Diablo Cody | |
|---|---|
 Cody atSXSW 2024 | |
| Born | Brook Busey (1978-06-14)June 14, 1978 (age 47) Lemont, Illinois, U.S. |
| Education | University of Iowa (BA) |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 2003–present |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 3 |
Brook Maurio (previouslyBusey-Hunt;néeBusey; born June 14, 1978), known professionally by thepen nameDiablo Cody, is an American writer and producer. She gained recognition for her candidblog and subsequent memoir,Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper (2005). Cody received critical acclaim for her screenwriting debut film,Juno (2007), winning both theAcademy Award and theBAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay.
She wrote, produced, and made herdirectorial debut with the comedy drama filmParadise (2013).[1][2][3] Cody has also written and produced the filmsJennifer's Body (2009),Young Adult (2011),Ricki and the Flash (2015),Tully (2018), andLisa Frankenstein (2024).[4]
Cody created, wrote, and produced theShowtime comedy drama seriesUnited States of Tara (2009–2011), and theAmazon Prime seriesOne Mississippi (2015–2017). She made herBroadway debut with theAlanis Morissette musicalJagged Little Pill winning theTony Award for Best Book of a Musical.[5] She has been a member of theAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the Writer's Branch since 2008.[6]
Diablo Cody was born Brook Busey on June 14, 1978, inLemont, Illinois, a suburb ofChicago, where she and her older brother Marc were raised. She is the daughter of Pam and Greg Busey.[7] Her mother is ofItalian descent and her father is ofGerman ancestry.[8] Cody was raisedApostolic Christian[9] and attendedSaints Cyril & Methodius School andBenet Academy,Roman Catholic schools in the Chicago suburbs. At this time, she went by her birth name Brook.[10]
In 2000, she graduated from theUniversity of Iowa with aBachelor of Arts in Media.[11] While at the University of Iowa, she worked in the acquisitions department in the main university library.[12] Her first jobs were doing secretarial work at a Chicago law firm and laterproofreadingcopy for advertisements that played onTwin Cities radio stations.
Cody began aparodyblog calledRed Secretary, detailing the (fictional) exploits of a secretary living inBelarus.[13] The events were thinly veiled allegories for events that happened in Cody's real life, but told from the perspective of a disgruntled, English-idiom-challengedEastern Bloc girl.
Cody's firstbona fide blog appeared under the nicknameDarling Girl after she had moved from Chicago toMinneapolis.[13]
In March 2003, Cody started an adult blog calledThe Pussy Ranch, using a pen name invented while speeding throughCody, Wyoming[14] listening to the song "El Diablo" byArcadia.[15] On a whim, Cody signed up for amateur night at a Minneapolis strip club called the Skyway Lounge.[11][16] Having enjoyed the experience, and seeing reader interest, she eventually quit her day job to become a full-timestripper.[17] Cody also spent time workingpeep shows at Sex World, a Minneapolis adult novelty and DVD store.[citation needed]
While still stripping, Cody began writing forCity Pages, an alternativeTwin Cities weekly newspaper.[11] She leftCity Pages just before it changed editorial hands, and has since written for the now-defunctJane magazine. In December 2007,[18] Cody began writing a column for the magazineEntertainment Weekly.
At the age of 27, Cody wrote her memoirCandy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper. The memoir began afterMason Novick, who would soon become Cody's manager, showed interest in her sharp and sarcastic voice. Based on the popularity of her blog, Novick was able to secure her a publishing contract withGotham Books.[citation needed]
After the completion of her book, Cody was encouraged by Novick to try writing a screenplay.[10] Within months she wroteJuno, a coming-of-age story about a teenager's unplanned pregnancy. The script was completed in February 2005, and was optioned by a producer by that summer.[19] TheJason Reitman-directed comedy starsElliot Page, who at the time was known as Ellen Page, andMichael Cera.[20]
Juno was runner-up for theToronto International Film Festival People's Choice Award, won second prize at the Rome Film Festival, and earned fourAcademy Award nominations, including forBest Picture. Cody herself won an Academy Award forBest Original Screenplay for her debut script, which also picked up aGolden Globe nomination and anIndependent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay. She also won screenplay honors fromBAFTA, theWriters Guild of America, theBroadcast Film Critics Association, theNational Board of Review, theSatellite Awards, and the 2008Cinema for Peace Award for Most Valuable Work of Director, Producer & Screenwriter (shared with Jason Reitman,John Malkovich, Mason Novick, Russel Smith andLianne Halfon).[21]
TheJuno script was read by many in Hollywood before the film was released, bringing Cody more opportunities. In July 2007,Showtime announced that it would be producing a pilot of Cody'sDreamWorks television series,United States of Tara. Based on an idea bySteven Spielberg,Tara is a comedy about a mother withdissociative identity disorder, starringToni Collette.[22] The series began filming in Spring 2008, and premiered on January 18, 2009.
