Last night, director Jason Reitman was on hand at the New York premiere of his new film Tully to discuss his frequent collaboration with screenwriter Diablo Cody. The film tells the story of a mother of three named Marlo, played by Charlize Theron, suffering from postpartum depression. Tully is Reitman’s third collaboration with Cody, following their work together on the films Juno and Young Adult.
Reitman discussed how the three films followed the writer-director team through their own life stages. “I think they’re all somewhat autobiographical,†he said, going so far as to talk about how the films actually work together. “After three movies, they have this kind of connective tissue between all of them. I do feel like she and I are strangely writing this diary together, every five years or so, there’s a new entry.†The director added that Charlize Theron, who also starred in Young Adult, “seems to have become the muse of these movies.â€
So while the films might not be full of CGI superheroes, they can be considered by audiences as three parts of a whole. “I think of all three of them as movies about not knowing where you’re supposed to be in the timeline of life: Juno is about growing up too fast, and Young Adult is about growing up too slow. And this one is about that moment where you become a parent and you are forced to grow up, you are forced to stop occupying a space that your child must now occupy.â€