By Tandy Versyp
Diablo Cody is my personal hero. Hero because she broke into the business through her blog and won an Oscar by doing things her way. Personal because she is my friend on MySpace. That’s right. I leave her comments, get notifications when she writes a blog and browse her pictures with stalker-like precision.
I identify with Cody because she is just like me. She didn’t have rich parents or connections in the industry. She had her talent and the Internet, simple means that made her a writing superstar.
But I’m worried.
Cody has two projects coming out in 2009 that will make or break her career: “The United States of Tara” and “Jennifer’s Body.”
“The United States of Tara” is a television show for Showtime produced by Steven Spielberg. Toni Collette plays a wife and mother with dissociative identity disorder. That script hasn’t been leaked, but Showtime says it’s “a sort of ‘Weeds’ meets ‘Sybil’ or ‘The Three Faces of Eve.’” Cody wrote the pilot episode, which is in production right now, simultaneously with “Jennifer’s Body.”
“Jennifer’s Body” is a comedy horror film about Anita “Needy” Lesnicki who must save her small town, Devil’s Kettle, Minnesota, from her best friend Jennifer, a cheerleader who begins chowing down on the local teenage boys. It has some up-and-coming names attached to it: Adam Brody, Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, with Karyn Kusama directing. But the script was leaked onto the Internet, and many people have been critical about it, saying that there is potential, but it needs polishing before it can shine like “Juno.”
Both projects sound slammin’, and I know I will be going to see them, but what if they aren’t any good? Cody skyrocketed into stardom so quickly that maybe her wonderful script for “Juno” was a fluke. A third of the critics thought “Juno” was weak and not worth the awards and acclaim. What if they were right?
I have the same doubts about my own writing. What if every success I’ve had was merely an accident? The old cliché “you’re only as good as your next story” is true. Your next painting. Your next sculpture. Your next project is what people really judge. It is also how you judge yourself. Even with positive critiques in my writing classes, I don’t think I’m as good as I should be, so I push myself to the quick of the story, the character, the humor.
That’s what artists should do. I guess. Sometimes I feel like giving up, you know? All the searching, honing and mind-numbing work make me lose sight of my passion for my craft. There comes a point when you’ve tried too hard.
Not according to Cody. “Certain people have opined that I ‘try too hard’ as a writer, and they’re right. As Paulie Bleeker once admitted, I try really hard. Beats the f— out of not trying at all.”
She may be wrong. She may be right. It doesn’t matter. I’ll still be cheering for her.
