Diablo Cody has been trying to resurrect Jennifer's Body for TV: 'I'm not done telling stories in that space’

Hell is a teenage girl. It’s also been the type of journey on which Diablo Cody has found herself in her attempts to resurrect Jennifer’s Body. 

In conversation alongside her Lisa Frankenstein collaborator and director Zelda Williams, the writer and producer tells EW she's far from done with the 2009 cult classic starring Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, and an eyelinered Adam Brody. Cody shares that she would “100 percent be interested in revisiting that world” again, namely in the form of a television show. 

“I have been actively trying to pursue that for years,” Cody says, disclosing that she still encounters roadblocks even amidst its cultural renaissance. “It's tricky because there are a lot of people out there with successful existing IP trying to get [projects made], and Jennifer's Body, when it came out, was not a hit. So on paper, it's actually a difficult sell because people say, ‘Well, the movie wasn't a success.’ And I say, 'But there's an interest in it now. It's found an audience, so let's do this!'”

She would love to have Fox involved again in the series — or, really, any future iteration at all. ”I would be willing to explore any avenue for that movie because I just feel like I'm not done telling stories in that space,” Cody says. “Jennifer is still one of my favorite characters that I've ever written.”

The movie starred Fox as a popular high school teen possessed by a demon after a satanic ritual sacrifice gone wrong, and Seyfried as her best friend who tries to stop her rampage against teenage boys. It was largely panned by critics upon debut, but has since been heralded as ahead of its time. Cody recalls the initial criticisms as painful.

“It was incredibly difficult, not just for me, but for Megan,” she says. “We were personally attacked along with the film because we were outspoken women at a time when that was not en vogue." Seeing people rediscover the film "has been really healing for me," Cody says. "Lisa Frankenstein would not exist if Jennifer's Body wasn't being re-examined in this positive way," she adds. "It gave me the confidence to say, okay, I can go back and write something in that genre again and people might actually embrace it this time."

Williams recalls watching the cult classic "multiple times" in theaters, noting that "Through the Trees" by Brody's fictional band Low Shoulder would “periodically” get stuck in her head. "That movie has some of my favorite line deliveries and jokes," she says. "It’s near and dear to my heart."

Lisa Frankenstein is a return to form for Cody. In theaters Feb. 9, the 1980s-set coming-of-rage comedy stars Kathryn Newton as a misfit teenager who reanimates Cole Sprouse's handsome Victorian corpse, known as the Creature. They embark on a bloody journey to find love, happiness, and a couple of missing body parts.

"When I watch the movie that Zelda made, I get this very specific feeling I used to get back in the ‘80s and ‘90s when I would watch movies I loved, like Edward Scissorhands," Cody says of the gothic romance. "I hope that people feel that as well."

Williams recalls one encounter with a viewer during a test screening that has stayed with her: "The thing she took from this movie was that you can be really unhinged and still deserve love. If people leave this movie feeling that way — even if it's self-love, that's completely valid, that you can be your most unhinged, societally unpalatable person and still deserve love — good. That's all I can wish for you guys."

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Related content:

• Cole Sprouse is a 'handsome corpse' in first look at Zelda Williams' Lisa Frankenstein
• Adam Brody says the negative reaction to Jennifer's Body 'felt s---ty,' film's poster 'missed the mark'
• Megan Fox says Jennifer's Body demonic character is a 'good representation of who I am'