Jennifer’s Body 2 “Is Not A Typical Sequel,” Diablo Cody Says
The original screenwriter is “unleashed” while writing the sequel.
Jennifer’s Body may have flopped at the box ofice, but now it’s a crucial cultural artifact. Karyn Kusama’s tale of feminine rage penned by Juno’s Diablo Cody touched so many different themes that spoke to its audience: misogyny, revenge, queer love, and simply how difficult it is to exist as a teenage girl. There was also a lot of blood. And a rock band.
It’s been almost a decade since Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried brought Jennifer and Needy to life, but fascination with the movie hasn’t wavered. There was even a live table read of the movie starring modern-day It Girls Rachel Sennott and Ella Purnell. The demand for a sequel is clearly there, and Diablo Cody has provided an exciting update on the follow-up’s progress.
Diablo Cody is hard at work on the script for a sequel to Jennifer’s Body.
During an appearance on Bloody Disgusting’s The Boo Crew podcast, Diablo Cody spoke about her writing process for a possible Jennifer’s Body sequel. “It actually is not a typical sequel process, where you’re going ‘here’s what we’re going to protect from the first movie.’ It’s more like all the ways in which I was restrained on the first movie, I’m now unleashed,” she said. “So it actually is less a feeling of being cautious and more of a feeling of being careless in the best way.”
She reflected on the film’s cult classic status, suggesting that the movie wasn’t a flop, it was just before its time. “Obviously Jennifer’s Body is very important to me. I love it but I actually feel like the culture has caught up with what we were trying to do with that movie,” she said. “Now it’s like I can really stretch my legs. I really loved writing this script. There was not a moment of it that felt like work, which is unusual for me these days.”
Megan Fox starred as Jennifer in the original 2009 film.
But just what is in the script? According to Cody, it’s not a reboot — we actually will get to find out what happened to Jennifer and Needy. “Thematically, the whole movie is a response to that rediscovery [of the first film],” Cody said. “Every movie is about something, other than what it’s about, but this one is not just about Jennifer and Needy, it’s about me.”
Things are still very much in the beginning stages, but this could be our first hint at what’s to come: the creepy world of Jennifer re-entering a world that’s finally evolved enough to understand what it is. With the audience it deserves, this hypothetical sequel could become a sleepover classic just like its predecessor.
