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?

They call themselves the Fempire: Oscar-winning Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody, Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist scribe Lorene Scafaria, What Happens in Vegas writer Dana Fox, and playwright-turned-screenwriter Liz Meriwether, a newcomer. An article in Sunday's New York Times makes the point that while they're all young (between 27 and 32), stylish, and attractive, these four friends aren't making it big in Hollywood because of their feminine wiles.

Then again, the article appeared in the Fashion & Style section and makes constant references to the womens' physical appearances and clothing choices. But that sort of thing should have nothing to do with it! The Times swears! They're just successful screenwriters who happen to be women -- and the Times just happens to want to keep mentioning what they look like!

I don't know if this is pre-feminism, post-feminism, or something else. I'm not a woman, so I think I'm not allowed to talk about that kind of thing anyway. But it's an interesting article about how women in Hollywood are perceived differently from men (and the article itself is an example of it), and a fun glimpse into the lives of four females who have managed to break into the boys' club. Having a screenplay produced by a major studio -- any screenplay, even What Happens in Vegas -- is a significant achievement that comparatively few women get to experience.

I also like the idea of screenwriters hanging out together. When I was a theater nerd, I liked to imagine Stephen Sondheim, Jerry Herman, and Stephen Schwartz having dinner, maybe with Neil Simon popping in to crack a couple hoary jokes. It calls to mind the old days of the Algonquin Round Table, when wits like Dorothy Parker, George S. Kaufman, and Robert Benchley would sit around having lunch, drinking booze, and cracking wise. I can't imagine the dialogue exchanged between Diablo Cody and her pals is quite that witty, but it would probably be fun to eavesdrop on.

Diablo Cody Scorecard:

• Projects that revel in the unconventional: 2
• Horror Movies:2

With Juno, it seemed like Ms. Cody would be the new Queen of verbose quirk, but then she went and changed things up. She created a really interesting television show that wasn't suffocated in quirkspeak, wrote a horror movie, and is now lining up one more. According to Bloody Disgusting (via Production Weekly), she's grabbed S. G. Browne's upcoming novel Breathers: A Zombie's Lament. But this won't be her wordy baby -- Geoff LaTulippe will adapt the script while she acts as producer.

That's actually a little unfortunate, because I bet her written voice would work well in this world. The book focuses on a guy named Andy who has become a zombie. His new status alienates him from his friends and family, so he heads to an Undead Anonymous meeting to try and adjust. There he meets Rita, a suicide victim, and Jerry, a car crash victim ("with an exposed brain and a penchant for Renaissance pornography") who lead him towards the tongue-pleasing human flesh ... as well as a fight for zombie rights. Tell me that isn't the sort of world she could run wild with!

At the very least, we could do with more black comedy in this world.

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?

Not long ago, we brought you a video called Hollywood Director Attack Ads in which some clever folks created three John McCain attack ads ... as if they were directed by John Woo, Kevin Smith and Wes Anderson. Well now they're back with the sequel and three more Hollywood directors (except one features a writer and a director): Diablo Cody/Jason Reitman, David Lynch and M. Night Shyamalan. For the Cody one, the dialogue is absolutely hilarious -- all Juno-esque, as you can imagine. The David Lynch one is also quite fantastic if you happen to be a Lynch fan or that the guy's flicks are a little beyond weird and absurd. I was somewhat iffy on the M. Night commercial, however it does include a twist ending and a moronic cameo from a guy playing M. Night, and so it's totally worth the watch. Still in love with the Wes Anderson commercial from last time, though I'm diggin' these and hopefully we'll see more before election day.

Which one is your favorite so far, and which directors should they tackle next? (Ahem, I'm still waiting for Michael Bay, though something tells me these cats probably don't have enough in the budget to do Bay.)

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?

Dang it's pretty wild how just one little movie has turned Diablo Cody into the most discussed screenwriter since Joe Eszterhas. (I was going to say "...since David Mamet," but he's a playwright first.) The gal has a tons of projects in the percolation stage -- from the Showtime series The United States of Tara to the Fox-heavy thriller known as Jennifer's Body -- and now she's been hired by Steven Spielberg (once again) to turn one of his ideas into a movie. (It's only a matter of time before Spielberg forces Diablo Cody to marry Shia LaBeouf, isn't it?)

According to Variety, the untitled project is a comedy. Oh, also the "studio is keeping story details under such tight wraps that even dealmakers involved with the project were in the dark." That's it. An idea by Spielberg that Cody will adapt. No producers, actors, directors have been announced. And yet ... somehow I know that DreamWorks already has a hit on its hands.

In related news, I think Cody is really cute.

Among the perks of being a sought-after Oscar-winning screenwriter is, apparently, the ability to fourwall a movie theater for two weeks and play a bunch of your favorite films for an appreciative audience. That's exactly what Juno's Diablo Cody is doing at LA's New Beverly Cinema from today through July 24th, and it won't come as any surprise to Cody's admirers that the lady's got good taste. Her slate includes reliable classics (Stripes, Pretty in Pink), off the wall genre picks (A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors), some culty fun (Wet Hot American Summer) and the expected shout-out to Juno director Jason Reitman.

Previous guest programmers at the New Beverly have included Edgar Wright, Eli Roth and Joe Dante. Cody will introduce some of the films herself, and the theater's MySpace page promises "many guest appearances."

Kudos to Movie City News for coming across this. Check out the entire schedule after the jump -- it's really an inspired slate of picks. She's got a nose for filmmaking that's smart and unabashedly mainstream, as both Juno and this film festival proves.