Diablo Cody Recounts Backlash for Script Involvement with ‘Evil Dead’ 2013: “People Were Hostile About It at the Time”

To this day, seeing Fede Álvarez‘s 2013 Evil Dead remains one of my favorite theater experiences. The crowd was cheering. The blood was spilling. And every five minutes, applause seemed to erupt at the wild horror depicted on screen. Fans had been cautious about the newcomer taking the reins from franchise creator Sam Raimi, but it turned out to be an excellent choice in the end.

What some of you may not remember, however, is that Diablo Cody (Jennifer’s Body) did a bit of work on the script as well.

Following the success of her Oscar-winning coming-of-age film, Juno, Cody became a hot commodity. Though, that fire dwindled a little (undeservedly), after the box office and critical failure of Jennifer’s Body. Don’t even get me started on how ridiculous that all was. I’m just grateful that the film eventually found the huge cult following it deserves.

Cody recently spoke with The Boo Crew podcast, and during that conversation, she recounted her time working on the Evil Dead script… as well as the backlash that came with it.

“It was minor, I was surprised they had publicized my involvement,” said Cody. “I got to talk to Bruce Campbell on the phone. Obviously, there were many reasons I wanted to be involved, but that was a thrill.”

Cody continued. “I did a polish, I worked on it for a few weeks. It wasn’t a major rewrite or anything like that, and people were hostile about it at the time. I had so many haters at the time, I couldn’t do anything. I did work on it, but not extensively. Often, when there’s a female protagonist, especially at that time, they would bring me in, ‘Can you do a pass on her and make her feel a little more three-dimensional?’ I think that’s what my directive was.”

As you may remember, that female protagonist was played by Jane Levy as Mia. Whatever contributions Cody made must’ve worked, because both that character and the film swallowed souls in the best possible way.

Alvarez’s Evil Dead went on to kill at the box office, eventually leading to . will soon arrive this summer, with following not long after.