Diablo Cody brings complex women to life onscreen (VIDEO)

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Diablo Cody's real life story almost sounds like a movie she might write: A dynamic young woman with a unique voice wins an Oscar for her first screenplay, is at once embraced and vilified by the media, and then emerges with more opportunities and greater self-assurance than before.

Today, though, Cody is apologetic, and a tad frazzled. She arrives 45 minutes late for an interview, having thought it was the next day. The 35-year-old bounds into a nondescript tavern down the street from Universal Studios for happy hour, fresh faced in a Grateful Dead T-shirt and jeans, her red bob still slightly damp from the shower. She hugs the reporter she's meeting for the first time and offers a string of sorrys.

"I'm a Midwesterner," she says. "This kind of tardiness is unacceptable."

Very un-celebrity-like, Cody arrives without a publicist or assistant, since she has neither, and settles onto a barstool to discuss her directorial debut, "Paradise," which is in theaters Friday.

After a Hollywood crash course that began with her best screenplay Oscar for 2007's "Juno" and continued with a TV deal with Steven Spielberg and two more movies, it was time to try directing. Her challenge, like that of her protagonist in "Paradise": To discover her central character.

"I want to believe that you can maintain your essential core and hang onto your innocence in a way - even if your body is burned, even if you get pregnant as a teenager, even if you're a stripper, even if you win an Oscar with your first screenplay," she said, referring to personal experiences. "I feel like human beings have a pretty amazing, resilient spirit and you can get through a lot of (stuff) and become the best version of yourself."

After Cody captivated Hollywood with "Juno," people pressed her to direct, but she wasn't driven to try it. She'd never made a short film or helmed an episode of the TV show she created, "United States of Tara." She didn't feel she had to.

"I've worked with directors who were really respectful of my scripts and who involved me in the filmmaking process, so I used to say I had a good racket going," she said. "All I had to do was write the script, and then I got to sit back and take credit for these amazing films."

But, "'this was my fourth feature I'm getting made - I'm very lucky - and at this point, I almost felt like I was avoiding it (directing)."

"Paradise," which she also wrote, stars Julianne Hough as Lamb Mannerheim, a small-town religious girl whose faith is challenged after a disfiguring accident leaves her covered with burn scars. Lamb sets out to experience all she's been sheltered from, so she heads to Las Vegas, where she meets a pair of nightclub workers (Octavia Spencer and Russell Brand), who accompany her as she checks off a list of "sins" such as drinking, gambling and dancing.

Making the film coincided with Cody's second pregnancy, which compounded an already challenging task. Cody also had her 18-month-old son in tow as she directed her cast and crew through 26 days of shooting in New Orleans and Las Vegas.

"I don't recommend it," she said, though it does make the filmmaking/giving-birth comparison particularly apt.

"During pre-production, I was in my first trimester. During the shoot, I was in my second and then during post, I was in my third," she said. "Then I had the baby and delivered the movie. ... The metaphor is so on the nose that it's almost lame."

She's grateful for the opportunity and experience, but found directing only reaffirmed her love of writing. "I'm not thinking about what's the next thing I'm going to direct," she said. "I really don't feel that I will."

Instead, she's hoping for a green light on her script for a musical version of "Sweet Valley High," which she says already has a director and songwriters interested. In addition, she has another script finished and a talk-show pilot that she's proud of.

Cody is also working on another book, a follow-up to her 2005 memoir "Candy Girl," this one a collection of stories about her experiences in Hollywood.

And if her plate isn't full enough, Cody says she is looking to develop a TV series for Fox with "The O.C." creator Josh Schwartz called "Prodigy," a drama about a teenage female genius who "gets sucked into this glamorous world of crime and debauchery."

Then there's Cody's work secretly rewriting scripts. "They basically always just want me to Juno-ize the girlfriend," she said.

It's fun and well paid, but frustrating: "All I can do is add dimension, where what I would like to do is make the female the protagonist."

Cody is particularly good at that, notes Hough.

"She just has a knack for writing complex, real, relatable and ballsy characters," Hough said. "I really do think she is the women's voice of our generation."

View here if video fails to load automatically.