Oscar-Winner Diablo Cody Dishes on New Project: The United States of Tara
Juno's Oscar-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody has created a new dramedy for Showtime about a married, suburban artist with two kids — and she happens to suffer from Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), commonly referred to as multiple personalities. Diablo sat down with TVGuide.com to talk about transitioning from film to television writing, working with Steven Spielberg and a dream cast, and what it's like to write so many different personalities for Tara. The United States of Tara premieres Sunday at 10 pm/ET.TVGuide.com: Let's talk about DID. Did you get to talk to people who actually suffer from the disorder?Diablo Cody: Yes I did. We actually have one consultant working on the show who is a mother who lived with DID and raising her kids. She's no longer living with DID, but she had it, and she gave us a lot of insight into the disorder.TVGuide.com: The main cause of DID is thought to be a result of traumatic incident during childhood. Are we ever going to find out what Tara's incident is?Cody: Later in the season, we deal with the source of Tara's disorder extensively. We do talk about the trauma that caused it, but at this point, the family is not exactly sure what the incident was that triggered it.TVGuide.com: Was there any inspiration behind the character of Tara's sister Charmaine (Rosemarie DeWitt), or did you just decide Tara needed an evil nemesis sister?Cody: I wouldn't necessarily call Charmaine a nemesis; she's an...
Sat, Jan 17, 2009
