Post by Jonathan on Aug 22, 2016 12:44:22 GMT -5
Jennifer's Body is a 2009 supernatural horror black comedy film written by Diablo Cody and directed by Karyn Kusama. The film stars Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, Johnny Simmons, and Adam Brody. Fox portrays a demonically possessed high school cheerleader who kills her male classmates, with her best friend striving to stop her. The film premiered at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival[3] and was released in the United States and Canada on September 18, 2009.[4] The title is a reference to the song of the same name by alternative rock band Hole on their album Live Through This. As a tie-in to the film, Boom! Studios produced a Jennifer's Body graphic novel, released in August 2009.
Working with Cody again following their collaborative efforts on the film Juno, Jason Reitman stated he and his producers "want to make unusual films".[5] Cody said she wanted the film to speak to female empowerment and explore the complex relationships between best friends.[6]
The film had a lackluster performance at the North American box office, making $2.8 million its opening day and $6.8 million its opening weekend,[2][7] and received mixed reviews from critics; whereas negative reviews criticized the narrative and, specifically, the horror/comic premise for "fail[ing] to be either funny or scary enough to satisfy", positive reviews praised the film for its dialogue, performances, and emotional resonance.[8][9][10][11]
Contents
Plot Edit
Anita "Needy" Lesnicki, once an insecure and bookish teenager living near Devil's Kettle, Minnesota, is now a violent mental inmate who narrates the story as a flashback while in solitary confinement. She has been friends with a selfish and popular cheerleader, Jennifer Check, since childhood, despite having little in common. One night, Jennifer takes Needy to a local dive bar to attend a concert by indie rock band Low Shoulder. A suspicious fire engulfs the bar, killing several people, and Jennifer, who is in shock, agrees to leave with the band despite Needy's protests. Later that evening, Jennifer, covered in blood, appears in Needy's kitchen and proceeds to eat food from the refrigerator. Unable to digest the matter, she vomits a trail of black, spiny fluid and then leaves in a hurry as Needy calls after her.
The next morning at school, Jennifer appears fine and shrugs off Needy's concerns. While the whole town is devastated by the deaths caused by the fire, Jennifer seduces the school's football captain in the woods and then kills him; his disemboweled corpse is later found. Meanwhile, the members of Low Shoulder gain popularity due to their rumored heroism during the fire and offer to make a charity appearance at the school's spring formal.
A month later, Jennifer is beginning to look pale, and accepts a date with school goth/emo Colin, whom she brutally kills that night. While Needy and her boyfriend, Chip, have sex, Needy senses something dreadful has happened. She leaves in a panic and almost runs over Jennifer, drenched in blood. At home, she finds Jennifer in her bedroom. Jennifer kisses her, initiating a brief makeout session, and soon explains what happened after the fire: Low Shoulder took her into the woods and offered her as a virgin sacrifice to Satan in exchange for fame and fortune. Although the sacrifice and greedy exchange were a success, Jennifer was not a virgin, and when lead singer Nikolai murdered her, the ritual backfired and a demonic spirit took over her body. Unbeknownst to Needy, Jennifer also encountered Indian exchange student Ahmet after the fire and, upon hearing that no one knew he had survived, took him into the woods and ate him, rendering him her first victim. Jennifer states that she can withstand virtually any injury without pain and is rather difficult to kill.
At school the following day, the town is stunned by Colin's death. Needy goes to the school library's occult section and surmises that Jennifer is a succubus; she is weakest when she is hungry, and must feed on flesh in order to sustain her life and appearance. Needy tells Chip about her discoveries and warns him not to attend the school dance. He does not believe her and she subsequently breaks up with him in order to protect him. Chip still goes to the dance, hoping to meet with Needy, but is instead intercepted by Jennifer, who seduces him and takes him to an abandoned pool house. Needy arrives there and finds Jennifer feeding on Chip. Needy tries to drown Jennifer but Jennifer, hovering in the air, attacks her. She is then stabbed by a fatally injured Chip with a pool skimmer. Jennifer escapes while Needy watches her boyfriend die.
Needy decides she must kill Jennifer for the common good. She goes to Jennifer's home and sees her, already recovered, picking out her next victims in her yearbook. Crashing through the window, Needy engages in a fight with Jennifer wielding a box cutter. Culminating with a stab to the heart, Needy finally destroys the demon and kills her. Jennifer's mother enters and finds Needy with the box cutter on top of her daughter's body. Soon after, Needy is brought to an asylum. Since she was bitten non-fatally by Jennifer, she has obtained some of Jennifer's supernatural powers, such as the ability to hover in the air. Set upon revenge for what was done to herself, Jennifer, and Chip, she escapes the mental facility and hitchhikes a ride to the hotel where Low Shoulder are staying; there, she slaughters the members, whose killings are later discovered by local authorities.
