Diablo Cody Offers an Update on Breathers and Damage Control on Jen’s Body
It was last February when we first heard that Diablo Cody would be producing the film version of S.G. Browne’s debut novel, Breathers: A Zombie’s Lament, and finally she provided an update on the project this weekend during Showtime’s presentation to the Television Critics Association (for her United States of Tara).
In addition Cody offered some explanations for the failure of her last feature film, Jennifer’s Body, to, in her words, find its audience.
With regard to Breathers, which is being written by Geoff LaTulippe (so hopefully audiences will be spared the “hip” and “clever” dialogue we were subjected to in Jen’s Body), Cody tells If Magazine, “We have a script, and I am thrilled with it and hope we can go into production with it soon. It’s a zombie love story. Zombies are so hot now, but I like to think it’s about the personal side of being a zombie and being ostracized.”
For an idea of what to expect, here’s a synopsis of Brown’s novel from the official Breathers: A Zombie’s Lament website:
Meet Andy Warner, a recently deceased everyman and newly minted zombie. Resented by his parents, abandoned by his friends, and reviled by a society that no longer considers him human, Andy is having a bit of trouble adjusting to his new existence. But all that changes when he goes to an Undead Anonymous meeting and finds kindred souls in Rita, an impossibly sexy recent suicide with a taste for the formaldehyde in cosmetic products, and Jerry, a twenty-one-year-old car crash victim with an exposed brain and a penchant for Renaissance pornography.
When they meet a rogue zombie who teaches them the joys of human flesh, things start to get messy, and Andy embarks on a journey of self-discovery that will take him from his casket to the SPCA to a media-driven class-action lawsuit on behalf of the rights of zombies everywhere.
Sounds like it could be fun enough, which is more than I can say for Jennifer’s Body (for a different point of view read Matt’s Jennifer’s Body Blu-ray/DVD review). What’s Cody’s take on why the film fared so poorly?
“The marketing was a little messed up. It was marketed mostly to boys, and I think we could have had a large female audience that was ignored. I have faith. I’m on Twitter and I get a lot of feedback from people all day. The DVD came out, and I’ve heard from an avalanche of people saying, ‘I didn’t think I would like this movie, and I’ve watched the DVD five times.’”
She continues, “As much as I love that movie, and I’m incredibly proud of that movie and I will love it forever, I feel it’s very unusual, and I don’t think it’s super accessible in a lot of ways. I don’t think it was a typical, mass appeal popcorn horror movie. I think it was more like an art film. I know some people would laugh at that.”
Yeah, I admit that last comment brought forth a chuckle. Let’s hope LaTulippe knows zombies better than Cody knows females … especially female horror fans.
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