The teen horror wave ebbs and flows, arriving in a suffocating fits as it did during the late-'90s, kick-started by
Scream, or trickling out like blood from open artery on a nearly dried out corpse as it has been doing the last few years with
Stay Alive,
When a Stranger Calls and
Prom Night. Now, director Karyn Kusama (
Girlfight) and the spunky
Juno team of Jason Reitman (co-producer) and writer Diablo Cody are setting out to put their own stamp on this sub-genre that will never die with
Jennifer's Body. The difference with this one? Well, plenty of things, but most notably...it's rated R. For blood, breasts and a body count (albeit a small one), if you must know.
"This is a horror movie. Not to sound like a pretentious douchebag, but it's a horror movie made by filmmakers, by people who genuinely love film," affirms Academy Award-winning Cody speaking to ShockTillYouDrop.com on the Vancouver set.
"Karyn Kusama is a total horror geek, I'm a horror geek, the producers are into this stuff. This was not a mercenary effort to make it seem like something that fit a profile. We wanted to make a horror movie and we're totally respectful of the films that come before us and I think people will see that in the finish product." If the film was playing at the New Beverly Cinema, Hollywood's revival house known for spinning grindhouse classics, what would best compliment it during a double-feature? Cody answers with a grin,
"I would say either The Virgin Suicides, Suspiria, Creepshow, Carrie, Just One of the Guys or Ginger Snaps."
Body is two days out from wrapping principal photography when this writer drops in to visit this tale of a Minnesota cheerleader named Jennifer (played by Megan Fox) who is sacrificed to the devil by a rock band seeking fame. As a result, she is possessed by a demon that needs to feed on flesh regularly to sustain its strength.
"I intended it to be gorier, a little more exploitative, a little more lurid. There are so many more talented people involved [in the film] that it has become a little more atmospheric, creepier and maybe a little more high brow and that's cool," says Cody.
Today, sadly, there is no boy buffet laid out and certainly no ravenous feasting on Fox's behalf to be had. Instead, the actress is joined by co-star Amanda Seyfried (playing "Needy," Jennifer's awkward BFF) for an early sequence in the film in which the girls swing by an all-ages show featuring the band Low Shoulder (frontman: actor Adam Brody as Nikolai). The shot is barbed with that Cody-esque dialogue audiences got a taste of in
Juno.
"What happens in the movie is you're dealing with two best friends at the core of the film who have been best friends since they were little growing up," explains producer Daniel Dubieki.
"Throughout their high school time they realize their best friendship has come to a head. They're different people than they once were, their relationship isn't about the innocence of being little girls any more, and life is affecting them. And now this manifests in a very horrific experience. They're dropped into the middle of the most horrific thing they could deal with in this small town and now they've got to deal with it."
The cast and crew we talk to throughout the day are in agreement on two film titles when it comes to speaking about
Body's tone:
A Nightmare on Elm Street and
Rosemary's Baby.
"Horror films today are so cold and abrasive - don't get me wrong, I can appreciate them on a level, but what this movie's going to do is remind you of the nostalgic feeling of the late-'70s and early-'80s," adds Dubieki.
"Some of the true classics are driven by female characters," continues Kusama, who cites Dario Argento's broad artistic palette as an influence on her approach to Cody's prickly stab at the genre.
"For me, horror films and feminism as an idea are fairly complimentary. So, this felt like a great opportunity to make a movie like this. A movie like Rosemary's Baby or Nightmare on Elm Street. Or you can read the first Halloween as part of a tradition of seeing the horror of the world through female eyes."
Shock spoke with Seyfried, co-producers Reitman and Mason Novick and others during our stay on
Jennifer's Body (coming soon from 20th Century Fox) so keep your peepers peeled for an in-depth set report!
Comments
Posted by: Steve on May 14, 2008 at 11:20:23
Sounds like they're being a bit too pretentious. F' it, it's got boobs and gore... I'll see it on DVD. But Feast 2 comes first!
