JennifersBody Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Not long ago a friend of mine caught a super secret advanced screening of the Diablo Cody-scripted horror flick Jennifer's Body, starring Megan Fox as a demonically-possessed cheerleader who begins to off the male students at her school in what I can only imagine are very creative ways (knowing Cody's mangled sense of humor). The verdict from my friend was ... "eh, it's what I expected -- though I was surprised at how lesbian-ish it was ... not that there's anything wrong with that." Granted, my friend isn't a big fan of Cody's work, and so that's probably part of the reason why he was lukewarm to it -- but then he pulled out a whole bunch of stills from his magical briefcase, and, well, regardless of how "good" this movie is, my Megan Fox fixation went into hyper-drive.

While I unfortunately do not have any of those photos to show you today (one included Fox wearing next to nothing while holding her tongue out over the open flame of a lighter, and another showed Fox's bloody-as-all-hell mouth full of whatever poor human boy she just tore apart), Empire Magazine did premiere a few images in their latest issue and our friends over at Film School Rejects scanned them for us to see. I'm sure more clearer versions of these will arrive online this week, but for now check out two of them below and the rest over at FSR.



Jennifer's Body is due out on September 18.

Variety is reporting that Paramount has already snapped up Liz Meriwether's script Honey Pot, which which is about "what happens 'when a bunch of hot, funny women get their Bourne on.'"

You might recognize Meriwether's name from the New York Times' feature on Hollywood's "Fempire," the awesome and creative foursome consisting of Meriwether, Dana Fox, Lorene Scafaria, and Diablo Cody, whose newest film Jennifer's Body is coming out this September.

According to the New York Times, Meriwether joined the all-girls' club when "her agent, Cliff Roberts of William Morris, sent her first television pilot, 'Sluts' -- about a group of recent college graduates who move to New York -- to Ms. Scafaria and Ms. Fox about a year ago."

(Anyone else wondering why this article was filed under fashion? Or is that just because they hold each other's purses and stuff at red carpets?)

Since this is still just a script, there's no other info available about the project, other than that Montecito Co.'s Tom Pollock, Jeffrey Clifford, and Ivan Reitman will be producing.

I'm eagerly awaiting more details about this action-adventure that promises to be way cooler (and raunchier) than Charlie's Angels. However, I do wonder if there will be any guff from the MPAA about the double meaning of the title. What do you think?

I know, it's been a while since I've written one of these gore-soaked missives, but the upside to that is ... we have a lot to talk about! And since I wrote this during a lazy Sunday (happy belated holidays, btw) I figure it's time to break out the candy-coated bullet points! Let's start out with a freaky fistful of upcoming DVD releases:

Currently strewn across shelves are Donkey Punch and Vinyan, two festival-heavy horror films that couldn't possibly be more different. One's about venal young jerks, and the other is about heartbroken (but stupid) parents. Really bad things happen to all of them.

This Tuesday we're getting the old-school-style monster movie Splinter, which is really quite good. If you like prickly monsters, that is. On the same day ... whoa. It looks like someone actually bothered to exhume flicks like Repossessed, Slaughter High, and My Best Friend Is a Vampire. That sound you just heard was my Netflix queue getting fatter.

Come the 21st we get J.T. Petty's The Burrowers, which played (and played well) at last year's Fantastic Fest, and Robert Hall's Laid to Rest, which is sort of like a non-snarky slasher throwback with a hint of Phantasm-style weirdness. Couldn't find a stranger double feature than these two, believe me.

And mark your calendars, gore-lovers, for April 28, because that's when Martyrs finally hits R1 DVD. According to the UK poster, Scoot Weinberg says it "makes Saw look like Sesame Street," which is one of the most shameless blurbs I've ever heard. Even if the guy is correct, brilliant, and really handsome. (Trust me, this is one rough horror movie.) Also on this Tuesday we'll get the unofficial Donnie Darko sequel, and a movie starring Amber Benson called One-Eyed Monster. I leave the jokes to you fine folks.

I never got the Megan Fox love. I can appreciate sexy women, but everything I saw on the young sexpot just didn't intrigue me ... until now. Entertainment Weekly has thrown up a whole slew of First Looks into movies and television show appearances, and I'm ready to see more Fox.

To the right is Ms. Fox dressed up, bloody, and pissed in Jennifer's Body. You might remember that this gig has her playing a mean teen possessed by a demon, who takes a "Lestat" sort of approach to killing. Fox says: "she takes revenge on men who she secretly hated her whole life anyway. I've always hated boys, so I identified with that very easily." (Sorry, boys. And please let this mean that "Maneater" is on the soundtrack...) If this image is any indication, Megan needs to get into some more excellent tough chica roles stat. Cast her, Joss Whedon!

There's also image love for I Love You, Man, Will Ferrell as Dubya, and an unrecognizable Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange in Grey Gardens -- an upcoming HBO film about the Bouviers. But my other favorite image has to go to the lovely Lauren Graham who looks amazing in 30's garb for Guys and Dolls. She really needs to get cast in some solid retro fare... Too bad she's too old to play Zelda Fitzgerald.

