Diablo Cody’s New Movie Is Going Straight-To-Television Later This Week
Watch the trailer to Paradise, starring an incredibly tanned and bald Nick Offerman.
Despite her big-name screenwriter status, Diablo Cody’s feature-length record to date has been decidedly mixed. She burst into Hollywood with 2007’s breakout hit Juno, delighting some (mainly the Academy, ’cause it earned her an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay) and annoying others with writerly turns-of-phrase like “Honest to blog” and “What’s the prognosis, Fertile Myrtle?”. Her follow-ups — the vampy stinker Jennifer’s Body starring Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried, and Young Adult featuring boozy demento Charlize Theron and Patton Oswalt — weren’t exactly well-received, but have shown Cody’s intriguing preoccupation with perennially fucked-up and potentially unlikable female characters. (Yes, this stuff happened before Bridesmaids.)
On Twitter just last week, Cody unexpectedly announced that her latest film, Paradise — which, this time, saw her getting behind the camera as well as the word docs — would be debuting on US satellite channel DirecTV later this week. (Holy shit, television is stealing all the movies.) In the ol’ days, that may have indicated that a film wasn’t good enough for a big-screen release, but, as the LA Times explored, the non-traditional rollout is becoming standard business these days.
Still, I don’t think they needed to bother with a whole trailer.
The film stars Julianne Hough (who you probably didn’t bother seeing in 2011’s Footloose remake or last year’s Rock Of Ages) as 21-year-old Lamb Mannerheim, a sweet, young, God fearin’ woman, who changes her life philosophy after surviving a plane crash, and explores her wild side in Sin City under the questionable guidance of Russell Brand (of course).
Church signs with quotes like “Why Twitter with Satan when you can friend with God” should convince you it’s a proper Diablo Cody film even though she’s also taken up the directing reins, as will a side serving of wacky bit players, including an incredibly tanned and bald version of Nick Offerman.
As well as its instant TV broadcast, the film will be getting a theatrical run in October in case you really like dirty theatre seats and smelly strangers, although you’ll no doubt see it all over the internet by then. Welcome to the future?