Diablo Cody has his dream co-star Jennifer Aniston for their upcoming film 9 to 5 restarting.
“Jennifer Aniston is just the coolest girl in the world, isn’t she?” says Cody, 46, of the film’s producer. “She can make anything happen. She is incredibly powerful. It’s both beautiful and cool.”
Aniston, 55, has been hired to produce a remake of the 1980 comedy that starred Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin through her production company Echo Films, which she runs with Kristin Hahn.
“They were looking for a writer, I heard about it and I really went ahead,” Cody enthuses to PEOPLE. “I thought, ‘If I don’t do it, I’m going to regret it.’ And that’s always a sign. I think to myself, ‘Would I be wickedly jealous of the person who took this job if I hadn’t?’ If the answer is yes, I have to do it.”
Jennifer Aniston slams JD Vance’s past comments about childless women: ‘I really can’t believe it’
Oscar winner Juno the screenwriter adds that it’s “definitely a pinch-me moment” for me to work with” Aniston and Hahn, who hired her to write the film because of Cody’s “love” of the original film. “It helps when people know you’re passionate about it and not just a mercenary.”
As for why she invested in a story about women in the workplace, the director says that “years ago, I was a corporate girl from 9 to 5. So I was in that world. I worked in an advertising agency. So I had to refer to that period in my life to write.”
(L-R:) Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton and Jane Fonda in ‘9 to 5’.
20th Century Fox/Kobal/Shutterstock
Lily Tomlin is thinking about Jennifer Aniston 9 to 5 Remake: ‘The Working World Has Changed’ (Exclusive)
However, a good reboot should break new ground as much as “pay homage to the material,” says Cody.
“I really shouldn’t talk about this so much,” she teases him. “But the original movie was kind of a battle of the sexes type of scenario. Whereas now I feel like most of the conflict in the workplace is generational: how Gen Z functions versus people who have been in the office for maybe decades.”
The story of Parton, Fonda and Tomlin’s characters outsmarting their misogynistic boss (played by Dabney Coleman) “was a perfect statement about corporate culture for its time,” Cody continues. “And I think now the conflicts have changed a little.”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(729x247:731x249)/Diablo-Cody-012624-7f84987495274adaa582f8fcb963c50b.jpg)
Diablo Cody 2019
Andrew Morales/Getty
Among Cody’s other upcoming projects after the release of the film he stars in with Kathryn Newton Lisa Frankenstein it’s in february The death of a pop starscreen adaptation of the hit supernatural webcomic of the same name.
“The horror-comedy genre is something I’ve been doing for years,” she says. “But there is also that element of music and ‘apartment’ of culture that I think is very current and relevant. Sometimes these people are the most terrifying thing imaginable.”
Juno Writer Diablo Cody on ‘Superhuman’ Elliot Page: ‘I love seeing him live his truth’ (Exclusive)
Speaking to PEOPLE in January, Cody teased the possibility of a reboot or sequel to another classic: Jennifer’s bodyher 2009 film starring Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried. “I think something’s going to happen, I think,” she said. “But it’s one of those things where you have to keep pushing. There’s a lot of content out there right now and a lot of people trying to remake existing IP.”
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education