Juno Diablo Cody & Jason Reitman Interview

It's expected to earn an Oscar nomination or two. Not a bad effort given it's the first feature film byscreenwriter Diablo Cody and the second one for director Jason Reitman (Thank You For Smoking). The film screened at the Toronto International Film Festival and was an instant success, which is whatsparked the Oscar rumours. The film stars Ellen Page (X Men: The Last Stand) as a sassy 16-year-old who becomes pregnant after her first sexual encounter and decides to seek out the perfect pair of adoptive parents (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner). While the plot might sound so so, what distinguishes it, is the whip smart dialogue and the brutally honest characters. Gaynor Flynn caught up with the writer and director at Toronto, and here's what they had to say.

Gaynor Flynn: How did you find the writer director relationship?

Diablo Cody: As a writer this was an incredibly uniqueexperience because Jason is so respectful to thematerial and such a generous, gracious wonderfulperson. I just could not have been luckier.


Jason Reitman: [laughs] It's all true.

Diablo Cody: Writers typically are not treated withthat level of respect on a film and I was allowed tocome to the set I was able to give input and I knowthat's a really rare situation so I'm really grateful.

Jason Reitman: This was a script I fell in love withbut I could not even pretend to understand what wasgoing through the mind of a pregnant 16-year-old girland most often I'd be asking Diablo as well as Ellen(Page) what would the character really be feelinghere. Why are they saying this or why are they doingthis or I want her to go down this hallway and whywould she do that and they brought incredible insightand I'm thrilled that Diablo is able to spend as muchtime as she did with us.


Gaynor Flynn: What appealed about the story particularly?

Jason Reitman: You know what I loved about it? It wassimilar to Thank You For Smoking, it was a trickysubject matter, it was teenage pregnancy but obviouslyit wasn't an after school special. This story took avery enlightened view on the subject and was a storythat allowed all the characters to react in a veryoriginal way. It was a screenplay that every time adecision had to be made a line of dialogue to be said,it was unpredictable.


Gaynor Flynn: Can you talk about casting Ellen Page?

Jason Reitman: I hadn't met her before but I'd seenher in Hard Candy and like everyone fell in love withher.


Gaynor Flynn: What was it about her?

Jason Reitman: She's just honest, she's real. I meanwhat I look for in an actress isn't there ability tobe dramatic or their ability to be funny I just wanthonest performances and if you look across the boardeveryone in this film is just very real and veryhonest and this is not a script that was filled withjokes it's a script that's filled with very humanmoments and it was going to be funny as long as theactors performed it real. And I look at Ellen andthat's what separates her from every other actor ofher generation is that she's just real and she bringshonesty to every moment and this is beyond the factthat she's so talented and when I met her in person itwas even more so it was like meeting Juno.


Gaynor Flynn: I understand you connected on the quirky music level?

Jason Reitman: Yeah I'm a big music fan but I'd neverheard of the Mouldy Peaches until Ellen introducedthem to me and that became the soundtrack of the film.


Gaynor Flynn: The original dialogue is one of the talking points inthe film. Did you do the Cameron Crowe thing where youwent undercover?

Diablo Cody: You know what I didn't. I'm notoriouslylazy about research. I usually just dive intosomething and just hope that I don't make an ass ofmyself. I didn't talk to any teenagers, I always feelas an adult I've had a weird ability to be able tapinto youth culture, I just think I'm immature. But Iwas a little nervous, I didn't know how this was goingto be received by young people but the teenagers Iknow that have seen it thought it sounded authentic.Its obviously a little heightened you know its notverity but I think it worked out.


Gaynor Flynn: You said at the press conference that you know someonethat became pregnant as a teenager. Who was that?

Diablo Cody: I had a friend when I was a teenager whogot pregnant and that situation kind of inspired thisin a way because I went through that experience withher and as a teenager who is unexpectedly pregnant isobviously going to react in a very different way thana woman who's in her 30's and has been trying and getsthis baby shower and its this joyous occasion. For usit was this very surreal, weird experience and weacted like teenagers throughout he process and I justwanted to capture that feeling.


Gaynor Flynn: In the press notes you say you worked as a phone sexoperator, was that a joke?

Diablo Cody: No it's true. (laughs) I have a verysordid past.


Gaynor Flynn: You've obviously had an interesting past.

Diablo Cody: That's very nice of you to say and I dothink it's important and I'm in no way denigratingother writers here but I think if you live a shelteredexperience in Los Angeles and you sit at the CoffeeBean all day and write and have development deals, Idon't know how creative you can be. You have to stayin touch with reality and I was a stripper as well andI've had a lot of crazy experiences as well and itdefinitely helps me in terms of the creative process.


Gaynor Flynn: How did you get into writing?

Diablo Cody: I mostly wrote on line. I was pretty muchan unpublished writer and working as a stripper andblogging about my adventures in the skin trade and oneday I got an email from Hollywood and it's a guy whois now my manager Mason Novak who is also a produceron the film, and he said to me, you should try writinga screenplay. And I wasn't an idiot and I thoughtthis is probably just some huckster trying to takeadvantage of me and so I ignored him for quite sometime and then finally he got to me and I sat down andwrote Juno. And I never ever imagined would come ofit, certainly not like this, its been a dream.


Gaynor Flynn: Jason, what's surprised a lot of people is that givenyour background you have turned out to be talented.

Jason Reitman: Its' a surprise isn't it? It is alwaysa huge surprise. Most children of directors are justdrugged out and a waste of time.


Gaynor Flynn: How influential was your upbringing with your dad andhaving so much film in your life growing up?

Jason Reitman: I grew up in a wonderful family with alot of love and unlike most parents in Hollywood myparents have been together for over 30 years andreally sheltered me from a lot of what I heard themovie business can be and really the only aspect ofthe film business they opened up to me was to become agood story teller. My parents are both directorsthey've taught me to be a good story teller and itsfunny I actually was scared of becoming a directorbecause I thought really I don't stand a chance if Ibecome a director I'll always be compared to my fatherand I'll never have any success of my own.


Gaynor Flynn: What's your relationship with your dad when you'redirecting?

Jason Reitman: He doesn't come to set. (laughs)


Gaynor Flynn: Was Jennifer Garner an obvious choice for you?

Jason Reitman: Not until I met her to be perfectlyhonest. I've always been a fan of hers but it waswhen her and I met each other that I realised she hadmany similar characteristics to Vanessa and then itwas impossible to ignore. She's one of the sweetesthuman beings in Hollywood. I've honestly never met anicer actor in my life and she's a very devoted motherand when we started talking about our children, wewere both new parents when we met it changedeverything all of a sudden it was like talking toVanessa when she would talk about her daughter andthat' what we would talk about on set.


Gaynor Flynn: What's next?

Jason Reitman: She's talking to Spielberg its muchmore exciting.

Diablo Cody: I have a pilot that I wrote for StevenSpielberg that just got picked up by Showtime it's ahalf hour comedy, a dark comedy about a mum that hasmultiple personalities.


Gaynor Flynn: Is it The United States of Terror, is it still beingcalled that?

Diablo Cody: As far as I know yes.

Jason Reitman: Rain Wilson from The Office who did acameo in this film he and I have developed a comedythat has going to star in and I'm going to directwhich is basically Midnight Cowboy with a Ninja in theSan Fernando Valley and he is the Ninja.