationship with him and doesn’t really know how and I can see how they could oddly stumble into sex, particularly because we live in a kind of sexualized world.

Diablo: When he says, "I’ve wanted this for so long," she goes, “I know." It's so indicative of their relationship at that time, she hasn’t reciprocated, but he’s open. He’s been open from the beginning.

Catz: Either of you working on anything currently?

Jason: We’re making a movie together -- Jennifer's Body -- we start in March.

Diablo: It’s a horror movie about teenage girls and sort of sexual jealousy. It’s a dark look at adolescence [with] no restraints.

Congratulations again, Diablo on your Best Screenplay Oscar. We hope to see more from you.

Next Week: Filmmaker & Photographer Henry Chalfant talks about making Style Wars and New York Subway Art, and being one of the most highly regarded documentarians of graffiti art.