Whether September marks a return to the books, or a return of the school-age hellions, there's something else to look forward to -- Jennifer's Body. Box Office Mojo has posted that the horror comedy, which stars the heartbreaking Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried (the Mormon dead girl with a penchant for Abba), will hit screens on Friday, September 18, 2009. In case you don't remember -- this is the flick where a sexy cheerleader (Fox) gets possessed and taps into her inner cannibal, while her best friend (Seyfried) tries to protect the populace.

By then, we shouldn't be wondering whether writer Diablo Cody is a one-hit Juno wonder, since her television show The United States of Tara will air next month. However, it will be a chance to see how the women-led film does -- there's Cody behind the script, Karyn Kusama in the director's chair, and two female stars. (Plus the likes of Amy Sedaris, Allison Janney, Cynthia Stevenson...)

But perhaps more appropriately: It'll be interesting to note who sees this, and why. There are the fans of Cody's warped dialog, the drooling fanboys that follow Fox, the horror fans... Will you delight in Jennifer's Body come September, and if so, why?

They've both been Mean Girls, both acted for Nick Cassavetes, both appeared in wedding movies and now both Rachel McAdams and Amanda Seyfried will have shared the honor of being the leading lady in a Nicholas Sparks adaptation. For McAdams, it was 2005's beloved weepy The Notebook; for Seyfried, rising fast after starring in the hugely popular Mamma Mia!, it's Dear John. According to Variety, the 22-year-old has been cast as Savannah, a virginal college student who falls in love with a soldier on leave (and named John, of course) immediately prior to 9/11. Kind of like Pearl Harbor but with more letters than explosions.

The soldier is being played by Channing Tatum, who will be fresh from G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra when Dear John hits theaters, likely a year from now. Meanwhile, Seyfried will have costarred in the third season of HBO's Big Love, which begins airing in January, and opposite Megan Fox in the Diablo Cody-scripted Jennifer's Body. Dear John is being directed by Lasse Hallström (Chocolat) from an adaptation scripted by Jamie Linden (We Are Marshall). Shooting begins next month in South Carolina.

For the longest time -- until earlier this week, in fact -- I was convinced that Jason Reitman's next directing project was Diablo Cody's horror flick Jennifer's Body. Maybe that's because at a Team Juno roundtable interview last year, the two of them talked about it like it was their project (which it is, sort of -- Reitman's producing). Anyway, it's actually Karyn "Aeon Flux" Kusama who is directing Cody's follow-up, while Reitman is moving on to helm an adaptation of Walter Kirn's Up in the Air.

I strongly recommend the novel, which is a terrific satire about a perpetually transitory businessman obsessed with collecting a million frequent flyer miles. I liked it better than Kirn's more popular Thumbsucker which was already adapted into a film. The movie could be very funny in the hands of a guy like Reitman -- sharp and insightful. It should be closer in tone to Thank You for Smoking than to Juno.

Reitman has already shifted the project into a higher gear by setting his sights on George Clooney, who's in talks to star as the narcissistic protagonist. While I'm pretty sure the character is quite a bit younger than the actor, Clooney has precisely the effortless comic chops this project needs. His profile won't hurt, either.

I'll take the reigns of this post while my boss, Cinematical editor-in-chief Erik Davis, presumably weeps on the floor of his office. According to a reviewer over at JoBlo.com, the movie all Megan Fox fanboys have been anxiously waiting for (Davis may have already been paying someone to prematurely wait in line for tickets), is reportedly without its most anticipated scene. That's right, the horror comedy Jennifer's Body no longer has footage of the Transformers hottie sans top. Of course, as we saw from some very popularly leaked shots (still available at CelebNewsWire.com), Fox wasn't actually topless anyway -- she had on flesh-colored pasties.

The review at JoBlo (from a reader who attended a test screening) is, of course, far from dependable. Not because they aren't to be believed (they surely saw an early test screening of the movie), but because they likely didn't see a final cut, and we can all still hope that Fox's boobs make the officially released version. If it doesn't, though, will you still be interested? The reviewer gives the movie an extremely poor rating (3 out of 10 -- not good for Diablo Cody's Juno follow-up) and mentions that the only attraction for horny Fox fanboys is a gratuitous lesbian kiss, so we should maybe just forget about it?

Here's a round-up of today's news:

• Jamie Kennedy is going to produce an indie called In Northwood, which stars Nick Stahl as a man condemned to a mental hospital after committing murder. THR
• Cocaine Cowboys has picked itself up a scribe -- gonzo journalist and screenwriter Evan Wright. THR
  
• Everyone's favorite pot-smoking Jay, aka Jason Mewes, has nabbed a starring role in the indie slasher flick Silent But Deadly, which shoots in Ontario next month. Variety
• Phillip Noyce, meanwhile, is going to hit the plank and write the remake of Captain Blood. THR
• Check out Jennifer's blood-dripping lips, which just so happens to look like a certain television poster that was released recently. JoBlo
  
• Get ready for Robot Chicken: Star Wars: Episode 2! Coming Soon
• Posters: The Day The Earth Stood Still and Max Payne