In October 2007, Cody sold a script titledGirly Style toUniversal Studios, and a horror script calledJennifer's Body toFox Atomic.[23] Released on September 18, 2009,Jennifer's Body starredMegan Fox as the title character andAmanda Seyfried as the supporting character.[24] She revised writer-directorSteven Antin's script for his musical filmBurlesque.[25]
Cody made a small cameo appearance as herself in a 2008 episode of the television series90210. She appeared in the same episode that marked the return ofTori Spelling asDonna Martin, in which Cody needed Spelling's character to make a dress for a red carpet event. In 2009, Cody signed on to script and produce a film adaptation of theSweet Valley Highyoung adult book series.[26]
In 2011, she was brought in to revise first-time feature director Fede Alvarez's script for the remake ofSam Raimi's 1980s horror filmThe Evil Dead.[27] In October 2011, Cody began hosting an online celebrity interview program called "Red Band Trailer," on the broadband channel, L-studio.[28] She originally launched the series privately on YouTube in summer 2010, and the Lexus channel picked it up the following year.
In 2011, Cody wrote and produced the comedy-drama filmYoung Adult. Cody was nominated by awards associations such as theBroadcast Film Critics Association and theWriters Guild of America. WithJason Reitman,Charlize Theron andPatton Oswalt, she shared the Chairman's Vanguard Award at thePalm Springs International Film Festival. In 2012, the Fempire, the collaboration of writers Cody,Dana Fox,Liz Meriwether, andLorene Scafaria received the Creativity and Sisterhood Award from the Athena Film Festival for their support for one another in the competitive film industry.[29]
On theWTF with Marc Maron podcast, on February 24, 2012, she said her next project would be directing her first film, which is about a young woman who abandons religion after surviving a plane crash. In February 2013, she announced that the film was calledParadise (firstly known asLamb of God).Julianne Hough,Holly Hunter,Octavia Spencer, andRussell Brand starred in the cast.Mandate Pictures produced the film, which was released in October 2013.[30][31]
In May 2013, it was announced that Cody would host her own talk show,Me Time with Diablo Cody, onTBS. The program would tailor "around Diablo’s unique perspective on all things pop culture and told in her very own tongue-in-cheek way," and "reveal a side of Hollywood and celebs that the public very rarely gets to see."Steve Agee was to be presenting and writing with her. Cody was a producer, alongside Mark Cronin and Courtland Cox. The series never materialized or made it to air.[32][33]
Cody had numerous projects that were cancelled or stuck indevelopment hell, includingTime and a Half, which was to starJulianne Hough withOl Parker directing.[34] She also developed a teen drama series withJosh Schwartz forFox calledProdigy.[35] According toThe Hollywood Reporter, it focused on "a 16-year-old genius who through home schooling has been isolated from her peers. Hoping to experience a "normal" teen social life before she enters the adult world of academia, she enrolls in her local high school. Her experiment goes off the rails when she finds herself adopted by a wild crowd, getting caught up in a whirlwind of romance and crime."[36][37] Cody also created and wroteWarner Bros. Television's romantic comedy series pilotAlex+Amy.[38]
Cody is thespokesperson ofBarnard College's Athena Film Festival.[39]
In 2015, Cody was hired to write a new screenplay forBarbie withAmy Schumer eyed as the lead, but left the project in 2018 after struggling to produce a draft that she was proud of.[40][41]
Cody wrote and produced the musical comedy filmRicki and the Flash (2015), starringMeryl Streep and directed byJonathan Demme in his last feature film. She also wrote and produced the comedy drama filmTully (2018), reuniting her withYoung Adult star Charlize Theron. The film was directed by Jason Reitman, who previously directed Cody's scripts forJuno andYoung Adult.
