While talking to Diablo Cody about her forthcoming Oscar contending Jason Reitman collaboration "Young Adult," we couldn't help but press the charismatic writer about her contribution to the forthcoming "Evil Dead" remake, produced by Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell and directed by Fede Alvarez.
"I just did a re-write on the pre-existing script, which is excellent," she told us. We asked her what, specifically, she was working on and she said, ""I was doing some dialogue work and some story work." Not that this was a major overhaul. "I can't stress enough that I wasn't doing some stereotypical Diablo Cody dialogue in 'Evil Dead.' I was doing naturalistic dialogue that serves the story. It's not like, 'Diablo Cody presents 'Evil Dead.' "
Cody also told us that the script got to her like few things she's come across, and genuinely sent a chill down her spine. "The script is unbelievably scary," she said. "I've never had the experience of getting scared reading something, particularly in screenplay form, but with this I was scared."
We then wondered if she'd ever make a return to the genre, since she's quite obviously a huge fan, and had her horror script "Jennifer's Body" produced a few years back, with director Karyn Kusama in the driver's seat, into an unfairly maligned and very entertaining horror-comedy ripe for rediscovery.
"I really want to. But I feel like I've gotten burned," she said, alluding to the "Jennifer's Body" experience. Still, that doesn't seem to have deterred her: "I have a couple of ideas."
When we suggested that she could direct it (since she's about to make her directorial debut with the satiric "Lamb of God," which starts shooting soon), she dismissed the idea. "I don't think I could or should direct it. I feel like directing horror is such a specific craft."
Well, we'll have to wait until "Lamb Of God" arrives to see how Cody expands her skills behind the camera, but you can experience her pen in full force with "Young Adult" when it opens on December 16th.