Posted by: RevSean on May 14, 2008 at 11:25:11
rock stars & demons?
sounds like JOHN CARPENTER'S L.A. GOTHIC!
Posted by: ravenlordariel on May 14, 2008 at 12:13:27
They need to give Megan Fox the part of Wonder Woman (if they ever get that movie off the ground and into production some day)
I think she's got the look. It would be better for her career if she got a big role like that instead of doing cheesey teen horror flicks.
Posted by: Snarky Bastard on May 14, 2008 at 15:27:29
Uh... I disagree, ravenlordariel. I don't imagine Wonder Woman as a trashy little whore.
Posted by: Morgan Talley on May 14, 2008 at 17:49:25
What in Megan Fox's career or personal life; what little we know about it suggests to you whore? Would she be at the top of my list to play Wonder Woman, probably not. And you may not like her, but trashy little whore is quit a stretch.
Posted by: Frank on May 14, 2008 at 20:30:50
He or she's name is "Snarky Bastard", which means he or she is an *******! So who cares what they think Morgan Talley?!
Posted by: lloyd on May 15, 2008 at 18:53:31
Diablo Cody. Yawn.
Posted by: Nice Guy Joey on May 15, 2008 at 19:10:09
^^Exactly lloyd. Diablo Cody writes banter. And who is she to think that she is going to rework, revive, or reinvent the horror genre?!?!!
I hope this movie blows and everyone forgets that this lame as kid Cody won an Oscar. What a slap in the face to true talented writers.
Posted by: The Phantom of the Paradise on May 15, 2008 at 20:01:40
Wow, not a very "nice guy" at all, are ya Joey! Have you even read her book? It's amazingly good; funny and evocative. I read it between DeLillo and ****ens, and she's as good as both of those writers in her own way. People named Joe tend to suck by the way, I know a Joe myself, and he's a total right-wing backstabbing rumor-monger. What is it about that name that makes people think they "are" America?
Posted by: The Phantom of the Paradise on May 15, 2008 at 20:07:03
I can't believe this lame site bleeped out the guy who wrote Great Expectations! I'd hate to see what happened if I tried to write something about Kinji Fukasaku!
Posted by: The Phantom of the Paradise on May 15, 2008 at 20:08:35
Whoa, it worked! Praise the Lawd!
Posted by: Nice Guy Joey on May 16, 2008 at 11:35:50
Phantom, read other material. Get out of your box.
Posted by: Nice Guy Joey on May 16, 2008 at 12:01:03
P.S. You little blasphemer!!! How dare you compare kiddie Cody to C.****ens!!
Try some Malamud, Jeff Cohen, Nikki Giovanni, and even Beverly D'Onofrio. Cody can't even hold a candle to say.....Goerge Carlin. Like I said get outta yo box.
P.S.S. I am America you little bastard :)
Posted by: Mab 7 on May 18, 2008 at 23:05:23
"Juno" was smart and funny. It isn't a classic in the making. The end. If Sofia Coppola can win an Oscar via the rule of nepotism, why shouldn't a non-royal ex-stripper benefit from that same trickle down principle? 2007 was a thin year for film. "Atonement" was poorly adapted. But I don't have the sense that any of you are real writers. There's something in your spelling and disorganized presentation that gives you away. Peace
Posted by: The Rexxx on May 19, 2008 at 18:31:46
Diablo Cody looks like a tard in that picture. Reitman's kid is a trust-fund baby and Juno was an over-glorified MOW. She's a hack and this a*s-nugget looks like it will be the predictable dribble we've seen a million times over. But still... Megan Fox is smokin.
Posted by: Mr. EE on May 26, 2008 at 16:35:58
I'm tired of this kunt Diablo already. Why should I call a ***** by her stripper name? She wasnt Diablo when she was posing with her ******* hangin out. What ******* there are.
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