Diablo Cody
Diablo Cody
Brook Busey-Maurio, better known by the pen name Diablo Cody, is an American screenwriter, producer, director, author, journalist, memoirist, stripper and exotic dancer. She first became known for her candid chronicling of her year as a stripper in her "The Pussy Ranch" blog and in her memoir Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper. Later, Cody achieved critical acclaim for her debut script Juno, winning awards such as the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, the...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionScreenwriter
Date of Birth14 June 1978
CityLemont, IL
CountryUnited States of America
I don't think I ever got the hang of the writers' room. I love collaborating with people, but I really do my best work alone, and I think I would want to - if I did something again, I think I'd want to take total ownership the way Aaron Sorkin or David Kelley does.
I've been an avid consumer of young adult literature since I was one, and I think some people leave that stuff behind when they become old adults, but I never did. I was always interested in the fantasy world created in those novels.
I think when you take people who are damaged and you give them money and freedom, it can be a toxic cocktail.
I usually try not to think about actors while writing, because the odds of those stars aligning and you getting those specific people are so rare.
I think sometimes people really require the satisfaction of closure.
I am a karaoke purist and I don't like that. I don't think it's enough for you to just be there with your friends singing. I think you need to be in front of a crowd of hostile strangers for it to truly count.
To aspiring writers, I would tell them that we live in a wonderful time where you're able to make your work visible, easily. If you think about it, even ten years ago or twenty years ago, there was a middle man, there was a publisher, there were studios, there was this world of rejection letters. Now, we're in a place where we have the technology and the ability to go shoot our own movies or to put stuff on YouTube or a blog, if you're a writer, or self-publish.
I don't think coolness used to be such a commodity among adults. And now it is.
I think it's great when writers get recognition; it doesn't happen very often. I just don't want that writer to be me. Let it be Aaron Sorkin or, you know, somebody good.
I'm a pessimist by nature. I don't think things are ever going to work out, I'm not particularly ambitious.
I do not quote my own movies. I think I would be pretty insufferable if I did.
I want Maggie Gyllenhaal. I don't know why. I don't think she necessarily looks like me or acts like me, I just think she's a cool actress and she could play me, so there you go.
And I think I'm an adrenaline junkie, and there's nothing that will spike your adrenaline more than sitting in a theater and listen to an audience react to something you've written.
The fact is, when I wrote 'Juno' - and I think this is part of its charm and appeal - I didn't know how to write a movie. And I also had no idea it was going to get made!