Saturday, September 26, 2009

Now I Feel All Bad And Stuff

Over the past week I've been taking great joy in Jennifer's Body's lack of box office clout. I was quite pleased with the fact that Megan Fox's first starring venture didn't prove too successful. I was hoping studio execs wouldn't be as quick to cast her in the future.
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But today the new issue of Entertainment Weekly reached my mailbox. Jennifer's Body screenwriter Diablo Cody is a columnist for the magazine, and this week she talked about how disappointing it was to have written a flop.
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"You see, Jennifer's Body, or as I like to call it, "J-Bod," was essentially DOA at the box office. And since I both wrote and executive-produced this future (I hope) cult favorite, I wasn't feeling so grand the next day. In fact, I felt like drawing a hot bath and dragging a razor across my Achilles tendons. Granted, a lot of my favorite movies tanked their first weekend out, but when it's happening to you, in the moment, well, it stings."

Well, dang it. I guess I hadn't stopped to think about all the people besides Fox who worked hard and had their hopes dashed. I wouldn't normally care, because bad movies deserve to be panned. I'm aware that plenty of people are down on Cody, but she'll always have at least a small piece of my heart for writing Juno, a film I adored despite the too-hip-for-words vibe it elicits.
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She goes on in the column to say that Toni Collette's unexpected Emmy win for Cody's show, "The United States of Tara" came at just the right time and lifted her spirits, but all the same I can't imagine how disappointing it must feel to have something you created and loved met with such indifference. I almost feel bad enough to rush out and buy a ticket, but I guess I have to remind myself that rejection and discouragement are part of showbiz.
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Better luck next time, Diablo.

5 comments:

Andrew K. said...

I don't like Juno but now I feel bad for my lack of love for Cody. Putting myself in her place would suck. Damn You Rae. Now I'm feeling all icky.

DEZMOND said...

I must admit I'm not at all surprised that JENNIFER'S BODY went bad at the box office. I don't know why Diablo expected it to be any different.
Although I just adore her storytelling talent in UNITED STATES OF TARA (one of the most original and unique shows out there) it's more than obvious that Diablo doesn't have a feeling for commercial success of her projects. Which is good if you just want to be a critically acclaimed artist but bad if you think your ideas will amaze general audience. Not to mention that nobody likes Megan Fox especially not when she's carrying the whole movie.

Rae Kasey said...

I thought it was a little surprising, considering "J-Bod" was the only new film out last week aimed at the teen demographic. Maybe the R rating stopped the most interested audience from getting in the theater?

DEZMOND said...

or maybe we should blame Megan's avalanche of stupid comments she gave recently about just about everyone and everything: calling Michael Bay a Hitler, trashing her old High School friends .... etc. :))

Rae Kasey said...

Oh my word, Megan Fox is a complete idiot when it comes to PR. Yes, she's getting attention, but it's almost all negative.

She's slowly but surely alienating the entire public with the exception of randy teenage boys, who will move on to the next new girl in a couple of years.

She's really not a big enougn name to be taking those kinds of risks. I really can't understand what she's thinking.

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