Tuesday night, at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica, AOL and The Huffington Post hosted a screening of “Young Adult,” a new film written by Diablo Cody and directed by Jason Reitman, the same duo that created the Oscar-winning “Juno”.
HuffPosts’s Arianna Huffington calls it a “truly powerful movie.” Theron’s character Mavis is desperate, dark and at times dingy. She is a recent-divorcee, is oftentimes mean-spirited and for work, is a ghost writer of a popular-but-now-declining young adult book series. In the film, Mavis returns to her small “hickish” hometown to reclaim her high school sweetheart, played by Patrick Wilson. What sparkles most from the film, however, is Cody’s razor-sharp script and a standout performance from co-star Patton Oswalt as Theron’s cynical friend and sounding board.
An intimate cocktail party and Q&A at Arianna Huffington’s home followed the film screening on Tuesday night. In a discussion moderated by HuffPost’s Founding Editor Roy Sekoff, Diablo Cody and Patton Oswalt discussed the ins and outs of making “Young Adult” – from the magic of Jason Reitman’s directing, to Oswalt’s nude sex scene with Theron and the challenges of writing a female lead with very few (if any) redemptive qualities.
As the lively discussion came to a close and guests reached for a second glass of wine, an animated Sean Young yelled out one final question from the second floor balcony: “Why did you want to explore narcissism that deeply?” Cody paused for a moment, and with a hearty laugh replied, “You know, this is the first script I wrote after moving to Los Angeles!”
‘Young Adult’ will be released by Paramount and hits screens on December 16.
Browse our slideshow for highlights from the evening:
