10 Times Hollywood Regretted Giving Directors All The Freedom
8. Jennifer's Body
"We knew they were going to sensationalize it," said Cody of the romantically intimate scene between co-stars Fox and Amanda Seyfried in Jennifer's Body. There are some legitimate criticisms of this horror flick, namely that it does have a hard time juggling its tone between a funny feminist film and a slasher movie, but most the issues come down to it being the opposite of the movie Fox advertised.
Diablo Cody first came to cinema in part thanks to her blog, which had first landed her a lucrative book deal about her stripper past. But her first script, Juno, seemed like more a springboard to a genre she held dear: Horror.
The next project, Jennifer's Body, was quickly picked up by Fox Atomic, with Megan Fox attached. Karyn Kusama, whose feminist work Girlfight was a hit with critics, signed on to direct. Both director and screenwriter were clearly working in tandem, and the vision couldn't be clearer: a deceptively simple subversion of the typical teen girls in terror. Everything appeared to be working in their favour until it came time to market it.
At which time Fox decided it was American Pie: Goth Edition.
The marketing did the film no favours. Time has been thankfully been kind.