Cast Edit
Megan Fox as Jennifer Check:
Fox was in negotiations to star as Jennifer Check since the film was announced in 2007, and was officially cast in October 2007.[12] Fox said the reason she agreed to the role was her love for the script. "I think what I loved about the movie is it's so unapologetic and how completely inappropriate it is at all times," she said. "That was my favorite part about the script and about the character. It's fun to be able to say the shit that she got to say and get away with it and how people find it charming."[13] Asked how acting in a film like this is different from acting in Transformers, Fox said "there's [no] distractions, like there's no robots to distract you from whatever performance I do give. So, if it's terrible, you're gonna fucking know that it's really terrible".[13] She said despite this aspect of the business being intimidating, she enjoyed portraying the character. "I wasn't really sure what I was doing," said Fox. "I was just trying to have fun with it and I felt like I was able to make fun of my own image as to how some people might perceive Megan Fox to be. I was just sort of flying freely and I hope some of it works." [13] To prepare for her role as a living-dead teenager, Fox dropped to a near frail 97 pounds and stayed out of the sun to keep her skin pale. In balancing out the film's horror with humor, she said she relied heavily on Diablo Cody's script and Karyn Kusama's direction to pull it off, stating, "I have a very specific sense of humor, things that I think are funny aren't going to fly with middle America. It's going to eliminate some of the audience, so you need someone there to tell you you can't do that."[14]
Amanda Seyfried as Anita "Needy" Lesnicki:
In February 2008, Seyfried was cast as Anita "Needy" Lesnicki, the "plain Jane" best friend to Fox's character with whom she shares a somewhat lesbian infatuation.[15][16] Seyfried said it was a relief to play the nerdy character opposite Fox. "Being a lead (like Megan), you have that weird pressure of feeling like you have to look attractive," she stated. "In this movie, I didn't worry about any of that [shit]. I don't want to play the one that everybody is supposed to want to have sex with."[17]
Johnny Simmons as Chip Dove
J. K. Simmons as Mr. Wroblewski
Amy Sedaris as Toni Lesnicki
Adam Brody as Nikolai:
Chud.com reported that the filmmakers were looking at actual rock band members Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy and Joel Madden of Good Charlotte to portray male lead Nikolai Wolf. Chad Michael Murray was also considered for the role.[18] In March 2008, Johnny Simmons was reportedly cast as Nikolai.[19] However, Brody was officially cast in the role of Nikolai, while Simmons was then given the role of Chip Dove. Brody said he did not do his own vocals, adding, "My singing voice is still going through puberty. They gave me a singing lesson or two, and it's not the worst thing in the world, but it's not anything anyone would choose to hear."[20]
Kyle Gallner as Colin Gray
Cynthia Stevenson as Mrs. Dove
Chris Pratt as Officer Roman Duda
Carrie Genzel as Mrs. Check
Juan Riedinger as Dirk
Juno Ruddell as Officer Warzak
Valerie Tian as Chasity
Aman Johal as Ahmet from India
Josh Emerson as Jonas Kozelle
Lance Henriksen as the driver near the end of film
Working with Cody again following their collaborative efforts on the film Juno, Jason Reitman stated he and his producers "want to make unusual films".[5] Cody said she wanted the film to speak to female empowerment and explore the complex relationships between best friends.[6]
The film had a lackluster performance at the North American box office, making $2.8 million its opening day and $6.8 million its opening weekend,[2][7] and received mixed reviews from critics; whereas negative reviews criticized the narrative and, specifically, the horror/comic premise for "fail[ing] to be either funny or scary enough to satisfy", positive reviews praised the film for its dialogue, performances, and emotional resonance.[8][9][10][11]
Contents
Plot Edit
Anita "Needy" Lesnicki, once an insecure and bookish teenager living near Devil's Kettle, Minnesota, is now a violent mental inmate who narrates the story as a flashback while in solitary confinement. She has been friends with a selfish and popular cheerleader, Jennifer Check, since childhood, despite having little in common. One night, Jennifer takes Needy to a local dive bar to attend a concert by indie rock band Low Shoulder. A suspicious fire engulfs the bar, killing several people, and Jennifer, who is in shock, agrees to leave with the band despite Needy's protests. Later that evening, Jennifer, covered in blood, appears in Needy's kitchen and proceeds to eat food from the refrigerator. Unable to digest the matter, she vomits a trail of black, spiny fluid and then leaves in a hurry as Needy calls after her.
The next morning at school, Jennifer appears fine and shrugs off Needy's concerns. While the whole town is devastated by the deaths caused by the fire, Jennifer seduces the school's football captain in the woods and then kills him; his disemboweled corpse is later found. Meanwhile, the members of Low Shoulder gain popularity due to their rumored heroism during the fire and offer to make a charity appearance at the school's spring formal.
