The Big Picture
- Diablo Cody wants to make a sequel to Jennifer’s Body and is looking for someone who believes in the film as much as she does and has the money to fund it.
- Jennifer’s Body was initially a critical and commercial failure but has gained a cult following over the years.
- Despite the initial disappointment, Diablo Cody is now grateful for the film’s popularity and the appreciation it has received from audiences.
Like many of us, Diablo Cody is simply looking for someone to toss “a billion dollars” her way. Unlike many of us, it isn’t to pay off student debt and bills — it’s for a much nobler cause. During an appearance on Bloody Disgusting’s Boo Crew Podcast, the writer and director revealed that she would love to reincarnate Jennifer’s Body for a sequel. “I wanna do a sequel,” the woman behind such hits as Juno and The United States of Tara said. “I am not done with Jennifer’s Body. I just need to find… I need to partner with people who believe in it as much as I do and that hasn’t really happened yet. I need someone to believe in it who has a billion dollars.” If only a call to action like that worked so easily.
Easily one of the most classic horror flicks of the last two decades, Jennifer’s Body stars Megan Fox (Transformers) as the titular teen who becomes demonically possessed after an out-of-town rock band (fronted by The O.C.’s Adam Brody) uses her as a sacrifice to make it big. The film — which featured some beyond gross-out kills and tons of black goo — also boasted a co-leading performance from Amanda Seyfried (The Dropout) with an ensemble filled out by Johnny Simmons (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World), J.K. Simmons (Juno), Amy Sedaris (Strangers with Candy), and an early-ish performance from Kyle Gallner who, through recent roles in Scream (2022) and Smile, has begun his journey to scream king status.
Diablo Cody Is Grateful for the Film’s Cult Following — Even if They’re a Little Late to the Party
While we now recognize it for the magic piece of cinema that it is, it wasn’t always that way for Jennifer’s Body. As Cody puts it, “It was a critical, commercial failure. I was pretty humiliated to be perfectly honest with you.” For whatever reason, the film was mostly a miss at the box office, but as word of mouth spread, so did its popularity. “I mean it’s gotten progressively happier for me,” Cody says of the wave she’s been riding since the movie first hit theaters in 2009.
“At first I was like, I was excited about it obviously, but I was also a little bit salty because I remember thinking, well where was this audience when the movie came out… It was a rough experience having that movie come out. It was rough for me, it was rough for Megan [Fox]… [then] people started suddenly talking about it like it was a good movie, which I had thought all along. At first, I just thought, oh where was this audience when I needed it, and then I realized they were like… seven. And then some people who maybe didn’t appreciate it at the time have come around, and now I’m just like, there’s no saltiness, now I’m just happy.”
As far as we know, no one has tossed Cody a casual billion dollars to pick up her pen and get to writing a sequel to Jennifer’s Body, but we will be the first to let you know when the time (hopefully) comes. In the meantime, Cody’s latest script will rise from the dead when Lisa Frankenstein stomps into theaters on February 9 — check out the trailer below and stream Jennifer’s Body on Max.
Jennifer’s Body
- Release Date
- September 19, 2009
- Runtime
- 102
