Diablo Cody Talks Girl Power and "Sweet Valley High"

Any woman who was born after 1975 knows whether they were a Babysitters Club girl or a Sweet Valley High girl. (Some of us were squarely of the Judy Blume ilk) but the series were hallmarks of that generation. Following the outlandish adventures of All-American perfect twins, Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield. With nearly 200 books in total, the series topics varied wildly but always focused on the sisters who were involved in exotic romantics, occasional espionage and occasionally, school work.

This week during the Palm Springs International Film Festival, we chatted with writer Diablo Cody who presented Quentin Tarantino with the Sonny Bono Visionary Award, named after the festival's founder, for his contribution to film. Cody, who won the Original Screenplay Oscar a couple years back for Juno told Tonic why she is working on reviving Sweet Valley High for the Big Screen and what audiences can expect from the 80's favorite and what she plans to do, to give back to young female writers and why she thinks Quentin Tarantino is a feminist:

Tonic: Do you hear from a lot of young female writers who want to follow in your footsteps?

Diablo: I try to do as much as I can to reach out to actually young girls, young writers, and umm, because I feel like it's a difficult society in which to be an outspoken feminist, and I think that the more vocal - the more visible - girls are, the more chance we have of equal representation. So my usual advice to young female writers in particular, is to be loud and crabby!

Tonic: You presented Quentin with an award for his contribution to film, but some consider him a misogynist, you're definitely a feminist - would you agreed with that?:

Diablo: Are you joking? He writes the best roles for women of anybody. If you watch the movie Death Proof (Grindhouse), like the entire first hour is women talking and having honest conversations. I don't know who else does that. I consider him a feminist filmmaker.

Tonic: Are you doing Babysitter's Club or Sweet Valley High?

Diablo: There's some debate I heard! And you know how many people ask me if I'm writing it just because they've assumed I've taken over every young adult property. Now we're doing Babysitter's Club! (Laughs) Nope, Sweet Valley High.

Tonic: There are so many different ways you can take this adaptation, what is Diablo Cody's take?

Diablo: - It's a post-modern Sweet Valley High, 'cause it's gonna take place in the '80s for sure. Big hair, lots of attitude, a lot of sass and a whole lot of angsty interludes.

Photo Credit: Wire Image