She wrote the script for theBroadway musicalJagged Little Pill, based on theAlanis Morissette album of the same name. The musical premiered in November 2019.[42]
In August 2020, Cody began working withMadonna on a screenplay of the singer's life.[43] However, she later stepped away from the project in May 2022 after turning in a final draft,[44][45] with the project also later being scrapped in January 2023.[46][47]
In June of 2022, it was announced thatZelda Williams would be making her directorial debut for an adaptation of Cody’s original screenplayLisa Frankenstein, which Cody produced alongsideMason Novick. The film released in February of 2024 with mixed reviews, though still developing a small cult following.[48][49][50]
In her memoir, Cody wrote fondly of her boyfriend "Jonny" (Jon Hunt). They were married from 2004 until 2007, during which time she was known in personal life as Brook Busey-Hunt.[11] In 2009, she married Dan Maurio, who worked onChelsea Lately, on which Cody also appeared frequently as a "roundtable" guest.[51] They have three sons, born in 2010, 2012 and 2015.[52][53][54]
Cody is a friend of screenwritersDana Fox (What Happens in Vegas,Couples Retreat) andLorene Scafaria (Hustlers), and they often write their screenplays together in order to get advice from one another.[55]
In light ofGeorgia's 2019 anti-abortion law, Cody stated that she "would not have writtenJuno in today's reality", as critics have perceived it as ananti-abortion film.[56]
Cody is a lifelongroller-coaster enthusiast and has a tattoo of theGiant Dipper atSan Diego’s Belmont Park on her right arm.[57]
| Year | Title | Credited as | Notes | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Writer | Producer | ||||
| 2007 | Juno | Yes | No | [21] | |
| 2009 | Jennifer's Body | Yes | Executive | ||
| 2010 | Tight | Yes | No | short film | |
| 2011 | Young Adult | Yes | Yes | [58] | |
| 2013 | Paradise | Yes | Executive | Also director | [59] |
| The Magic Bracelet | Yes | No | short film | ||
| 2015 | Ricki and the Flash | Yes | Yes | ||
| 2018 | Tully | Yes | Yes | [60] | |
| 2024 | Lisa Frankenstein | Yes | Yes | [61] | |
| I Love You Forever | No | Yes | [62] | ||
Uncredited script revisions
| Year | Title | Credited as | Network | Notes | Ref. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Creator | Writer | Executive Producer | |||||
| 2009–2011 | United States of Tara | Yes | Yes | Yes | Showtime | 36 episodes | [64] |
| 2010 | Childrens Hospital | No | Yes | No | Adult Swim | Episode "Show Me on Montana" | |
| 2015–2017 | One Mississippi | Yes | Yes | Yes | Amazon Prime Video | 12 episodes | [65] |
Acting roles
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Sunday Morning Shootout | Herself | Episode "#5.13" |
| 2009 | 90210 | Episode "Okaeri, Donna!" | |
| 2011 | Robot Chicken | Various voices | Episode "Catch Me If You Kangaroo Jack" |
| Date | Title | Episode |
|---|---|---|
| April 12, 2016 | Straight Talk with Ross Mathews | "Diablo Cody" |
| August 13, 2018 | The Boo Crew Podcast | "Diablo Cody (Jennifer's Body/Juno)" |
| May 12, 2019 | Eli Roth's History of Horror: Uncut | "Diablo Cody" |
| May 14, 2019 | Keep It! | "The Mystery Files ofConstance Wu (with Diablo Cody)" |
| August 19, 2019 | The Margaret Cho | "Diablo Cody,Durk Dehner, & S.R. Sharp" |
| January 24, 2024 | Keep It! | "Oscar Noms & Snubs (with Diablo Cody &Common)" |
Antin wrote the script, and Diablo Cody ("Juno") revised it.
