West Hartford Native Josh Cagan Writes ‘The DUFF’ Screenplay

“Bandslam,” the 2009 movie written by Josh Cagan, was semiautobiographical, based on experiences he had as a student at West Hartford’s Hall High School.

Cagan has written another screenplay. This time, he dips into someone else’s high school past, Kody Keplinger’s. Keplinger wrote her 2010 novel “The DUFF” when she was 18. The story was based on her self-image at the time as the “designated ugly fat friend” (The “DUFF”) to her prettier friends.

“The DUFF,” the comedy adapted by Cagan from Keplinger’s book, opens in theaters Friday, Feb. 20, nationwide.

“The DUFF” tells the story of Bianca (played by Mae Whitman), who discovers that her classmates consider her the DUFF of her two beautiful BFFs. She asks her next-door neighbor, the popular jock Wesley, to help her reinvent her image.

Just as Cagan was true to his own high school memories with “Bandslam,” he took care to be true to Keplinger’s when adapting her book, especially in the character of Keplinger stand-in Bianca.

“Bianca has a great voice. Bianca’s voice is Kody’s voice. She is this smart, self-assured, snarky, cutting and pop culturally aware character,” Cagan, 42, said. “I wanted to make sure the movie had at its center not a perfect person but somebody who can handle herself. Even though she’s confused about romantic stuff, she’s no wallflower and she’s no doormat. She’s a tough cookie, as is Kody.”

The plots of Cagan’s two high school comedies have different vibes. “Bandslam” was about a talent competition and “The DUFF” is about self-acceptance and self-esteem. But the two movies have one big similarity: The lead characters have strong, intelligent mothers.

“I grew up with an awesome mom. I like portraying mother-child relationships. It’s a very comfortable place for me,” said Cagan. “I’ve been lucky to have nominal versions of my mom played by Allison Janney [‘The DUFF’] and Lisa Kudrow [‘Bandslam’].”

Cagan’s mother is Korky Vann, the Savvy Shopper columnist for The Courant. Cagan was a freelance writer for The Courant from 1997 to 2005, usually writing about film.

Fans of Keplinger’s book will see significant changes from the book to the screen. Keplinger’s book is darker. Her characters deal with sex, substance abuse and family dysfunction. Cagan’s screenplay for the movie is lighter, often quite silly, and more geared toward a message of personal empowerment.

“There is a lot of ‘doing it’ in that book. It makes sense for the world of the book but it didn’t make sense for the world of a PG-13 movie,” he said. “The thing about the sex scenes in the book, though, is that they are fun. I wanted that sense of playfulness, flirtatiousness, spontaneity in the movie without the gratuitous ‘doing it’. … I wanted a freewheeling sense of fun, but with an adult sensibility.”

Cagan’s movie also adds a major character, gorgeous mean girl Madison, because movies need a clear-cut antagonist and Keplinger’s book didn’t have one. “Madison came to life in the development process to just be the anti-Bianca. … She’s somebody who’s also self-assured and self-actualized and a tough cookie,” he said. “She has all the traits that make Bianca lovable, but her switch has been switched to evil.”

Cagan said one of the overriding messages of “The DUFF” is “be yourself.” “I think the people in the movie come out … true to themselves. They’re not trying to live up to an ideal they think they should be instead of the person they are,” he said.

The other message is, don’t label people. “We’re all just people struggling through with our own identities,” he said. “Labels in general are stupid and labels attached to physical attractiveness and nothing else are extra stupid. That’s a thing society could do a whole lot less of.”

This is coming from a guy who considers himself to be a DUFF. “I can be unsure of myself and neurotic,” he said. “Just like everybody.”