“Jennifer’s Body” is one of the underrated horror films of the last decade. And thankfully, the Karyn Kusama-directed film has recently received a reprieve thanks to an unlikely movement—MeToo. In honor of the film’s recent 10th anniversary, the film’s star, Megan Fox, sat down with writer Diablo Cody for a surprisingly candid interview (via ET). More so than the story itself, Fox shared how the conventions of marketing and an unhealthy view of her as a woman shaped not only the film’s failure at the time but her own mental gymnastics.
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“[After ‘Jennifer’s Body,’] I think I had a genuine psychological breakdown where I wanted just nothing to do,” said Fox. “I didn’t want to be seen, I didn’t want to have to take a photo, do a magazine, walk a carpet, I didn’t want to be seen in public at all because the fear, and the belief, and the absolute certainty that I was going to be mocked, or spat at, or someone was going to yell at me, or people would stone me or savage me for just being out… so I went through a very dark moment after that.
If anything, the content of the film itself was not responsible for her breakdown. After all, it featured a great female director, Kusama, and a top screenwriter at the time in Cody. For the actress, “Jennifer’s Body” contributed to a bigger problem she was already facing—hypersexualization of not only the character but the actress herself. While she doesn’t reveal in the interview who was on the marketing team for this project, it somehow speaks to the societal expectations that an actress either has to be pretty or brilliantly gifted, with nothing in between.
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During the conversation, Cody revealed her past as an exotic dancer directly influenced how she deals with the system. While Fox was having a “breakdown,” the writer found herself fearful about standing up to the long-held industry ideals. Among it all, Cody admits a sort of cowardice based on a deep fear of standing up to those who world deform the ideals of female filmmakers. It’s a lasting legacy that surprisingly shows why “Jennifer’s Body” was made in the first place and the motives behind its premature burial at the hands of critics.
