It’s 2009, and I’ve slowly started coming out to my friends and family as queer. It’s also the year I started to feel seen by movies like Jennifer’s Body (written by Diablo Cody) and Were the World Mine (featuring Zelda Williams).
I recently met both women 15 years later at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills to chat about their newest movie, Lisa Frankenstein. Serving as Zelda’s feature directorial debut, the dark comedy is brimming with the signature wit we’ve come to expect from Diablo.
“I obviously love the original book,” Diablo tells me of finding inspiration in Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein, noting she has a framed portrait of the author “on my wall at home.”
“So I like to try and remember where this all came from. But, I think that that narrative is just so compelling,” she explained. “The idea of being able to play God and give life to someone, I think is where it originally came from. And then over the decades, it sort of morphed into, 'Well, what if you could create the perfect person?' More about a wish fulfillment thing. And that was where this came from, the idea she's somehow found the perfect boyfriend, and she's reassembling him piece by piece.”
After her undead crush, The Creature (Cole Sprouse), is risen from the grave by a bolt of lightning, 1980s teen Lisa Swallows (Kathryn Newton) begins salvaging body parts from her peers for her new beau, baking him to perfection in her stepsister’s (Liza Soberano) tanning bed.
The movie also takes inspiration from the 1985 John Hughes movie Weird Science, as well as the works of Tim Burton and John Waters, setting it apart from recent Frankenstein takes like Poor Things and Birth/Rebirth.
During our interview, Diablo immediately complimented my gold lightning bolt necklace, noticing the nod to her script, as well as the same symbol Lisa has tattooed on her hand in the movie.
It was a validating moment, not only for me as a lifelong fan, but for my friend and second mother Holly Williams, the New Orleans-based jewelry designer behind Bonehound Jewelry, whom I met while she was bartending at my first gay bar (the same year I first saw Jennifer’s Body). A fan of Cody’s 2006 memoir Candy Girl, Holly was even more struck by the praise.
With the 15th anniversary of Jennifer’s Body approaching in September, Diablo says the movie’s beloved cult status has been “beyond heartwarming for me” after it was initially mismarketed and shredded by critics upon its release.
“It's really thrilling, and it's not something that I ever could have anticipated would happen,” she continues. “I almost wish I had known because it would have been comforting for me at the time when people were dragging the movie to hell. I would have been like, 'Oh well, at least people will appreciate it someday.' But I didn't ever foresee that happening.
"And now, the idea that people who are fans of Jennifer's Body will come and see this movie, it's just the best. I'm so happy about it,” adds Diablo.
After growing up in Hollywood with late actor Robin Williams and producer Marsha Garces Williams as parents, Zelda’s directorial debut was also a full-circle moment — but not for the reasons one might assume.
The actress/director reveals that Diablo’s 2007 Oscar-winning movie Juno was “one of the first things” she auditioned for.
“I was laughing because I had not told her, and then we found that out during the press tour of this,” says Zelda. “But yeah, one of the first things I ever auditioned for was Juno, and I remember that so distinctly in the reading of the script and stuff. That was very early on in even grasping film as something I wanted to be in. So it's wild, we've come full circle.”
The titular role of Juno ultimately went to Elliot Page, whose portrayal of the snarky pregnant teen earned him his first Oscar nomination. Diablo’s script won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
Zelda says directing her first feature was “very much” a long time coming after writing and directing her debut short Shrimp in 2018, as well as music videos for JoJo and Anna Clendening over the years.
“I started learning with shadowing and an enormous amount of the academic pursuit of directing about 10 years ago,” explains Zelda. “So I'm grateful it actually took as long as it did. I know whenever anything gets made, everyone's like, 'It was an overnight thing and it was just handed.' It was a long process to get to the place where I'm at now, where I feel really comfortable with what we made. And I had a wonderful time on set.”
With 15 years to get it right, let’s hope the critics don’t make the same mistake with Lisa Frankenstein as they did with Jennifer’s Body.
Lisa Frankenstein is now playing in theaters.
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