A month later, Jennifer is beginning to look pale, and accepts a date with school goth/emo Colin, whom she brutally kills that night. While Needy and her boyfriend, Chip, have sex, Needy senses something dreadful has happened. She leaves in a panic and almost runs over Jennifer, drenched in blood. At home, she finds Jennifer in her bedroom. Jennifer kisses her, initiating a brief makeout session, and soon explains what happened after the fire: Low Shoulder took her into the woods and offered her as a virgin sacrifice to Satan in exchange for fame and fortune. Although the sacrifice and greedy exchange were a success, Jennifer was not a virgin, and when lead singer Nikolai murdered her, the ritual backfired and a demonic spirit took over her body. Unbeknownst to Needy, Jennifer also encountered Indian exchange student Ahmet after the fire and, upon hearing that no one knew he had survived, took him into the woods and ate him, rendering him her first victim. Jennifer states that she can withstand virtually any injury without pain and is rather difficult to kill.
At school the following day, the town is stunned by Colin's death. Needy goes to the school library's occult section and surmises that Jennifer is a succubus; she is weakest when she is hungry, and must feed on flesh in order to sustain her life and appearance. Needy tells Chip about her discoveries and warns him not to attend the school dance. He does not believe her and she subsequently breaks up with him in order to protect him. Chip still goes to the dance, hoping to meet with Needy, but is instead intercepted by Jennifer, who seduces him and takes him to an abandoned pool house. Needy arrives there and finds Jennifer feeding on Chip. Needy tries to drown Jennifer but Jennifer, hovering in the air, attacks her. She is then stabbed by a fatally injured Chip with a pool skimmer. Jennifer escapes while Needy watches her boyfriend die.
Needy decides she must kill Jennifer for the common good. She goes to Jennifer's home and sees her, already recovered, picking out her next victims in her yearbook. Crashing through the window, Needy engages in a fight with Jennifer wielding a box cutter. Culminating with a stab to the heart, Needy finally destroys the demon and kills her. Jennifer's mother enters and finds Needy with the box cutter on top of her daughter's body. Soon after, Needy is brought to an asylum. Since she was bitten non-fatally by Jennifer, she has obtained some of Jennifer's supernatural powers, such as the ability to hover in the air. Set upon revenge for what was done to herself, Jennifer, and Chip, she escapes the mental facility and hitchhikes a ride to the hotel where Low Shoulder are staying; there, she slaughters the members, whose killings are later discovered by local authorities.
Cast Edit
Megan Fox as Jennifer Check:
Fox was in negotiations to star as Jennifer Check since the film was announced in 2007, and was officially cast in October 2007.[12] Fox said the reason she agreed to the role was her love for the script. "I think what I loved about the movie is it's so unapologetic and how completely inappropriate it is at all times," she said. "That was my favorite part about the script and about the character. It's fun to be able to say the shit that she got to say and get away with it and how people find it charming."[13] Asked how acting in a film like this is different from acting in Transformers, Fox said "there's [no] distractions, like there's no robots to distract you from whatever performance I do give. So, if it's terrible, you're gonna fucking know that it's really terrible".[13] She said despite this aspect of the business being intimidating, she enjoyed portraying the character. "I wasn't really sure what I was doing," said Fox. "I was just trying to have fun with it and I felt like I was able to make fun of my own image as to how some people might perceive Megan Fox to be. I was just sort of flying freely and I hope some of it works." [13] To prepare for her role as a living-dead teenager, Fox dropped to a near frail 97 pounds and stayed out of the sun to keep her skin pale. In balancing out the film's horror with humor, she said she relied heavily on Diablo Cody's script and Karyn Kusama's direction to pull it off, stating, "I have a very specific sense of humor, things that I think are funny aren't going to fly with middle America. It's going to eliminate some of the audience, so you need someone there to tell you you can't do that."[14]
Amanda Seyfried as Anita "Needy" Lesnicki:
In February 2008, Seyfried was cast as Anita "Needy" Lesnicki, the "plain Jane" best friend to Fox's character with whom she shares a somewhat lesbian infatuation.[15][16] Seyfried said it was a relief to play the nerdy character opposite Fox. "Being a lead (like Megan), you have that weird pressure of feeling like you have to look attractive," she stated. "In this movie, I didn't worry about any of that [shit]. I don't want to play the one that everybody is supposed to want to have sex with."[17]
Johnny Simmons as Chip Dove
J. K. Simmons as Mr. Wroblewski
Amy Sedaris as Toni Lesnicki
Adam Brody as Nikolai:
Chud.com reported that the filmmakers were looking at actual rock band members Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy and Joel Madden of Good Charlotte to portray male lead Nikolai Wolf. Chad Michael Murray was also considered for the role.[18] In March 2008, Johnny Simmons was reportedly cast as Nikolai.[19] However, Brody was officially cast in the role of Nikolai, while Simmons was then given the role of Chip Dove. Brody said he did not do his own vocals, adding, "My singing voice is still going through puberty. They gave me a singing lesson or two, and it's not the worst thing in the world, but it's not anything anyone would choose to hear."[20]
Kyle Gallner as Colin Gray
Cynthia Stevenson as Mrs. Dove
Chris Pratt as Officer Roman Duda
Carrie Genzel as Mrs. Check
Juan Riedinger as Dirk
Juno Ruddell as Officer Warzak
Valerie Tian as Chasity
Aman Johal as Ahmet from India
Josh Emerson as Jonas Kozelle
Lance Henriksen as the driver near the end of film